Agroforestry: A Two Year Progression (with video)
In the my last post, I demonstrated the difference between a brand new "baby" agroforestry project and a 4 year old "teenager" system here in subtropical Ecuador. Now, here in this 2 year old "toddler" plot, I show what the early signs of progress look like -- when the system starts moving on its own -- and how to work with it in this stage.
Waiting for an Agroforestry system to "pop" can try anyone's patience. Sometimes the little saplings just seem to be sitting there. All the things you may have read about "nitrogen fixing", "biomass accumulation", "syntropic" -- where is it?
When does it all start to happen?
After about 2 years in a tropical zone, if you've planted the right species, you will enough biomass accumulation to start really putting down some good organic mulch. And mulch is the staple food of your system. Compost and biochar are tasty additions, but mulch is absolutely key.
- provides food for soil microbes
- retains moisture level in the ground
- shades out invasives
- prevents erosion
You can use freshly slashed green leaves, dried leaves, twigs and branches, dead flowers, fruit husks -- mix it up. Legumes are great but don't obsess over your mulch mix. Use what you have when you have it. Just use a lot. So how do you get a lot of mulch? Plant fast growing pioneers! In the tropics, bananas work fabulously as you'll see in the video. But every zone has a pioneering species, that's just how nature works. So work with it.
At Sueño de Vida we work in a meaningful way to heal land ravaged by deforestation. How meaningful? According to a recent UN Foresight Brief on climate change,
--It is of the utmost importance to stop deforestation and to increase reforestation efforts around the world. Agricultural practices should focus on soil building, year-round soil cover with plants and the use of agroforestry methods.
That is exactly what we do here at SdV. You can help by helping us do what we do every day: plant forests that nurture soil, people, and community.
Click HERE to donate directly to our reforestation fund OR make a monthly pledge on our Patreon.
Thank you.
Kristen Krash is the director and co-founder of Sueño de Vida, a regenerative agroforestry farm, education center, nature reserve in Ecuador’s Chocó Andino Cloudforest. Prior to moving, Kristen was known for her guerrilla gardens — productive green spaces she created in any available space. Now an urban transplant in the South American rain forest, she has adapted her urban gardening and sustainability skills to large-scale reforestation of degraded land. She takes a practical and accessible approach to helping others achieve more balance and self-sufficiency in their lives.
Kristen’s articles and interviews have been featured on popular sustainability platforms like Abundant Edge and The Mud Home, and in the Rainforest Regeneration Curriculum at the Ecological Restoration Camps.