The name Symbiotic Horizons Farm is reference to
relationship of soil horizons and a vision for the
future. A future where local farms are thriving in
number, with strong connections to the people who
consume what they grow.
We draw our inspiration from many and the list would
be long. One day while reseaching composting, we
came across Gil Carandang’s website The
Unconventional Farmer. We learned about bokashi
composting, benefical microbes, and many other
natural farming practices. It wasn’t long after that we
were looking for land to start a farm.
Gil’s an organic farmer from the Philippines,
considered by many the gentleman farmer and
“Father of organic and natural farming in the
Philippines”. Gil went on a Fullbright Agriculture
Scholarship Program for Advanced Research at UC
Santa Cruz in California. He studied under John
Jeavins learning sustainable bio-intensive small scale
agriculture.
Gil also studied under Dr. Han Kyu Cho of Korean
Natural Farming, learning natural farming systems
for crops and livestock.
Gil Carandang was an apprentice with Natural
Farmers of Japan and for the Agro-Ecology and
Sustainable Food Systems at UC Santa Cruz as an
Ecological Horticulturist. Gil has training in
Biodynamic preperations with the Biodynamics
Association of Northern California. He also completed
a Permaculture Design Course at the Center for
Natural Design.
Gil promotes the use of indiginious micro-organisms
in agriculture.
Many others have influenced us. Curtis Stone got us
fired up earlier in our journey. A successful urban
farmer and author. He’s a great source for proven
methods and ideas for profitable small scale
agriculture.
Jean-Martin Fortier is a farmer, educator, and author
who has helped countless small scale the world over
to reach their goals. JM and his wife developed “Les
Jardins de la Grelinette” a small scale market garden
farm model using 2 acres of production that has
proved successful for more than a decade and
continues to do so.
Matt Powers is a musician, school teacher and author.
He founded R-Future a yearly regenerative
conference, he teaches permaculture through his
website, offering courses for children and adults. He
also offers a free book “The Permaculture Student 1”
as a download. He also offers regenerative soil and
soil microscopy books.
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