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Fields Without Fences

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Commenced:	01/03/2011
Submitted:	30/12/2013
Last updated:	07/10/2015
Location:	Frenchtown, NJ, US
Phone:	9089960525
Website:	www.fieldswithoutfences.org
Climate zone:	Cool Temperate

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Fields Without Fences

Project Type

Rural, Commercial

Project Summary

Fields Without Fences forest garden in Frenchtown, NJ cultivates native fruits and small berries, specialty vegetables, culinary and medicinal herbs, and wild edibles within an innovative perennial design framework. Our certified organic small farm combines cultivation, ecological regeneration and habitat creation. Fields Without Fences follows a philosophy of deep ecology rooted in the functionality and balance of natural systems.

Project Description

Fields Without Fences combines cultivation, ecological regeneration and habitat creation within an holistic design framework. Our forest garden produces diverse native, medicinal, and heirloom varieties of fruit, vegetables, and herbs for sale. These species are cultivated within a naturalized, perennial system that is designed for successional native forest restoration.

Our process of restorative production aims to initiate environmental regeneration to this historically farmed and degraded landscape, while simultaneously yielding productive crops for consumption. We are initiating a process of plant succession, mimicking the native forest in composition and architecture, with each season bringing new species to bare. Fields Without Fences takes a permaculture design approach to cultivation and restoration which thrives on the innate interconnectivity and holistic function of healthy ecosystems. This spirit of interconnectivity extends toward our ultimate vision and mission for the organization. We are motivated by complementary agendas focused on healing landscapes and people, and restoring deeper connections with the natural world.

Through thoughtful design, Fields Without Fences' 10 acre site has undergone a marked transformation from a once severely degraded, historically farmed, neglected landscape; to a thriving, evolving, complex ecosystem producing quality, nutrient dense, plant food and medicine while providing home to a myriad of wildlife and insect populations. This approach to cultivation is motivated by a philosophical position that recognizes the inherent worth of all living creatures, and is concerned with improving the overall well being of an interconnected ecology.

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