This is Forest Ranch Regenerative

Welcome to the Forest Ranch… a space where we come to talk about rebuilding, reconnecting and enjoying the abundance that comes from Earthcare and people care.

Forest Ranch is a place that invokes wildness and human intervention – two things that belong together. We, humans, evolved for a long time with other organisms but at some point, we started changing quicker than everything else due to our ability to mimic other organisms.  In any case, we are here, in great numbers but our relationship to the natural world is confusing and inconsistent. Some suggest we don’t integrate telling us to “leave no trace.” Others think that no amount of integration or impact will adversely affect ecosystems or the global climate. So what’ll it be?

Two Stories from Southwest Florida

My family found ourselves having to move far away from our home in Marietta, PA and what we found was a new environment, culture, new ecology and new ways to garden. Of course we can’t stop growing things, working on our regenerative lifestyle and capturing stories of the people we meet along the way. One…

The Forest Ranch Farm Plan

I went to school for Business Administration, I’m a filmmaker now, and in the future I dream of being a farmer. One of my college classes at University of Louisiana was all about writing a business plan and I had a lot of fun with it. I recall it was a restaurant called Rock N’…

Dave Jacke of Edible Forest Gardens

Listen to the latest Earth Alchemy Podcast to find out a little about the origin of Dave Jacke who co-wrote Edible Forest Gardens and teaches Forest Garden Design to many people using effective and exciting, emergent methods!

Biodynamics: Earth Herbalism, Earth Alchemy

Biodynamics is a holistic agricultural study and practice that was birthed from a gathering in Poland in 1924. It includes a number of treatments derived from natural ingredients and from a certain lens, Biodynamics could be seen as healing the earth with herbs. This may be a way that an herbalist or holistic medicine practitioner…

What is Biomimicry?

Biomimicry is the design and production of materials, structures, and systems that are modeled on biological entities and processes. This short YouTube series features the work of Wilson Alvarez at the Horn Farm Center in York County Pennsylvania. Chapter 1: Missing Pieces In the first chapter of a short series on the biomimicry work being…

Imagine an Avacado

I nibble bits from the avocado. I imagine the journey, the expense, the pain, strife or even death that went into bringing this treasure to my lips. I lick my lips and with eyes still closed I take a deep breath. “ ¿Cuánto cuesta esto?” I ask the merchant. But the truth is, I’d pay any price.

PASA 2020 Sustainable Agriculture Conference

I write this now for three reasons. One is that I’ve finally had the ability to finish several videos from my filming at the conference.  The second reason for this timing is that I’ve had time to process some of the wonderful experiences and information I collected during this time.  I made some great connections,…

Covid Time Abundance

The Forest Ranch is a place that shares information about the earth’s abundance and how we can access and exhibit our most regenerative selves.  Now is a particularly opportune time for some of us who have been blinded by a world that keeps us from those things to start to receive some of these messages…

The Way Forward

Now we see.  Now we realize that there is something wrong with the way humans impact the world. Now, there are many difficult stages we have to go through.  Denial, anger, etc. If we believe that we are powerless, environmental awareness can lead to depression and despair. We feel powerless to reverse such a deep…

Adapt our Picture of Beauty

What modern people commonly see as inherently beautiful has actually been programmed into us.  I’ll use the examples of the suburban subdivision and the cornfield. What if what most of us agree is beautiful is actually being destructive and degrading.  Knowing the true difference between beauty and brokenness is an important shift in perspective.  It…