Mark Shepard’s New Forest Farm in southwestern Wisconsin is one of the first and very finest examples of Permaculture farming in the United States. For 13 years, he and his wife Jen have been working to convert a typical row-crop dairy farm into a permaculture-based perennial-agricultural ecosystem, using oak-savannah successional-brushland and eastern-woodlands as the ecological models.
He is demonstrating that a permaculture based farming operation increases in value over time because the amount of work slowly recedes while the output or benefits continue to increase as succession occurs throughout the seasons. The farm is always improving in fertility while never polluting or eroding.
Earlier Years: As long as Mark can remember he has been working with and studying plants. Mark has been growing food biodynamically since childhood under the tutelage of Helen and John Philbrick, (former BDA president). As a kid growing up in New England, Mark recalls how he and his father used to kick around with “some grouchy old guy” down the road. It turns out that it was Scott Nearing of “Living the Good Life” fame. Mark attended Unity College in Maine where he studied Ecology. He and his wife Jennifer homesteaded in Alaska from 1986-1994 where they immersed themselves in a self-reliant, ecological lifestyle.
While homesteading in Alaska, Mark and Jen gave birth to their first son, Eric. (If you take one of our courses, and the opportunity arises, be sure to ask Mark to share about how he and Jen built their own cabins, survived -50º temperatures, snow, wind and little sunlight while having to hike in and out of their property.) When the opportunity arose in 1994, they settled in SW Wisconsin to demonstrate the feasibility of permaculture farming and began to raise their family.
From Agriculture to Agroforestry and Permaculture
During a 7 day course Mark explains how trees, shrubs, vines, canes, perennial plants and fungi are planted in association with one another to produce food (for humans and animals), fuel, medicines, visual delight and long-term profitability. Much of Mark’s expertise lies in the raising of Badgersett Hazelnuts, chestnuts, walnuts, and various fruits and he will expound on the benefits of his “sheer, utter & total neglect” method of productive design. Mark loves the big picture, and will touch on how agriculture relates to the development of humankind. Mark’s hands on experience permeate his thought provoking, intellectually challenging, and imminently practical presentations. He offers real solutions for the real world and elicits positive action from workshop participants.
Pioneer, Inventor, Advocate
Mark’s knowledge and skills have been used in his landscape design business and now in his Permaculture & Agroforestry consulting business—Forest Agriculture Enterprises. Mark is the co-inventor of a hazelnut husker and a “Hypobaric Food and Crop dehydrator”. He recently co-authored “The Hybrid Bush Hazelnut Grower’s Handbook” with Philip Rutter. Mark serves as vice-president of the Southwest Badger Resource Conservation and Development Council, and has served on the board of directors of The Association for Temperate Agroforestry (AFTA). He implements reforestation, conservation and sustainable agriculture projects nationwide.
