A Half-Day, Immersive Workshop Experience: Managing Living Ecosystems for Long-Term Success
In this five-hour hands-on workshop, participants will learn the practical skills and management techniques needed to steward healthy, productive, and resilient food forests. Through a combination of classroom discussion, field demonstrations, and hands-on practice throughout the 4Roots Farm Campus, we’ll explore how thoughtful management influences plant health, ecosystem function, productivity, and long-term resilience.
Throughout the workshop, participants will gain hands-on experience using a variety of pruning tools and management techniques while learning when, why, and how each practice is applied. By the end of the day, you’ll leave with practical skills, a deeper understanding of ecosystem stewardship, and the confidence to manage your own food forest as a thriving, ever-evolving landscape.
The Experience
5-Hour Workshop
Planting a food forest is only the beginning. The true success of any agroforestry system comes from understanding how to guide, manage, and work with a living ecosystem as it grows and changes over time.
In this five-hour hands-on workshop, participants will learn the practical skills and management techniques needed to steward healthy, productive, and resilient food forests. Through a combination of classroom discussion, field demonstrations, and hands-on practice throughout the 4Roots Farm Campus, we’ll explore how thoughtful management influences plant health, ecosystem function, productivity, and long-term resilience.
We’ll examine real agroforestry systems across the campus while discussing why different management decisions are made, how systems evolve through ecological succession, and how to respond to the changing needs of a food forest throughout the seasons.
This workshop is designed for home gardeners, landowners, educators, and farmers who want to move beyond simply planting trees and develop the knowledge and confidence to actively manage regenerative landscapes for years to come.
What You’ll Learn
- Understanding ecological succession and how food forests change over time
- Developing an observation-based approach to ecosystem management
- Pruning techniques for fruit production, tree health, structure, and biomass
- Coppicing, pollarding, chop-and-drop, and other regenerative pruning methods
- Managing sunlight, shade, and competition within layered systems
- Building healthy soils through mulch, biomass, and nutrient cycling
- Using support species to improve soil fertility and system resilience
- Seasonal management strategies and annual maintenance planning
- Integrating animals into agroforestry systems to improve fertility, weed control, and ecosystem function
- Managing pests and diseases through ecological principles rather than reactive treatments
- Essential tools and equipment for establishing and maintaining food forests
- Learning from real-world management practices through guided field demonstrations at the 4Roots Farm Campus
Event Details
📆 Date & Time: Saturday, September 26th | 9:00am – 2:00pm
📍 Location: 4Roots Farm Campus, 1101 N John Young Pkwy, Orlando, FL
🎟️ Ticket Price: $50 per attendee