Articles, photography, video, and writings sourced from our work in and beyond the field.
“We’re just not used to cold winters like this anymore,” has become an unwitting refrain all season long. Rushing from another vehicle to another building; sliding on the perma-ice in the driveway; offering sparse recompense to Johann as he worked on the freezing pipes in the farm office - I’d shrug, or shake my head and say, we’re just not used to cold winters like this anymore. It’s true. Here…
If January is a seed containing the full articulation of the year, the forthcoming story has been frozen solid around here. Blanketed in a perma-snow since December, we’ve scant seen the earth all month. Temperatures colder than we’ve known in years have tempered our progress on planned forestry work and infrastructure projects, and so we’ve been banging about the interior quite a bit. In the farm…
Some time ago, I was dispensing some free advice regarding a proposed meadow conversion with a prospective client. The terrain in question was a former hay field with hospitable soil in a rural corner of eastern Pennsylvania.She was nervous and unsure about her vision for the site, and in an effort to lighten the load, I offered, “There are many ways to create a meadow depending on your available…
When we began planting out our fields, we interplanted shrubs with trees and herbaceous plants; we thinned autumn olive and multiflora rose, and tucked woodland plants into the small slivers of shade adjacent to existing hedgerows; we tightly spaced baby trees in regrowth woodland plots. We also estimated yields, properly spaced headlands, and charted future coppice rotations. This practice of…
We hope the best for April with good cause; silk blossoms have emerged on the rickety skin of crooked branches. There is suddenly soft greenery underfoot where there once was wet muck. Fat bumble bees burrow into every miniscule open mouthed flower. The world is alive with miracles. And that first green of spring, a green so green, the Cherokee gave it another name distinct from other green, is…
March has arrived as March often arrives, in blustery fits and false starts. A sunny mirage disappears beneath silvery overcast clouds for days. A warm breeze beckons only to become fearsome wind nipping. That the most tender of iridescent petals should be the first to emerge into this rugged terrain is a reoccurring mystery. A heartening mystery, and surely a sign that the god of spring must hold…
It is with equal parts pride and humility, we are pleased to share that we were recently awarded the 2023 Hugh Hammond Bennett Producer Award for Conservation Excellence in the Northeast. Last year, unbeknownst to us, someone from the New Jersey NRCS nominated us for the award, and we were selected by the National Conservation Planning Partnership (NCPP) as the winners for the Northeast region of…
Now that the trees have assumed their sparse posture for the season, the ground is thick with a litter of leaves around which all manner of intricately shaped seeds are moving into the earth by way of a slow-motion burrowing. These seeds, the cores of nuts and fruits and the tiny and robust sheddings of wildflowers, have burrowed into my pockets as well. They are tucked in paper packets in the…
In our consulting work with farmers and land stewards beyond our fields and with our partner organization, Restoration Agriculture Development, we understand that water informs the basis of every ecosystem. The hydrological dynamics of every landscape are unique, but patterns can be lifted from the underlying topography and vegetation to elucidate and work with an appropriate water course.
The persimmon tree has become a peculiar marker of time on the farm. As an early succession tree, they were one of the first orchard canopy species to spring up. And when they did, the landscape started to take on a young forest quality, which felt enormously exciting at the time. I distinctly remember standing face to crown with a six foot tall persimmon some years back and thinking, my goodness…
Understanding the art & science of the tiny berry of mythological proportion - Perhaps you know about the impressive immunological effects of elderberry. You've heard plenty of anecdotes from friends and family about preventing colds and swiftly recuperating from the flu. Maybe you’re well versed in the powerful anti-inflammatory potential of dark berries, and once read that the elderberry boasts…
In honor of our ten year anniversary, we’re taking a trip down memory lane in a new multi part series. Through archival photos and retrospective writings, we’ll revisit forest gardening, water management, plant medicine, and other pursuits we’ve explored over the last ten years at Fields Without Fences with the kind of nuance and cosmic humor that only hindsight provides.
In honor of our ten year anniversary, we’re taking a trip down memory lane in a new multi part series. Through archival photos and retrospective writings, we’ll revisit forest gardening, water management, plant medicine, and other pursuits we’ve explored over the last ten years at Fields Without Fences with the kind of nuance and cosmic humor that only hindsight provides.
In honor of our ten year anniversary, we’re taking a trip down memory lane in a new multi part series. Through archival photos and retrospective writings, we’ll revisit forest gardening, water management, plant medicine, and other pursuits we’ve explored over the last ten years at Fields Without Fences with the kind of nuance and cosmic humor that only hindsight provides.
As the days grow shorter, wetter, and increasingly frigid, it’s helpful to have a few recipes on hand to weather the cold season. At first sign of cold… is a short collection of our favorite herbal recipes and practices to help stay healthy as the world moves indoors for winter.
In honor of our ten year anniversary, we’re taking a trip down memory lane in a new multi part series. Through archival photos and retrospective writings, we’ll revisit forest gardening, water management, plant medicine, and other pursuits we’ve explored over the last ten years at Fields Without Fences with the kind of nuance and cosmic humor that only hindsight provides.
When we closed up our herbal product line in 2021, we promised we’d be back with our most beloved product. We’ve been working quietly, but with a great deal of passion, on bringing back our Elderberry Elixir with a new and improved look, recipe, and size, that we hope you’ll love. We are pleased to announce Elderberry Elixir is up in the shop and available to order!
We are so pleased to announce Fields Without Fences t-shirts illustrated in gorgeous detail by the enormously talented Philadelphia-based artist, Meg Lemieur, and printed on organic cotton at a local eco-friendly print house are now available!
We welcomed our son Roan August Rinkens into the world on August 15th, 2021.
Photos and reflections of the farm in spring; * Our “From the Field” Series features projects, production, and reflections derived from our work at home on our two farm sites in near Frenchtown, New Jersey.* Earth day arrives just as I’m beginning to feel love drunk on a new spring. A few days ago, standing under an old pear tree, alive and buzzing, radiant in sun gold full bloom, I abandoned my…