One of the skills I feel I am very much lacking in. What are your routines/practices? Strategies/materials you swear by? In my case I’m referring to machetes, hand saws, battery powered chain saws of varying sizes, pruners, loppers, etc.

Exciting development! I’ve been entrusted this 30’ by 24’ (ish) piece of land to begin the foundations of a food forest at the school I work at. My plan is to start by planting support species primarily. I have pigeon pea seeds, mavuno cowpea seeds, Mexican sunflower cuttings, and vetiver grass. I will also be planting quick producing perennials like banana, cassava, and papaya. I’m seeking advice! Does it make sense to plant these in rows even if I hope to have more of a nest/meandering food forest down the road? (it’s for the kids, so I feel like it’s the vibe, maybe, maybe not) The plot is fairly uneven, lots of weedy plants (pictured), I pulled up a bunch of rocks from the last garden project there and cardboard, as well as pieces of wood. I’m thinking of ordering soil, but also want to keep it cheap. I plan to return within the next couple days to weed whack. What would you do? Level the area with soil? The area does have decent soil in spots, and looks like it’s been carpet mulched with cardboard as well. One of the ideas would be to torch the weeds then lay soil over to level it, but I don’t have a torch. I have a hoe, that’s about it. Would you plant mixed rows of support plants or single species rows? Chaos plant? I have an abundance of pigeon pea seeds, less of each of the other support species. Any feedback would be appreciated! Thank you :)

Hey y’all. At the beginning of the year I started working for a homeschool coop and have essentially been teaching an earth skills/gardening class, though they title it permaculture. It’s ages 6-14, mixed, though I’m hoping this next semester we’re able to organize the classes more intentionally to group the kids by age. While the past few months our learning space has been mostly outdoors (a tiki structure & raised beds), it looks like we’ll now have access to an indoor classroom and a potential new growing space. My plan for growing is to establish a patch of support species to keep things low cost & allow for potential food forest if things on this piece of land continue to feel positive for the school. I also hope to teach the kids with more structure about native Florida ecology, forest succession, plant dynamics, soil biology, and more. Are any of you teachers? Do you have curriculum developed? Have advice in this context? Any other thoughts? I want to be of service to the goals of this school as best I can and also take advantage of the opportunity to establish a system of support plants (potentially with no irrigation) and would appreciate any input. Thank you!

Anybody know of any paid internships/jobs in the permaculture/agroforestry space in central fl? Preferably the St Cloud or Orlando area?