Miracle Orchard Workshop One Paragraph Summary

This workshop features the innovative work of Stefan Sobkowiak of the Miracle Orchard. The Miracle orchard is anorchard model that involves not one of a few varieties of crop - but a diverse array of species that promote natural pest control, fertility-generation, biodiversity increase, and economically feasibility. The unique feature is that by involving a rich polyculture of diverse plants, and by creating a habitat for other useful species - a low-maintenance ecosystem can be created. In this hands-on workshop, participants will learn the concept and techniques of designing and growing an orchard like this. The goal is to have 1000 people do this on 1000 hectares in 50 countries around the world. OSE intends to be the first replication of a production orchard like this in the United States, and we invite others who are interested in joining this group of pioneers to reinvent how orchards can provide local food. Open Source Ecology will also introduce its new project of the Open Source Nursery, a global collaborative effort to identify plants, sources, and propagation methods that will allow such orchards to be installed at much lower costs with increasingly adapted plant varieties.