Join Roger Gietzen and Erik Schellenberg for a 4 day interactive training session. Learn the theory and practice of syntropic agroforestry in a temperate climate at Black Creek Farm in Highland, NY. We will cover the theory of syntropic agroforestry and we will plant, manage, and design an agroforest for the temperate climate.

Dates are September 10-13th 2025.

Camping areas are provided. Solar showers, outhouse, and an outdoor kitchen with stove, range, and refrigerator will be available. Lunches will be provided and included in the course fee. Breakfasts and dinners are not provided, though group meals may be organized by the participants.

This site is for payment, but please also register here:

https://forms.gle/s6QDrksKpXA76M9P6

Roger Gietzen is a father, doctor, and humanitarian worker who first started learning about syntropic agroforestry in 2016 when he hired a consultant to come to Haiti. He could see that this approach could help address the food insecurity, soil erosion and deforestation that is ravaging the country, as well as provide a path for financial security. The jouney to bring this method to Haiti and make it simple enough that an average family farmer can grasp it, has taken Roger to Brazil and even to Ernst’s cacao farm. After years of intense study in the tropics, Roger started applying this method in the temperate climate and now looks forward to sharing what he has learned with others.

Erik has been working with syntropic principles and systems alongside permaculture-influenced work on his farm for 8 years. He has a background in sustainable natural resource management which evolved into regenerative agriculture and then to agroforestry. His first foray into implementing parts of the syntropic approach in 2016 were a disaster and a few years later it became evident that it was the lack of knowledge not inadequacy of the system that caused the failure. Many failures later, and some successes, he is happy to pass on the insights and experience he has gained along the way. Black Creek Farm and Nursery is the result of this work and there are many experiments a projects at various stages of development and maturity to see.