This past week in Sustainable Agriculture we had two guest speakers come into our class and talk to us about their livelihoods and how they connect with our sustainable systems/design unit. The first speaker, John Valenzuela, spoke to us primarily about permaculture and food forests. Permaculture is a way of viewing agriculture as a larger system, focussing on patterns observed in nature that promote sustainable growth and don't disrupt habitats. Food forests are agroforestry systems that practice growing crops with trees so large amounts of food can be packed into small spaces, all while focussing on the vertical growing aspect of plants. Another concept Mr. Valenzuela taught us about was grafting, a horticulture technique that allows people to use healthy rootstocks of fruit trees and transplant the better tasting varieties of that same fruit which grows into normal functioning trees. The following day, Aaron Gillam, a Redwood alum and now shepherd came to discuss his line of work. Mr. Gillam owns and operates Sweetgrass Grazing, a mobile sheep/goat grazing company. He highlighted how with this job he is a land steward and can control how he and his animals impact the land. His operation is used to suppress weeds, rebuild soils, and help prevent wildfires. Overall, both presentations were very engaging, interesting, and allowed time for many of our questions to be answered.
By: Ryan Carlson
Pictured Above: The second guest speaker and Owner/Founder of Sweetgrass Grazing, Aaron Gillam, out in the field running his operation
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