By Olivier Allongue, Training Manager, United States
Warren Frost is a certified Forest Garden Specialist from Cape Town, South Africa. Warren describes himself as an autodidact - “a person that studies continuously and informally (not necessarily through universities) with a personally determined curriculum.” It’s this philosophy that has taken him on travels around the world and into exciting fields like the Forest Garden Approach.
His interest and research into permaculture and agroforestry started in 2017 when he first came across “food forests.” As his interest grew, he saw the potential in his small suburban home as the perfect setting to establish a garden. The idea was for him and his partner to create a micro farm together and begin food foresting, as she also has a background in farming.
Eventually, his research led him to the Forest Garden Training Center where he participated in the 7-week certification challenge held in the fall of 2020. He became certified that November.
After obtaining his certification, Warren really ran with the Forest Garden Approach, using the design principles he had learned to inform his flourishing garden. One of the main challenges in establishing his food forest was soil fertility, as all Warren had to work with was infertile dune sand. Using knowledge he accrued through FGTC resources and other online courses, he decided to add fine charcoal to his compost. The results were more than he had hoped for, putting his garden production into “overdrive”. He has named this technique “Innocuposting” due to the amount of moisture, microbes, and nutrients generated. You can expect to see this as an Agroforestry Word of the Week later this year!
Today, Warren shares his knowledge and experience regarding food forests and soil regeneration and does private consulting where he writes and delivers training courses to small groups. He is still constantly referring to the FGA training manuals and his notes from the course when helping others to embark on their own Forest Garden journeys.
“Stay focused, work diligently through the manual, ask questions, participate in events and go thorough preparation for the exam,” he says.
When asked about his favorite elements of the FGTC, Warren shared that he appreciates the ongoing various forms of communication through the FGTC newsletter, Facebook group, and Agroforestry Word of the Week. He also greatly enjoys live streaming events and webinars.
United States
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