Posted by Annie | | General Homesteading | |

Most people work a job that requires being up at a certain time, driving to the place of employment, working about 8 or so hours with a lunch break in between and returning home.

They work the hours that are assigned to them by someone else and receive a paycheck every week or two weeks on the same day and for roughly the same amount.

They get a vacation once they are at their place of employment for a certain amount of time, and if they are sick they must “call off” and miss a day of work. That’s not me at all and it is why I am thankful to be homesteading.

 

 

My homesteading journey so far has changed my life and the way I see and feel about the things that before I never really paid attention to because I was so busy in my fast-paced “rat-race” world.

I have an appreciation for things that never mattered before. It has helped me in many ways and even made me a better mother and overall person.

 

 

Why I Am Thankful To Be Homesteading

 

 

1. I work my own hours.

 

I don’t punch a clock nor do I  have to be anywhere at a certain time or do any certain task or assignment because someone else needs me to. Only I decide when I work, how I work, what I need to do and where I want to do it because I am my own boss.

Homesteading gives me the ability to do all that. It allows me to make all the decisions. I can determine my future and how far I will go, I determine how successful I will be, and I get all the credit for all the hard work I put into my homestead and the things that surround it.

No job on earth, working for someone else can do that and it is one of the biggest reasons why I am thankful to be homesteading.

 

 

2. I am healthier.

Because I grow my own food and eat grain fed beef and free range chickens my health has improved drastically. I eat plenty of fruits and veggies straight from my own homestead. There are no chemicals like pesticides when I grow my own food.

I cook more from scratch instead of eating those awful boxed meals and processed foods that most people eat. It is common to find me in the kitchen making homemade bread or making fresh butter in my Kitchen Aid mixer. You can get my method and recipe right here.

 

I make my own spice mixes and you need to try this recipe for Split Pea Soup mix in a Jar. I blend my own spices and grow my own herbs. Read Growing Herbs: An Introduction or Preserving Herbs. You can also read Herbs That You Can Grow in the Shade.

Because I eat better and healthier food I am never sick even when most people around me are suffering from colds and the flu. I only visit the doctor for a checkup now and that saves me a lot of money yearly.

 

 

3. I am less materialistic.

 

At one time I can remember wanting a newer tv, new clothes, jewelry, and shoes. I used to spend money on purses and home decor things to only use them once or twice. Oh, the stuff I collected or maybe hoarded. I basically bought things because everyone else did.

Now that I am a homesteader I buy what I need and only if I know I will use it. For me to spend money on anything it must have a definitive purpose or I pass it by.

My clothes I wear, my shoes I wear. I have a couple of hoodies and a coat and I wear them all. I downsized in every area that I could within my home from clothing to nic-knacks to dishes and extra kitchen utensils. Now I have what I need and use only. See my post on Downsizing for a little guidance on where to start.

 

 

4. I am learning valuable skills.

There is no job on earth that allows you and almost forces you to learn the number of skills you do other than homesteading. I am not talking about the skills you learn in an educational facility. I mean life skills, like sewing, canning, making homemade bread, gardening, and even budgeting and living frugally.

Homesteading has taught me how to feed 8 people for a month without spending a thousand dollars on groceries at the store. I have learned to can vegetables and fruit, how to freezer cook and stock my pantry and I can start a fire without matches and gasoline.

I learn new skills daily and no regular job can do that, just another major reason why I am thankful to be homesteading.

 

 

5. I am prepared.

Another one of the biggest reasons why I am thankful to be homesteading is because I am prepared for emergencies. I recently survived through Hurricane Irma. We went 8 days with no running water and no electricity.

Because I homestead and I am prepared, no one here went without. We had water bottled up way before the storm hit. We had generators that provided the power we needed and we had a portable shower for bathing, a grill and gas stove to cook on, enough dried goods and canned goods to keep our stomachs full and other than it being in the 90’s and humid we survived just fine.

I don’t think I would have been as prepared if I wasn’t homesteading. 24 chickens, 2 turkeys, 3 rabbits, a pig, 3 cats, a pregnant dog, and 4 other dogs fed and watered daily.

I keep an emergency kit on hand. If you want to make your own DIY emergency kit click here.

 

 

6. I can return to my roots.

 

Our country was started by brave and willing people who gave up a life they were used to, to come to a new land and fend for themselves.

They had no one to depend on but themselves, they figured out how to grow food and raise animals. They raised children, hunted and fished and they built their own homes and even figured out how to stay warm in winter and cool in summer.

I can relate to those roots of our nation because when homesteading you do those very same things. You learn the old-fashioned way of doing things, cheaper, more efficiently, and with pride.

I thank no one but myself for the food on my table each night. The ability to that is enough by itself and another reason why I am thankful to be homesteading.

 

 

7. It instilled better morals and values in my children.

Because my children saw me work hard and grow our food and provide a life for them they appreciate me and our lifestyle in a way that you don’t often see in children nowadays.

My children still, now that they are married with their own children teach their children to say “please” and “thank you”. They sit at the dinner table and eat together as a family and have a “no cell phone” rule.

My children read to their children at night and not just any books, but the classic books. They are well-mannered and have morals and ethics that you just don’t see anymore, and they don’t waste food or leave trash laying around.

All that is because of a homesteading lifestyle.

 

 

8. I have an appreciation for nature and all living things.

I plant flowers for the local bees and I have birdhouses to provide safe places for the wild birds to bring their young into the world. The squirrels are fed corn, and I allow for wildlife on my property with woodpiles and some meadow areas. I don’t spray chemicals and pesticides to rid my property of insects, instead, I work around them.

I don’t just clear all the trees off, I have them trimmed up to allow for better growth. No commercial fertilizers are used and I make my own compost. The natural habitats plants and flowers are encouraged to continue to grow. I appreciate and respect nature and I welcome the sun as much as the rain as both are equally beneficial. I love the sunrise and the sunset.

 

 

9. I save money.

 

Because I live a simple life, grow my own food and keep animals that provide a healthy lifestyle I don’t spend hundreds of dollars at the grocery store. Since I live a minimalist lifestyle I don’t purchase clothes frivolously. I have what I need and everything I own has a specific purpose. If I really need something I budget for it until I can afford it.

I am debt free other than a cell phone bill and electric. Any money I make I therefore save. I was never able to save like I can now when I had a regular job and lived the average lifestyle. Homesteading saves me money.

 

 

10. I am self-sufficient.

 

The greatest reason why I am thankful to be homesteading is that it allows me to be self-sufficient. I don’t depend on a grocery store so I can eat and I don’t look to the government for assistance and I don’t apply for bank loans, I don’t need to do any of those things.

I am able to provide a wonderful lifestyle that takes care of me and allows me to depend on myself. Because of my ability and because I think ahead I am prepared. Homesteading provides that self-sufficiency for me in a way no other lifestyle possibly could.

These are the top 10 reasons why I am thankful to be homesteading. Homesteading has made me self-sufficient. It allows me to budget for the things I need and how to save money. It has instilled morals and values in both my children and myself that we may not have acquired otherwise.

I appreciate nature and all it has to offer and I have a respect for nature like no other. I am prepared for just about any emergency, and I can survive in almost any condition. All of these things combined in a wonderful lifestyle that I chose is why I am thankful to be homesteading.

 

To learn more homesteading skills you may need to check out Homesteading.com’s post 145 Homesteading Skills Every Homesteader Must Be Well Equipped.

 

 

These Disaster Emergency Supplies while Homesteading will help you to understand what supplies to gather and why they are important.

Did you know that very few of us are prepared for emergencies such as natural disasters? According to data from the United States Census Bureau’s American Housing Survey, only about one-third of American households have developed a communication plan and agreed on an emergency meeting location in the event of an emergency.

That is not to say we are not at all concerned about disasters. Some of us do not worry because it hasn’t happened yet, but if we examine the usual answers to why we do not take measures against emergencies, they all fail in the light of reason. Simply put, most don’t know how to prepare or don’t have the time to figure it all out. And then there are some who don’t have the money to get everything needed for an emergency together.

CouponChief.com’s Ultimate Savings Guide To Disaster Preparation talks about how to save money and still get quality supplies and equipment you and your family need to weather out the storm or make it through the crisis.

It includes recommendations that are in line with those suggested by the American Red Cross, so you will be truly ready if a news alert says severe weather is headed your way.

Click here to read about Disaster Emergency Supplies while Homesteading:

https://www.couponchief.com/guides/guide_to_saving_money_on_disaster_preparation

 

Hey! Ini here to share the “Achievements & Failures” of our year on the land.

This year was a doozy. At times I felt aligned and deeply in my purpose and life path, grateful and jubilant. Other times I felt so frustrated upset and like everything sucked, I felt like giving up everything. But the truth I’ve realized through experience after an epic 2017 is that If I don’t commit myself fully and live life as voraciously as possible, I’m missing out on the most profound highs and successes and all the lessons and growth that come with upset and failure.

So what did 2017 bring? Short answer A LOT. It was a year full of severe changes, hard work ands struggle, satisfaction, rejuvenation, abundance… A really big year for us at Mountain Jewel. It is our 2nd year developing a raw piece of land into a thriving diverse ecosystem guided by the ethics and values of permaculture. PHEW! Here’s a brief list of major happening on our Homestead in 2017 :

We were featured on a Discovery Channel show, we build a solar shed, we set up our solar system to provide off grid electricity, we got a solar powered well pump, we set up a shower, we installed drip irrigation, we erected a high tunnel, we harvested an abundance of garlic, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, and sweet potatoes we’re enjoying through the winter, we grew many medicinal herbs and set up a tincture business (Mountain Jewel Botanicals), we made an octagonal log cabin into our home, we raised our first chickens, we got goats, we planted hundreds of edible/useful trees and shrubs and vines (the fruit of which we will harvest for decades to come), we got two bee hives and caught a honeybee swarm, harvested our first haul of honey, we tattooed each other, put in a vineyard, plugged mushroom logs with shiitake, we danced to our friend’s music, we floated our local water ways and hunted and ate armadillos.

Where to begin? For starters our yurt (the only “inside” space on our 18 ac homestead ) was moldy at the beginning of the year. In a wake up coughing, not breathing well, tight chested, swollen face OH SHIT THIS SUCKS kinda way. We had left for several months in the last stretch of 2016 and came back to a yurt that was actively culturing mold in our incredibly humid climate. So the year began with a failure to secure a safe and restful home space. Not interested in leaving or pursuing other options offsite, we slept in our screened in gazebo. Luckily our winters aren’t too harsh, but a couple of nights dipped to 8 degrees and waking up shivering is no fun for anyone.

Not having a safe space to rest and rejuvenate after a busy and hard work-filled first year on our homestead, we deicide to do what we’ve always done, just keep moving forward. We didn’t have much choice in the matter as my partner and I have given ALL of our selves to this dream of establishing a thriving food forest, homestead and eventually opening Mountain Jewel to interns, visitors and workshop particpants as a center for earth connection & permaculture education. This is our life! It really sucked a bag of rocks to have no space to breathe easy out of the elements. Everyday seemed to drain me a little more, push my limits and dampen the spirits. Out of this push to get our needs met, in early January we began construction of a shed to house our future solar system, meet our storage needs and even offer a safe sleeping space.

We dug a foundation by hand in the rocky Ozark soil. Returning many of the rocks to create a rubble trench. We began to fill poly bags with gravel to create an earth bag stem wall. We used green locally milled oak 2x6s to frame the walls and raised them with help from our friends. We roofed the building and were cruising along when along came a message to would shift the year in a MAJOR way.

Our instagram account had a message from the casting director from Homestead Resuce. It’s a reality TV show on Discovery Channel that features the Raneys, a homesteading family from Alaska. They “save” homesteaders in a dramatic portrayal of the struggles of homesteading. They invest their skills and a generous network budget into making the lives of homesteaders easier/better/safer.

During the interviews I was quite nervous (pretty rare for me). I felt like I was in 3rd grade delivering a speech that I wasn’t ready for. I knew it didn’t matter, as this was just a silly interview, but I still felt unsure of myself. That said, once it was over I knew we were going to win and be selected to be on the show. And we were.

It all happened in a whirlwind of activity beginning with a site visit 3 weeks after the interview. Two crew members came and scoped things out, briefing us on what to expect. Then they were gone and we were told they would return with 20 people in a couple weeks. It all happened so fast! When the full crew arrived our life was turned upside down. It really felt like a mini invasion as our normally quiet, basically solitary life was abruptly filled with a flurry of hectic activity.

Being on TV was never something I wanted or dreamed of. But here it was, unfolding in front of me. The Raney family wanted to tear our yurt down without giving us a clue as to what would happen in it’s place. This whole process was deeply unsettling and uncomfortable in many ways. The whole thing was filmed, and being TV there is always a push to get the content to tell their intended story. This coupled with high standards and ethics made for an interesting compromise.

In the end we were stoked on what they set our to build, an octagonal cedar log cabin. WOW, I was shocked and happy.

Another big improvement that was made through Homestead Rescue was the installation of a solar powered well pump. Up until now we had been hand-pumping water for all the household and irrigation needs. They hooked us up and had a pump installed for us. They paid for solar panel and needed hardware, which gave us the great opportunity to practice wiring solar panels ourselves for the first time. They also installed a water tower with a cistern that channeled water through a cedar aqueduct to another raised cistern. We then installed drip irrigation to water our plants (of which Wren started from seed over 100+ varieties this year, many of them perennials we can enjoy for years to come!).

Just after the filming of the show, we finished the solar shed by siding it with waney/live edge cedar we felled from our land. The siding was all cut on site and therefore had no lumber miles! Not to mention, the live edge completely changes the face of a square building to create a beautifully organic feel. We installed our 8 PV panels on the roof of our solar shed. We learned about wiring and installed the charge controller, batteries and inverter than now provides us with ample AC electricity. What a life changer! We also learned how to wire sockets and set up a ceiling fan in the gazebo. After this, we soon purchased an energy efficient freezer (now happily full of food we put up). This was a HUGE step forward for us as we can now store food easily with renewable energy, build with power tools and have some creature comforts like lights and fans.

I am still so grateful for this progress!!! I give thanks everyday for the abundant energy harnessed from the sun. We were never interested in tying into the grid (still roughly 80% powered by coal in Missouri) and wanted to really walk our talk. Getting ourselves wired to produce our own electricity has been such a blessing.

Another success was growing and storing oodles of garlic, potatoes and sweet potatoes (we’ll write posts on this and how you can successfully grow your own!). This feels rewarding to be able to grow calorie dense foods to sustain and nourish these bodies that work so hard.

We also tried our hands at grazing goats to help mow down brushy areas. We traded labor for a friend’s wethers (castrated males) from her milking herd. We effectively turned our brushy landscape into high quality meat. The harvesting process was definitely impactful as we saw these goats come into this world and were responsible for ending their lives. This was an emotional trying process, but one which I am grateful for. We also harvested some of the chickens from our flock and made some delicious soups and stocks!

This fall, after erecting the main structure months earlier, we framed the walls of our high tunnel. After removing 28 five gallon buckets of rocks and a few boulders (I said we had rocky soil, and it’s only 200 square feet), we were set to plant the fall crops that keep us in fresh produce through the winter. Yay for winter salads! This was great success because it protects our food and greatly extends the season. It also gave us a good first step before embarking on a much larger high tunnel approaching 2000 square feet (which we got a grant for- we will also write a post on this!).

The most recent success was realizing the first phases of broad scale food forest plantings. We actually received a USDA grant to maintain forested land and plant edible trees and shrubs (we’ll do a post sharing the details). A fantastic reminder that we are doing the right thing and are being blessed. We planted over 100 trees and shrubs including hazelnuts, chestnuts, hican (hickory x pecan), new jersey tea, paw paw, pears, apples, apricots, almonds etc… This dream and vision for manifesting abundant and diverse productive ecosystems in line with natural cycles is so important. This dream is MUCH bigger than us and I truly believe we are held and supported in our endeavors. This dream is worthwhile…

This has been an abundant year, full of life and beauty. It feels like the struggles we overcame at the start of the year built and strengthened our resolve and determination. After so many confirmations and blessings, we’re ending the year in a restful space, with gratitude overflowing. Taking the winter slowly and remembering to laugh, read and play. Thanks to all those that came before, all the encouragement, and those who see our visions and support the good work of co-creating an abundant and beautiful life of Earth.

As always, feel free to resteen, upvote and comment! Also, we write these posts to share our knowledge and awareness with YOU! If you see something that sparks your interest in what we’ve written and would like to know more, please suggest an article for us to write! It’s a blessing to us to share and this helps us know what you’re interested in.

I was inspired to do this post from: https://steemit.com/my2017/@anomadsoul/my-2017-contest-inviting-everyone-to-do-a-2017-recap-every-week-until-the-year-ends-100-sbd-weekly-reward

~Gratitude~

The Homesteading Process of Lifting Moving Water Pumps is carefully detailed in this informative article that imparts knowledge as good as gold. Water on a homestead is life, norishment for people, plants, animals and trees. We can’t live without it.

Water needs to be used wisely and carried around when necessary to relocate it. Filling up bottles and barrels of it, forming pressure around it to pump it out quickly, and sending water from the top of a certain height and over are ways to get water moving. These lifting techniques can be described by determining overall production.

Always, a specific flow and pace of it will show how effectualit is and the difference between responsiveness to variations than other techniques. The following is a list on using the bucket, our own hands, and using other objectsas part ofcarrying and pumping water. Some are easy, but others are difficult in terms of the amount of labor needed for irrigation.

There are variations where, to raise lifting of water, a rope can be used to bring up the bucket of water from its foundation to the level necessary for it to be poured into a stream. This includes the scooper, the swinging basket, and a specially constructed “dhone,” which dips into the water, closes in its amount, and tips over to the other side into its intended target.

These specialized lifts with counterweights are also present as a way to pick up water, such as getting it out of a well as an easier way than simply pulling up a bucket connected to a rope.

Then, there are much more advanced versions of water collection, such as the wheel of buckets that takes gallons of water at a time to irrigate into elevated fields, such as seen in agricultural lands like in Asia and Africa. These are a few of these different pumps and collection of water.

Simmons 1160/PM500 No.2 Hand Water Pump – (Buy Here from Amazon to support our website) 

Click here to read about the Homesteading Process of Lifting Moving Water Pumps:

http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/ah810e/AH810E05.htm#5.4.2

 

This Homesteading Secure Chicken Coop DIY Project is a great visvial tour along with step by step detailed instructions.

When thinking about building a space for chickens, there are quite a few different things to look at. You will want a coop which is secure, as chickens are easy prey for whatever predators you may happen to have in your part of the world.

You will also want a place for chickens to lay their eggs, and you will need to consider their comfort throughout the year; if your yard has drainage problems, you have to account for this, and some shade in midsummer will be a must, as chickens do not like the heat. You will also want something easy to clean and unobtrusive in your garden.

Security is perhaps the biggest issue; you will either need a run with a skirt to prevent predators digging underneath, or you will have to consider electric fencing. The door to the coop ought to close so you can shut them in at night, increasing their safety if a predator does manage to break into the run.

Make sure they have a comfortable nest box with plenty of straw, as well as a place to roost, as chickens sleep perching and will be unhappy with a flat floor. Think about the placement of the run to give optimum weather protection, and put in a removable board to catch droppings; this will mean you don’t need to clean the whole pen as often, saving you time and effort. Careful design of your chicken pen will mean you can minimise work, and keep your girls as safe and comfortable as possible all year round.

Click here to read about Homesteading Secure Chicken Coop DIY Project :

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/littlefeats-the-feather-factory-chicken-coop.47742/

Many experienced permaculturists and foresters, at first, dismiss Syntropic farming. They usually think that Syntropic Farming is just a “re-branding” of Agroforestry Systems (AFS) or of the Permaculture Food Forest with a strong take on the “chopping and dropping” system maintenance. Ernst Gotsch’s insights and classifications, however, are much deeper. In this article I discuss some basic differences between the classic Permaculture Food Forest and the AFS developed within the Syntropic Farming principles.

Article written by Eurico Vianna.

Already concerned with the devastating effects of soil tilling and the cultivation of annuals, Russel Smith wrote Tree Crops: a permanent agriculture in 1929. Smith’s work bears great influence over regenerative agriculture farmers and environmentalists. David Holmgren and Bill Mollison, co-creators of Permaculture, for example, wrote Permaculture 1 in great part inspired by Smith’s book. Robert Hart’s book Forest Gardening: Cultivating an Edible Landscape (1991), was also influenced by Smith’s work. Hart’s book, in turn, became one of the foundations for the Food Forest concept in Mollison’s Permaculture: a designer’s manual (1989).

Hart pioneered the implementation of food-forests in the temperate climate, and according to him a forest has 7 layers:

1. The canopy,
2. a low tree layer,
3. a shrub layer,
4. a herbaceous layer,
5. a ground cover,
6. a rhizosphere or underground dimension of plants grown for their roots and tubers,
7. a vertical layer (of climbers and vines).

Following this principle, Hart designed an edible landscape based on an already existing apple and pear orchard Shropshire, England. The majority of the other plants were replaced by edible, medicinal and nitrogen-fixing species (Hart, R. 1991). Hart eventually developed a diet that was 90% vegan and sourced almost in its entirety from fruits, nuts and vegetable from his property’s Forest Garden.

The illustration above demonstrates how it is possible to replace all layers (or strata) of a forest with edible species to create a Forest Garden (a.k.a. Food Forest). For example, we could have from the bottom up: tubers (sweet-potato, ginger, turmeric, cassava, etc.); ground covers (pineapple, lettuce, tomato, basil, etc.); shrubs and small trees (coffee, cacao beans, pawpaws, etc.), large fruit trees (avocado, mango, jack-fruit, etc.), the highest or emergent trees (palm trees such as Brazil or Pupunha Nut, etc.) and the climbers (passionfruit, choko, loofah, etc.) (Mollison, 1988).

Ernst Gotsch, a Swiss geneticist botanist who became a Brazilian citizen, with over 30 years of experience designing, implementing and maintaining food-forestry systems (or Agro-forestry systems – AFS), created his own classification (personal communication and course notes 2014/2016). According to Gotsch, an AFS is constituted of 4 layers or strata:

• Low strata species. Plants which demand less light to grow and produce, and that occupy up to 80% of their niche;
• Medium strata species. Plants that may occupy up to 60% of their niche and, in the right percentage, can withstand shade from taller trees;
• High strata species. These trees may occupy up to 40% of their niche area. In this percentage the light permeates through them and hits medium and low strata species;
• Emergent species, in turn, occupy about 20% of their niche and can take full sun.

In Gotsch’s Syntropic Agriculture classification, however, it is important not to confound the different strata (that are related to the amount of sunlight demanded by each species) with cycles (that are related to the life span and harvest cycles of each species). Gotsch has also created a new classification system that deals specifically with life cycles. These are: Placentas I and II, Secondary I, II and III, and climax (see table below). Whereas Hart’s 7 layers classification deals with the forest structure, Gotsch’s strata system deals with a fractal-like classification that is contextual to the amount of sunlight a plant demands in each life cycle. Gotsch’s strata system, thus, allows a deeper understanding of plant consortiums and their life cycles within the ecological succession. And here it is worth noting that ‘plant consortiums’ in Syntropic Farming are not quite like the permaculture concept of guilds, but this topic falls out of this article’s scope.

In other words, each life cycle may contain all 4 strata. For example, within the Placenta 1 cycle we might have a consortium in which Nira garlic is low strata, rocket medium, lettuce high and corn is the emergent. Within Placenta 2 we could plant sweet potato as low, taro as medium (depending on which variety), cassava as high strata, and okra as emergent. This way it is possible to design each strata within each cycle. And because this approach deals with varied spatial (strata) and temporal (life cycles) dimensions, it optimises the production up to 400%.

Ecological succession

The processes by which nature establish its ecosystems, that in turn give support to life in the planet are called ecological succession. And it is the understanding of the structural layers of a forest and of ecological succession (with its life cycles) that allow us to design, implement (all at once) and speed up a system with all the necessary species to reach climax. Ecological succession creates the ideal conditions for the establishment of biodiversity. Biodiversity, in turn, creates the biomass, soil cover, and sufficient nutrients so that the system can become more complex as it evolves. Primary ecological succession takes place for the first time in completely barren areas (e.g. after earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, glacial eras, etc.). It might take millions of years until Primary ecological succession can support a more complex system such as a Climax forest. Secondary ecological succession happens when a forested area is degraded either by human action (e.g. slash and burn agriculture, deforestation for logging or the agri-business, etc.) or by natural events (e.g. a bushfire, landslides, severe storms, etc.) and then it is left alone to recover. In this case the area is not completely barren and when there is still enough biodiversity left this forest might evolve to a Secondary (or Second Growth) Forest.

There are few classifications for the different stages of ecological succession stages. In the most commonly used we find:

• Pioneer stage. Plants in this stage have rapid growth, thrive in full sun, and are short lived;
• Secondary stage. In this stage plants grow more slowly, need some shade to thrive and have a medium life cycle; and
• Climax. In this stage plants have a long life cycle, but can only evolve after a primary forest has already been established.

In another common classification in Brazil we find:

• Capoeirinha (initial stage of regeneration);
• Capoeira (intermediate stage of regeneration);
• Capoeirão (advanced stage of regeneration); and
• Secondary (or Second Growth) Forest.

Ernst Gotsch (1997) coined yet another classification system according to the species’ function and their life cycles. Gostsch uses this system to design consortiums of species and develop his AFS to regenerate areas that have been degraded by (negative) human interventions. In Gotsch’s system these stages are:

• Placenta I (with plants living up to 6 months);
• Placenta II (plants living up to 2 years);
• Secundária (Secondary) I (with plants living up to 10 years);
• Secundária II (plants living up to 25 years);
• Secundária III (plants living up to 80 years); and
• Climax (with plants living more than 80 years).

Regardless of which kind of theoretical classification is used to understand a place or system or of which practical approach (Permaculture or Syntropic) is taken to establish Agroforestry Systems, the understanding of ecological succession, of the structural layers, and of each species’ role within its life cycles is crucial to the farmer’s/designer’s success. In a Syntropic system, however, different trees (e.g. pioneer, medium strata, nitrogen-fixing, windbreak, biomass, timber, and climax trees) are planted with a subsistence of market garden (with ground covers, vegetables, tubers and annuals) so that the farmer can start offsetting the costs of implementation as soon as possible. This strategy, together with (specific strata and life cycle-related) pruning and mulching, allows us to speed up the natural processes of ecological succession, producing quality food, fibres, timber and fuels while also regenerating degraded lands.