166) Mark Shepard: Restoration agriculture and letting go of micromanagement to allow nature to thrive

Mark Shepard is the CEO of Forest Agriculture Enterprises, founder of Restoration Agriculture Development, and award-winning author of the book, Restoration Agriculture: Real-World Permaculture for Farmers. He is most widely known as the founder of New Forest Farm, the 106-acre perennial agricultural savanna considered by many to be one of the most ambitious sustainable agriculture projects in the United States.   On this podcast episode, Mark sheds light on why we need to stop trying so hard to realize a world based on our persistent concepts and ideals that we made up and instead, get out more to observe and learn from how natural ecosystems really function; what is problematic about how we've developed a food system based mostly off of annual crops versus perennials; how he's been able to utilize a hands-off approach to growing food regeneratively, which he calls the 'STUN method', or Sheer Total Utter Neglect; and more.   Episode notes: www.greendreamer.com/166 Weekly solutions-based news: www.greendreamer.com  Support the show: www.greendreamer.com/support  Instagram: www.instagram.com/greendreamerpodcast