If you have access to land and feel the pull to grow real food — not as a hobby, but as a way of living more honestly with the land — this learning journey is for you.

The industrial food system is an experiment that is failing our health, our ecosystems, and our sense of agency. Many people sense this, but don’t know where to start, or how to commit in a way that lasts.

We use the principles of Syntropic Agroforestry to work dynamically with nature to achieve the best results in the shortest time.

Fast Track Your Food Forest – 2026 is a practical, place-based training designed to help you establish a resilient, abundant syntropic food forest — whether you’re starting from grass or working with an existing orchard or food forest. It’s structured to give you the principles, timing, and plant material needed for late-winter / early-spring installation, without overwhelm or guesswork.

If you want to eat from a living system, reduce dependence on industrial inputs, and grow something that can outlast you, you’re in the right place.

🎯 Email “keep me in the loop” to growingradicles@gmail.com to receive details.

What the Training Actually Offers

Fast Track Your Food Forest – 2026 is a three-part, one-day-at-a-time training series designed to meet you where you are — and get you ready to act.

Across the series, you’ll learn how to design, establish, and manage a syntropic food forest that evolves quickly, produces abundance, and strengthens the land rather than depleting it. Whether you’re starting from grass or retrofitting an existing system, the underlying principles and practices remain the same.

The sessions are timed to align with late winter and early spring, giving you both the understanding and the plant material needed to move from intention to installation.

This isn’t theory divorced from life. The training is grounded in a decision-making framework called The Living Compass, which helps ensure your commitment to a food forest is integrated with the realities of your time, energy, finances, and family — so it doesn’t become another “good idea” that fades.

The format is practical, relational, and tested. Seven events held between April and October 2025 resulted in two new food forest installations, alongside a growing local network of people learning and supporting one another.

The Training Format

Fast Track Your Food Forest – 2026

A sequence of three one-day trainings, spaced to support real-world action.

Session 1 — Principles & Site Design

  • Core principles of syntropic agroforestry
  • Reading your site: light, water, soils, succession
  • Designing for fast establishment and long-term resilience

Session 2 — Management & Propagation

  • How mature syntropic systems are managed
  • Pruning, timing, and system acceleration
  • Access to plant material and propagation strategies

Session 3 — Installation Day

  • Refining your design based on real conditions
  • Planting a syntropic food forest together
  • Practical decisions that determine success or struggle

There is also the possibility of shaping a training day around your own land or project.

Why This Training Exists

This training has been created by people who understand both ecology and commitment.

Arthur McInnes brings decades of hands-on experience establishing food forests, growing and supplying plants through Twin Falls Nursery, and learning directly from land-based practice. His work is grounded in observation, experimentation, and long-term stewardship.

James Andrews focuses on translating ecological principles into practical actions that everyday people can apply — nourishing bodies, motivation, and meaning.

James Samuel brings a systems lens, supporting the development of vibrant local food economies while helping people navigate the emotional and relational challenges that arise when we attempt to build something different together.

Together, they hold a learning space that is practical, relational, and tested — designed to support people who are serious about establishing living systems that last.

Ready to Begin?

If you have access to land and a genuine intention to establish a living food forest in 2026, this training is for you.

Fast Track Your Food Forest is not a talk, a taste, or a nice idea. It’s a commitment to learning how to work with ecological processes and to follow through with real installation, in the right season, with support.

Places are limited by the nature of the work and the land involved.

If you want to be informed as dates and locations are confirmed — and to be considered for participation — email “keep me in the loop” to:

growingradicles@gmail.com
or call James: 021 252 0653

If you’re serious, you’ll recognise yourself in this invitation.

Read more . . .

The trainings were first run between April and November 2025, and ended with two new installations, one in Maungaturoto, and one in Mangawhai. Here are the 2025 articles:

Just three months after planting the Mangawhai food forest