Food Forest Learning Tour

Saturday, June 4th
9:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

In Person: Grayslake, IL

$10 - lunch is included! 

Registration required

This half-day learning session and field walk will give landowners and farmers insights into the theory and realities of the food forest. (The food forest is an agroforestry practice that involves  the planting of diverse fruit-and-nut-bearing trees, shrubs, and other vegetation in a way that mimics the ecology of a natural forest.)

The Savanna Institute, Prairie Wind Family Farm, and the Liberty Prairie Foundation will hold this event at the Foundation’s 94-acre acre farm in Grayslake in the Prairie Crossing conservation community. 

In 2019, with multiple goals in mind, Prairie Wind Family Farm designed and planted a food forest on six of the 33 acres that they rent from the Foundation. This food forest is still in the early stages of its growth and development, but it includes chestnuts, pawpaws, hazelnuts, elderberries, and other food-bearing trees and shrubs in a planting pattern tailored to the topography of the site. This is an experimental, long-term venture for Jeff and Jen Miller of Prairie Wind Family Farm as their primary business is growing organic vegetables for sale through a thriving year-round CSA and farmstand. 

In addition to its partnership with Prairie Wind Family Farm, the Liberty Prairie Foundation makes available its farmland for other farm businesses, trial projects, and experiential education while managing the farm as a whole with conservation in mind. The Foundation’s farm is located within the innovative Prairie Crossing conservation community that includes extensive natural habitat and an “Edible Landscape.”

The Savanna Institute staff will bring the Institute’s expertise in agroforestry to the event and share information and lessons from other food forest projects as well.  The Institute works with farmers and scientists to lay the groundwork for widespread agroforestry adoption in the Midwest through research, education, and outreach. 

(This is a walking tour that will travel about 1.5 miles in total. Lunch will be provided. This event will go forward rain or shine.)

Jeff and Jen Miller, Prairie Wind Family Farm

After successful careers in landscape architecture and marketing, Jeff and Jen took a new road in 2005 - they had their first baby and began to farm at the Liberty Prairie Foundation’s farm in the Prairie Crossing conservation community. Their dream was to make a tangible difference for the planet and their community. Today, their farm business - Prairie Wind Family Farm – is a successful, 40-acre USDA certified organic farm with a 250-member CSA and farmstand. Jeff and Jen continue to grow the life of the soil through cover crops and careful rotation planning.

Kaitie Adams, Savanna Institute

Kaitie leads the Institute’s Illinois Demonstration Farm program and helps build community through agroforestry education across the state and beyond. In addition to planting trees and talking about pawpaws, she teaches community classes on seasonal cooking, fermentation, and canning and runs Red Crib Acres, a small apple orchard on rented land, with her husband John Williams. Kaitie is drawn to agroforestry for its powerful reimagining of a future that is abundant, perennial, and beautiful.

Sven Pihl, Savanna Institute

A Navy aircraft mechanic before and during the Persian Gulf War, Sven later homesteaded for several years and created a business to work on community and residential food systems planning and design projects. He combines his engineering, systems-thinking, and project management experience with ecological landscape design, permaculture, holistic management and regenerative agriculture knowledge to design systems that meet human needs while building ecosystem health. Sven is the Institute’s Agroforestry Technical Service Provider.