When starting Tarwyn Park Training in 2012, we wanted a simple way for people to remember the key concepts so that they could go home and not be left trying to remember what to do. We wanted to create a checklist of sorts for people to follow and enact in their landscapes and that it could act as a summary of Natural Sequence Farming (NSF) - something that was easy to share. Whether you were;
📫 Chatting with a neighbour over the fence and sharing what you learnt when you were off at that course last week
🍺 Talking to a fellow farmer at the pub
👪 Or sharing with your friends and family, who have been hearing more and more about these “regenerative farming” methods
At first, we initially had three pillars;
- Slow The Flow
- Let All Plants Grow
- Careful Where The Animals Go
Then we later added;
- Filtration Is A Must Know
The final pillar was added following a discussion with PA (Peter Andrews). He said we weren’t mentioning recycling fertility, so the fifth and final pillar was created.
- Return To The Top To Recycle The Lot
That finalised our five pillars, which now form the basis behind everything we teach, as they form the basis behind managing a landscape.
They emphasise our whole-of-landscape approach, ensuring a holistic focus. They ensure that if we check every one of those pillars off when managing our landscape, we focus on all the elements of an ecosystem and consider our actions’ broader impact on the entire landscape.
Slow The Flow
TLDR: Slow the movement of water, nutrients and fertility across and below our landscape.
The first and most well-known pillar of NSF is, of course, Slow the Flow. Most often, when people think of NSF, that first image is usually of the bloke pushing logs and rocks into a stream to try and slow down the water. But NSF is much more than that, as we’ll show you with the five pillars.
Of course, that makes Slow the Flow nonetheless important.
Slow the Flow is focused on managing the movement of water, nutrients, and organic matter across and beneath the landscape.
We can create opportunities to capture and retain valuable resources by looking to manage and slow the flow.
This approach not only results in more hydrated landscapes but can also manage erosion and maintain soil fertility levels to ensure a landscape’s retention of productive capacity over time.
Let All Plants Grow
TLDR: Maximise your number of green, growing plants, as they are the builders and managers of our landscapes.
Our second pillar, and the other most known aspect of NSF, is weeds and willows, or we would like to talk about - Let All Plants Grow.
It is about recognising plants’ crucial role in our landscape - they are the builders of everything. They complete several essential functions (what we call the five functions) to manage our environment, and they do all of that free of charge, powered entirely by solar energy.
We emphasise the importance of plant diversity because we acknowledge that every green and growing plant plays a unique role in our landscape and completes a specific function regardless of the value we assign it.
Careful Where The Animals Go
TLDR: Our livestock are our tools to assist in moving landscapes forward, but they must managed with caution in sensitive areas
Our third pillar is all about managing livestock and how to manage them in conjunction with our landscape.
There are particular areas of a landscape (like our wetlands, streams and steps) that are sensitive to livestock and must be managed accordingly.
Our livestock can be used as tools within our landscapes, and their management can lead to successfully moving fertility, changing our plant succession, and increasing productivity.
Where possible, we always want to push towards a diversity of livestock, whether that’s different production enterprises (🐄, 🐏, 🐓, 🐖) or wildlife.
Filtration Is A Must Know
TLDR: Plants must collect and filter any losses from a landscape.
The filtering of water, nutrients and matter in our landscape is crucial. All of these things must be filtered and processed before leaving a landscape. Filtration areas are found throughout our landscapes - areas like wetlands, billabongs, floodplains, swampy meadows and the like all complete this role.
Plants are vital to this process as they can capture and process the complex organic matter and fertility, entering these areas into simple soluble plant nutrients.
We must reinstate these areas in our landscapes, restart the filtration process, and, ultimately, an effective nutrient cycle.
Return To The Top To Recycle The Lot
TLDR: All landscapes need to operate in a continuous feedback loop.
We must cycle our water, nutrients, and matter with minimal losses. To start this process, we must collect these materials from the bottom of our landscape in our filtration areas and then move them back to the top. Machinery can complete this, but environmental factors, such as animals and insects, which nature has used forever, can also achieve it.
This process builds resilience into a landscape, as the continuous feedback of fertility removes the need to bring in external resources and allows one to make the most of what one naturally receives whilst increasing productivity at the same time.
Summary
In conclusion, the 5 Pillars of Natural Sequence Farming offer a comprehensive and holistic framework for managing landscapes.
By slowing the flow, letting plants thrive, managing livestock carefully, understanding filtration, and embracing recycling, we not only enhance the productivity of our land but also contribute to a healthier ecosystem.
This approach fosters resilience and sustainability, ensuring our landscapes thrive for generations.
If you're intrigued by these principles and eager to delve deeper, consider exploring more about Natural Sequence Farming and its transformative potential for regenerative agriculture. Join us at Tarwyn Park Training to learn how to implement these pillars in your landscape and become a steward of the earth.
