Food Forest Design: An Immersive Half-Day Workshop
Designing Regenerative Food Forests from the Ground Up
Every successful food forest begins with thoughtful design. Before selecting trees or planting the first seed, it's essential to understand the land, identify your goals, and develop a design that works with nature rather than against it.
Dive deep into the design of food forests with Mike Garcia, Owner & Operator of Everoak Farm in Orlando, and Tyler Zaworski, Head of Food Forest at 4Roots Farm!
In this five-hour immersive workshop, we'll explore the process of designing resilient, productive, and regenerative food forests, walking away with a deeper understanding of the principles behind successful food forest design and a clear framework for beginning—or refining—your own regenerative landscape with confidence.
What You’ll Learn
Rather than focusing on memorizing plant lists or following a one-size-fits-all blueprint, this workshop teaches participants how to think like an ecological designer.
Together, We'll Explore:
- The foundational principles of agroforestry, food forests, and permaculture
- How to identify your context, goals, and design constraints
- Reading the landscape: including climate, topography, water movement, soils, and microclimates
- Understanding the Scale of Permanence and how it guides the design process
- Designing for ecological function before selecting plant species
- Understanding food forest structure, layers, guilds, and plant relationships
- Applying succession and long-term thinking to create resilient systems
- Matching design strategies to different property sizes, budgets, and management goals
- Learning from real-world examples through guided tours of the agroforestry systems at the 4Roots Farm Campus
The Experience
In this five-hour immersive workshop, we'll explore the process of designing resilient, productive, and regenerative food forests using ecological design principles drawn from agroforestry, permaculture, and natural ecosystem processes. Through a combination of classroom instruction and guided tours throughout the 4Roots Farm Campus, participants will learn how to observe the landscape, interpret natural patterns, and make informed design decisions that create healthy, long-lasting systems.
We'll examine real-world food forest and agroforestry systems throughout the campus, discussing why they were designed the way they were, the principles that guided those decisions, and how those systems continue to evolve over time.
Whether you're designing a backyard food forest, homestead, community garden, educational space, or working farm, this workshop will provide a practical framework for creating regenerative landscapes that are both ecologically resilient and uniquely suited to your property.
By the end of the workshop, you'll have a deeper understanding of the principles behind successful food forest design and a clear framework for beginning—or refining—your own regenerative landscape with confidence.
Event Details
📆 Date & Time: Saturday, August 29th | 9:00am - 2:00pm
📍 Location: 4Roots Farm Campus, 1101 N John Young Pkwy, Orlando, FL
🎟️ Ticket Price: $50 per attendee
Meet Your Instructors
Mike Garcia | Owner & Operator of Everoak Farm
Mike Garcia is the Owner & Operator of Everoak Farm: a small, bio-intensive and regenerative family farm in the heart of Orlando.
As a self-taught first-generation farmer with a deep-rooted passion for sustainable agriculture and regenerative farming practices, Mike’s journey began in the culinary world, where he honed his skills and expertise through formal training at culinary school and over a decade of experience in the hospitality industry.
Driven to reconnect with the land and foster a more sustainable food system, Mike transitioned from the kitchen to the fields, embracing a holistic approach to farming rooted in agroecology. Drawing inspiration from nature's wisdom, Mike practices integrating bio-intensive market gardening, agroforestry, pasture poultry, and composting to cultivate healthy, nutrient-rich soil and promote biodiversity on his farm.
Tyler Zaworski | Head of Food Forest at 4Roots Farm
Tyler Zaworski serves as the Head of Food Forest at 4Roots Farm, where he helps steward and expand the Farm Campus’ regenerative growing spaces through sustainable agriculture practices and ecosystem-based design.
Passionate about growing food and empowering others to do the same, Tyler specializes in food forest cultivation, edible landscaping, plant propagation, and regenerative growing techniques that work in harmony with Florida’s natural environment.
Through hands-on education and community engagement, Tyler helps visitors connect more deeply to where their food comes from while demonstrating how productive, resilient ecosystems can be created at any scale: from backyard gardens to larger community spaces. His approachable teaching style and practical experience make him passionate about helping others gain the confidence and knowledge to begin their own growing journey.