Who are we?
Established in 2017 in Périgord Noir, Dordogne, France, Joala Nursery has been growing berry plants, edible berry bushes and honey plants for several years.
In 2018, we began experiments in syntropic agroforestry in the field and started welcoming students. We began offering training courses in autumn of 2021.
At the beginning of 2023, Joala Nursery became Joala Syntropy, and we expanded our training and educational support activities with the continued exploitation of test sites and a book titled Welcome to Syntropy: Field Principles for a Garden of Abundance (published in French as Bienvenue en Syntropie, un jardin d’abondance, des principes aux terrains. This is the first book on the subject—it sold over 5,000 copies within six months of self-publishing and was print 20000 times the first year !
In 2024, we republished the book with Terre Vivante and released it in bookstores. We transferred stewardship of the nursery land to the new company Reflets d’Arbres. In response to ever-increasing demand, we developed and pre-launched an online training course based on our field experiments. After nine months of filming, editing and fine-tuning, it will be available this autumn (only in french, the english version will come!)
Plantation maraichère syntropique au Bresil. Credit photo: Opaline Lysiakk
What is syntropy ?
Developed by Ernst Götsch over 40 years ago in Brazil, syntropy has been practiced for just few years in temperate climates. Syntropy comes from the Greek syntropia, which means moving from the simple to the complex.
– Above all, it’s a paradigm shift from which field practices flow. There are no ready-made recipes, but rather a profound understanding that, “We are not the intelligent ones, we are part of an intelligent system.” -Ernst Götsch
– It’s finding our place among all living things–one that is just and beneficial.
– It’s the continued creation of biomass in space and over time. In other words, agriculture that is a process—the more we plant, the richer the soil is, and the less we have to water!
Syntropy means moving towards biomass self-sufficiency, the creation of microclimates on plots, resistance to extremes of heat and rain, exponential soil improvement and a drastic reduction in water requirements.
It’s magical and exhilarating!
Anaëlle Théry
Nursery gardener, teacher, and author.
did my university studies in anthropology and history, have written several children’s books and have recently been focusing on my work as nursery gardener and independent field researcher. After years of practice, learning, and gardening, I was lucky enough to be trained by Ernst Götsch in syntropic agroforestry in France in 2018.
Since then, I’ve been dreaming, eating, and sleeping syntropically, adapting the fundamental principles of abundance and life to different types of production and objectives in temperate climates. I’m passionate about the search for a just and beneficial place for humans in living systems and pedagogy and resilience adapted to climate change.
Experiments
Since 2018, the nursery has become a research center for adapting the principles of syntropy to temperate climates with over twenty-four cultivation test sites.
Our experimental goals include practice methods for kitchen gardens, vegetable farms, berry production and orchards that yield biomass autonomy.
Today, experimentation continues at several different test sites due to our work training individuals, accompanying their projects, and following up on research. From Belgium to Tunisia, these diverse experiments touch on topics including firewood, grain production, pasture-raised livestock using dynamic rotational grazing, laying hens, nurseries, and you-pick farms.
Training
The core goal of our training courses is to help participants become autonomous in their understanding of the principles and integration of syntropic tools and processes.
Combining the joy of working in harmony with living things with efficient, practical application!
The online training course, which is currently being filmed, focuses on year-round plot monitoring and technical skills, and includes a detailed module on space-time planning, i.e. the ability to project planting scenarios according to various objectives and situations.
Our aim is to make training accessible and adapted to your availability and learning speed. All without having to travel across countries for five days of classroom training and without waiting four years on the waiting list !
A book
This first book on syntropic agroforestry in temperate climates is based on the two aspects of the fundamental principles of abundance and the systems of the living world as well as the results of thousands of hours of field research.
It combines science, philosophy, and history with experimentation, observation, and an open-minded approach to what is possible.
Mix this with ongoing improvement of our teaching methods and acute awareness that all this is just the beginning then add in a sprinkle of cartoon musketeer mice, fables, and plantations for turtles!
Audience: from amateur gardeners to professional growers.
The book is currently in the pipeline for translation into six languages—including English!
To stay up to date with new videos, articles, training course translation in English and interdisciplinary tools:
contact@joala.fr