The Permaculture Orchard: Beyond Organic

7.50 USD – 15.00 USD

An educational film about the largest permaculture orchard in eastern North America and on the future of fruit growing.

The Permaculture Orchard : Beyond Organic is a feature-length educational film that will teach you how to set up your own permaculture orchard at any scale. Recognizing the limitations of the organic model as a substitute to conventional fruit growing, this film proposes a more holistic, regenerative approach based on permaculture principles.

Based on 20 years of applied theory and trial and error, biologist and educator Stefan Sobkowiak shares his experience transforming a conventional apple orchard into an abundance of biodiversity that virtually takes care of itself. The concepts, techniques and tips presented in this film will help you with your own project, whether it is just a few fruit trees in your urban backyard, or a full-scale multi-acre commercial orchard.

Beautiful, full of hard-won information, humble, practical.

Eric Toensmeier / author of Paradise Lot

A visually appealing film that delivers at both the environmental and economic level, while setting the stage for a new modern standard for commercial fruit production.

Jenn Jennings / Examiner.com

Film contents

  • creating habitat for birds / pollinators
  • natural pest control techniques
  • the trio system / plant combinations
  • the shrub herbaceous layers
  • seed planting of annuals
  • planting fruit trees / drainage considerations
  • tree training vs. pruning
  • grafting / overgrafting
  • creating habitat for birds / pollinators
  • natural pest control techniques
  • the trio system / plant combinations
  • the shrub herbaceous layers
  • seed planting of annuals
  • planting fruit trees / drainage considerations
  • tree training vs. pruning
  • grafting / overgrafting
  • starting your own trees vs. buying trees
  • mulch options with a focus on plastic mulch and why/how
  • drip irrigation
  • the importance of cultivar selection
  • the grocery aisle concept
  • spraying / fungi control
  • tree protection
  • frost protection

Trained as a biologist and landscape architect, Stefan Sobkowiak has taught fruit production, landscape plants and design, and natural history of vertebrates at Montreal’s McGill University. He owned a landscape design firm for 20 years, developping hundreds of projects for private, institutional and municipal clients. He’s been teaching permaculture in Quebec since 1995 and has given numerous presentations and workshops in Europe, New Zealand, United States and Canada.

Stefan is the owner of Miracle Farms since 1993.

469 reviews for The Permaculture Orchard: Beyond Organic

  1. Anthony A. –

    Excellent movie, full of valuable informations!

  2. Hannah –

    A wonderful and inspiring film full of helpful and practical information

  3. Susan McBeth –

    Beautifully filmed, this is a real treat! Interspersed between segments of great information, are musical interludes with creative lyrics, that will appeal to the human who is intentional about earth living. So inspiring. Hats off to Stephan Sobkowiak, Paul Wheaton, Charlie McGee, Daniel Beja and many more on a job very well done. French Jazz Fever – didn’t know there was such a thing. Thanks so much.

  4. Krista –

    Very informative. Easy to watch!

  5. Audrey –

    Très intéressant et inspirant!

  6. Torsten Lauridsen –

  7. Tilen Praprotnik –

  8. Anonymous –

  9. Dorian LE PLUART –

    Great to have,in this world, peoples sharing to eachother just for sharing.

  10. Anonymous –

    Excellent film.

  11. Emily B. –

    I bought the permaculture orchard after seeing Stefan in a video; the process was smooth and easy and the content was phenomenal! If you’ve got an extra bit of cash, I highly recommend it.

  12. Leya S. –

    Loved the easy download and instant watching. Permaculture orchard was easily the most informative gardening movie I’ve seen

  13. Ss S. –

    Enjoyed the video! I had seen several short youtube interviews that got me interested in seeing the whole Permaculture Orchard film. It’s a great topic and Stephen is interesting to listen to.

  14. Jill N. –

    Even though this video is made for the northern hemisphere and I live in New Zealand, I find a great deal of useful ideas and information in it. I am setting up a food forest and have added to my plant list in spite of local growers not agreeing with such things as Hosta in an orchard. I believe I will use the material many times. Thank you for a well presented useful tool.

  15. Wendy A. –

    Excellent ! Learned a lot – confirmed a lot !

  16. Jitka M. –

    I like very much possiblemediafilms. The films are great source of informations provided by people doing the farming job. We do reaplicate some of the solutions, or edjusting it to our conditions. We are turning 5ha filed (run over 50 years the traditional agricultural way) to edible garden with fruit and nut trees, fruit shrubs, perenial vegetables, annual vegetable garden, chickens, ducks, pastured pigs… So, your films are realy great source and help. I like it very much and looking forward to support next videos 🙂

  17. Christian J. –

    Excellent information to get started with a permaculture orchard. Pacing is great and it is very entertaining in a whimsical way. Also, the production value is superb, which was a treat since many farming videos are often of poor quality.

  18. Kim G. –

    I really enjoyed the DVD..learned a lot too. Thank you for making this film. I will be referring to if often.

  19. Thomas Avery G. –

    Great documentary of folks who are doing it right! I appreciated showing this to people who are interested in doing this work here in China, and in the process I also learned a thing or two.

  20. Jeff K. –

    This video is a very well put together batch of helpful information, much more useful than most of the other information I’ve found online so far. I’ve already watched it all the way through twice, and will likely watch it again soon. There’s so much useful information throughout that it can take a few passes to absorb most of it. Thanks largely to this video, I’ve already got a good start on my next few acres of food forest, and I’m looking forward to working alongside as it grows over the years. I’m doing my best to help, “…put the wow back in food!” 🙂

  21. Catherine Z. –

    Excellent video. Very clearly explained, without promising wonders or preaching. I also appreciate very much that the video is available in Russian! Helped my Bulgarian colleagues.

  22. Sabine R. –

    The most beautiful orchard i have seen ever! Now I can design my own orchard. Thank you very much.

  23. Anita U. –

    Fantastic DVD filled with so much information. Gives me confidence that I can implement much of it.

  24. Mark B. –

    Excellent video, so much well presented content. It answered may questions I had been pondering. Money well spent.

  25. Christopher L. –

    Excellent and very informantive.

  26. Blake C. –

    This is an inspiring, entertaining and informative video presentation. Very unique and useful for anyone interested in growing organic fruit and permaculture systems. However, as a permaculture farmer myself, I found the information given often brief and often times wanted much deeper details on the specific topics. But, it is a good primer and introduction to the topic and certainly is well made and fun to watch. I found it useful. Stefan’s farming systems are impressive and his knowledge of the topic is inspiring.

  27. Christine S. –

    inspiring and motivating

  28. Bradford T. –

    Amazing!

  29. Ralf G. –

    This movie inspires me. It would be most appreciated, if you could make another update some time. Let’s further nature and it’s splendid ways and it will provide us with wonderful pleasures, worth the work.

    Thanks for your work!

  30. Nicolas S. –

    Excellent movie. I was just disappointed that there is one DVD for the english version (which has no french subtitles) and one DVD for the french version (which has no english subtitles). Why not make a single DVD with all the languages and subtitles alltogether ?

  31. Jacq F. –

    I have a home garden that I have been building for the last three years using some of the permaculture principles. I LOVE all the great information you have provided and packed into this film. Anyone who is interested in growing their own food or start a commercial orchard should give this a serious watch!

  32. Laurence V. –

    J’ai commandé le dvd et il n’était pas traduit en Francais !

  33. elisa rathje –

    my 16-year old watched the film along with me and was totally inspired to integrate so many ideas into our heritage orchard. she stopped it every other minute to talk about the possibilities! she may be coming your way, stefan, to study more someday. we both appreciated the beauty of the otchard and the filmmaking, it is an extraordinary piece. my 11 year old was drawn in by the music and has become a fan of the band, is learning permaculture principles effortlessly. we’ll return to this film again and again. deeply appreciated.

  34. Linda P –

    What a great resource! A fantastic DIY video. The content is clear, well spoken and great video quality. This can be used by anyone from making a small garden to a commercial setup. Note detail is too small. Even stopping the feed to write down companion shrubs and plants is useful. I thank you Stephan, keep up the great work.

  35. Donna G. –

    Great ideas and information – will watch it over a number of times to make sure I get everything out of it.

  36. Charles Van Winkle –

    The best movie on the market concerning permaculture. Filled with great information it has given me numerous ideas!

  37. Todd Perkins –

    Absolutely loved this DVD. Fell in love before I finished watching it the first time. I have watched it a dozen times or more. Fantastically done. I have since started pursuing my own orchard and modeling it after Stefan’s here in CT. I frequently use it for reference. My life will never be the same!

  38. Chris –

    I found this video extremely useful from a practical standpoint – how to graft, train, prune etc. – but also very inspiring. It helped me better visualise what I want my orchard to be like.

  39. Courtney R. –

    I loved the DVD, the information was awesome. It was informative and fun to watch. I just purchased a new house and want to set up a u-pick orchard in the back 5 acres. Hoping to implement the grocery Lane ripening system, I love the idea that curtain lanes being opened at different times. Thanks again!

  40. Charles G. –

    I really enjoyed seeing how many elements were combined to make a very functional orchard. So after viewing the DVD, I now want to visit the orchard.

  41. Douglas H. –

    A fascinating exploration of some of the principles of an organic orchard. Some of the strategies were chosen because of the scale of the operation, but on the whole a very practical guide and inspirational for anyone considering planting fruit trees.

  42. Luke P. –

    Very inspiring!

  43. NIKOLAS P. –

    helpful information thanks for sharing

  44. Nicole D. –

    Great video with a lot of useful information! Very well done

  45. Creve C. –

    Not what i expected. Boring… I shouldnt have bought it…

  46. Sieglinde L. –

    Our future and the future of this planet.

  47. Надежда П. –

    Очень познавательно, наглядно и очень душевно! Спасибо!

  48. Stacey A. –

    Excellent production and full of wonderful ideas. Well worth the money!

  49. James R. –

    Video was very informative. High quality filming.
    Would have like to had more specific information on specific cultivar ripening times for shopping isle model. A list of cultivars with pick times.

  50. Patrick J. –

    Really beautiful pictures and highly informative.

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