Arbor·pedia
Knowledge for the practices, species, and people who restore land.
Five paths through the encyclopedia
- № 01
Growing
Companion planting, soil building, permaculture, food forests
28 entries - № 02
Water
Rainwater harvesting, greywater, irrigation, watershed restoration
27 entries - № 03
Restoration
Reforestation, land rehabilitation, rewilding, erosion control
22 entries - № 04
Species
Trees, plants, fungi, ecosystems, biodiversity
22 entries - № 05
Heroes
Lives dedicated to soil, water, forest, and the people who depend on them.
20 profiles
Follow a thread through the encyclopedia
Curated paths that braid entries from several disciplines into one coherent route. A way to read the encyclopedia, not just browse it.
- Thread № 0109 entries
From bare ground to forest
The full arc — looking at land, reading what it needs, and walking it back to forest.
Follow the path - Thread № 0209 entries
Water from sky to soil
Catching rain on a roof, slowing it across a slope, banking it underground.
Follow the path - Thread № 0309 entries
Building soil from nothing
How to grow a living loam where there isn't one yet.
Follow the path
From the catalogue
№ 090The Three Sisters: Corn, Beans, and Squash
Three plants, one mound. Corn for height, beans for nitrogen, squash for cover. A thousand years of Haudenosaunee farming distilled into a guild that still works.
№ 030Designing a Food Forest
How to stack seven layers of edible woodland that feeds you for decades while slowly shedding the chores of an annual garden.
№ 042The Miyawaki Method: Dense Native Forests in Decades
How Akira Miyawaki's technique of dense native planting creates self-sustaining forests 10x faster than conventional methods.
№ 044Moringa Oleifera: The Miracle Tree
Everything you need to know about growing and using Moringa oleifera, the fast tropical tree with edible leaves and seed-based water purification.
№ 070Reforestation Techniques for Degraded Lands
Practical field guide to restoring forest on degraded land, from soil tests to species mix to the first five years of tending.
№ 069Rainwater Harvesting Basics
Catch the rain off your roof, hold it in a tank, and water your garden through the dry months. Here's how.
Lives that bent toward the land
Abdul Kareem
India · 1950–present
Indian conservationist who single-handedly grew a 32-acre forest on barren laterite land in Kerala over more than 30 years.
№ 02
Akira Miyawaki
Japan · 1928–2021
Japanese botanist who developed the Miyawaki method for creating dense native forests in record time, planting over 1,700 forests across 15 countries.
№ 03
Chico Mendes
Brazil · 1944–1988
Brazilian rubber tapper and union leader who organized nonviolent resistance to protect the Amazon rainforest from deforestation.
№ 04
David Milarch
United States · 1949–present
Michigan nurseryman who pioneered techniques for cloning the world's largest and oldest trees to preserve their genetics and combat climate change.
№ 05
Felix Finkbeiner
Germany · 1997–present
German activist who started Plant-for-the-Planet at age 9, building a youth movement that has planted billions of trees worldwide.
№ 06
Geoff Lawton
Australia · 1954–present
Australian permaculture educator who proved that even the harshest degraded landscapes can be rebuilt into productive food forests.