From Military Service to Multi-Strata Systems
Jon Turner didn't grow up on a farm, but the pull of working with the soil found him. After three deployments in Iraq, the veteran found himself struggling with the transition back to civilian life until a friend's garden changed everything. "As soon as I put my hands in the soil, things just clicked," Turner recalls of that pivotal moment in 2009 that would reshape his entire trajectory.
Today, Turner operates Wild Roots Farm in Bristol, Vermont, just eight miles from Middlebury College. What began as a single garden has evolved over fifteen years into a sophisticated agroforestry operation that integrates livestock, perennial crops, and forest gardening principles to build soil biology and nutrient-dense yields.
Building Systems Through Integration
Turner's land hosts goats, managed for six years through rotational grazing, in silvopasture systems supporting gooseberries, aronia berries, black currants, hybrid chestnuts, and oaks that serve as windbreaks and riparian buffers. His approach exemplifies the multi-layered thinking that defines successful agroforestry. Ducks and chickens contribute to the integrated system, while he recently processed his last pig of the season—part of a livestock operation he's developed over four years, processing about two dozen pigs.
The farm operates on ecological principles that Turner embraced from his earliest gardening days. He's transitioned from growing mushrooms on logs to using those decomposing logs in garden beds to build soil biology. Every element serves multiple functions: animals provide meat while managing pastures, trees offer protection while producing nuts and berries, and integrated systems work together to improve soil health and farm resilience.
Teaching Through Demonstration
Turner's commitment to education runs as deep as his farming practice. For ten semesters before COVID, he hosted UVM Rubenstein School seniors for their Natural Resources capstone course, and he continues to work with students from Middlebury College. Participants span from K-12 students to college, covering everything from developing multi-strata forest garden systems to survival skills.
What sets Turner's educational approach apart is his integration of the entire food cycle. Processing days become community workshops where participants—including vegans interested in vegetable production—learn the complete process from dispatch through breakdown. "I enjoy working with college students who are contemplating what the food system can and should look like after graduation," Turner explains. These sessions often culminate in shared meals featuring the products of their work, with local bakers creating dishes like pâté from fresh liver.
Navigating Support Systems
Turner's experience accessing federal conservation programs offers valuable insights for other veterans and beginning farmers. He's utilized both NRCS EQUIP and Conservation Stewardship Program funding to support his agroforestry development. His willingness to share navigation strategies for these programs, particularly for the veteran population, reflects his broader commitment to supporting others in sustainable agriculture transitions.
Turner worked for several years with the Farm Veteran Coalition, helping other service members transition into agriculture through an ecological lens. This experience informs his understanding of the challenges for beginning farmers without agricultural backgrounds.
Fall Forward
Turner is preparing for a massive tree planting this fall including persimmons, honey locust, hybrid chestnuts, and hazelnuts—species chosen for their multiple functions in his integrated system. After ten years of experimentation, he's candid about lessons learned: "Some things we've done right, some we would do differently," he reflects, embodying the adaptive management approach essential to successful agroforestry.
Turner's story exemplifies two principles essential to successful agroforestry: integration and community. His farm demonstrates that true sustainability emerges from understanding how livestock, trees, crops, and people can work together as interconnected systems. Equally important, his commitment to sharing knowledge— teaching students, mentoring fellow veterans, opening his processing days to neighbors—shows how agroforestry thrives when practitioners build community around their work. In Turner's hands, farming becomes both a personal practice and a collective endeavor, creating resilience in soil and ecosystems as well as the human networks that sustain them.
Jon continues to share insights from his decade-plus journey in ecological agriculture and agroforestry implementation. For those interested in following his work, Wild Roots Farm can be found on Instagram (@wildrootsfarmvt) and through his educational website, .