All high marks from our audience, from ranchers to horticultural professionals. Michael truly brought the underground world to life and the importance there of. Sensational!

Mike Serant, Organic Horticulture Benefits Alliance, Houston, Texas

Arranging for Michael to Teach

Michael was a wonderful teacher, deeply knowledgeable and superbly empathetic. Sadly, he is no longer with us, having died in his orchard on Sunday, February 27th. Those who remain and shared his work are struggling to know how to proceed, to keep disseminating his knowledge and continue his research. This work will most likely be carried forward through the Holistic Orchard Network.

The information preserved below outlines the ways Michael taught, and are kept as a blueprint for us to try to emulate.

Michael delivering the keynote address to the Tilth Alliance

Speaking in Wenatchee, Washington, at the 2016 Tilth Conference. Gandalf joined me on the podium to commend small acts of kindness and love.

Michael's farming efforts emanate from a place of love. His talks go beyond the commitment to the ecological principles inherent in organic agriculture, the health considerations, or the community economic benefits. This apple grower fully celebrates the spirit of organic agriculture.

Enid Wonnacott, Director Emeritus,

NOFA Vermont

Workshop Prospectus

Class topics are designed to run 75 to 90 minutes. These are best suited for the typical conference time slot. Workshops on orcharding, soil biology, and herbs can be shaped for different levels of experience.

In-Depth Presentations

Extended workshops run up to four hours. These fit well into university-style curriculums in a preconference day or can be presented as a two-parter in a regular conference program.

Upcoming Events!

Conference Intensives

Full day courses typically run eight hours, with time set aside for lunch. In-season intensives have both a presentation component and time with the trees. A second day together takes things even further.

Keynotes and Plenary Talks

Addressing broader themes means weaving humor and vision into words that speak to the heart. I take my inspiration from the trees and the fungi and grower friends . . . and we all come out on the other side of these talks alive and kicking. Let's explore the possibilities.

Speaker Costs

Tell me the class format that has caught you attention, be it workshops for a winter conference or a special event in the growing season. The distance to be travelled and thus days (and nights) away will be considered in the price quote. Conferences can receive a share of books sales for assistance selling my books. Reimbursement for all travel expenses (both car mileage and airfare), lodging, and meals is expected. Other nearby events scheduled on either side of your event makes cost-sharing of travel expenses possible.

Michael's presentations are eye opening. He shares the information like a story, with good pictures, so it is easy to follow. A lot of research and thought must have gone into those slides. Our growers happily took away many practical ideas to increase orchard health and harvest fantastic fruit!

Soil Care Committee, Australian Biological Farming Conference

Speaker Image

This should suit for web use but do contact me for a larger image file for print use.

Michael looking sternly into the camera

Speaker Bio

Michael Phillips was renowned for helping people grow healthy fruit using herbal protocols. The community orchard movement that he helped found at GrowOrganicApples.com provides a full immersion into the holistic approach to orcharding. His Lost Nation Orchard is part of a medicinal herb farm in northern New Hampshire. Michael is the author of The Apple Grower and The Holistic Orchard, which received Garden Book of the Year honors from the American Horticultural Society. His work has been compared with Sir Albert Howard and J.I. Rodale’s classic books on organic gardening. He teamed up with his wife Nancy to write The Herbalist’s Way, to explore the many paths whereby herbalists find their green niche. Michael’s latest, Mycorrhizal Planet: How Fungi and Plants Work Together to Create Dynamic Soils, will rock you!

Michael passed on to be with the Great Mystery that awaits us all in late February, 2022.

Together we create the green leaf, the living mycelium, the amber grain, the good rain, the warm sun, and indeed the perfect apple.

Michael Phillips, Lost Nation Orchard

Michael Phillips