John's Forest - Summary

Watch this video to learn about our story and see all of our forests.

And be sure to check out the photo gallery for John's Forest, including the most recent pictures from 2011.

Summary for John's Forest
Date Planted	July 2007 (White Spruce) and July 2010 (Lodgepole Pine)
Tree Species	White Spruce and Lodgepole Pine
Grass Species	In conjunction with the planting of the trees the land was also planted with native grasses (35% Bearded Wheat Grass, 25% Fringed Brome Grass, 25% Green Needle Grass, 10% Slender Wheat Grass, 3% Fallow Blue Grass and 2% June Grass) in 2010.
Soil Type	Sandy Loam
Size	The forest is surrounded on three sides by natually occuring trees and scrubs, including a strip of natural habitat that links John's Forest to Dad's Forest. John's forest is planted on river flat land adjacent to a large wetland complex close to the banks of the Notikewin River, a tributary of the mighty Peace River. The site is approximately one mile east of the small town of Manning, Alberta, which is in northwestern Alberta, Canada.
Location	Located on river flat land, this forest is adjacent to a large wetland complex and the banks of the Notikewin River, a tributary of the mighty Peace River. The forest is surrounded on three sides by naturally occurring trees and shrubs. The site is approximately one mile east of the small town of Manning, Alberta, Canada.
Plot History	This plot was originally cleared for farming during the 1940’s (approximately 5.0 acres) and during the early 1980’s (the remaining 2.0 acres) and was in crop cultivation until 2007. While the land is very fertile the small size of the plot and the surrounding topography make it difficult and inefficient to farm. The relatively small size of this field meant that the large equipment used in conventional farming was constantly turning and overlapping the surface. Overall, this led to inefficient use of synthetic fertilizer, fuel and pesticides, while at the same time contributing to excess soil compaction. Per unit of food produced the inputs necessary were high, leading to a high environmental impact compared to larger fields. This combined with the forest's habitat potential as described above made the choice to convert it into a forest even better.
Name Origin	John Rabiey was the first generation of Rabiey to call this land home. Though John, who is better known in the Rabiey family as Dziadzia (which means Grandpa in Polish), passed away the year Brad was born, the farming foundation he established is the very basis of The Carbon Farmer. We are so grateful for all of the sacrifices he made to give us this opportunity and roots in this place. We did not have a chance to ask for his permission to plant the land he cleared with his hard labour back into trees, but we hope that he would be proud of the legacy of sustainability the forests represent for the land and family he so loved. After all, our new forests, including John's Forest, represent the hopes and dreams for future Rabiey generations, much like his fields of wheat did when he first settled here from Poland.