Making an Enchanted Forest with Dani Baker

Dani Baker is an author and the owner of Cross Island Farms, an idyllic edible forest in upstate New York that attracts visitors and volunteers from across the country. For most of her adult life, Dani was a clinical psychologist—but ever since she was a kid, farming was in the back of her mind. When she retired, she bought her farm on Wellesley Island, took a community class about permaculture, and became tirelessly dedicated to creating the beautiful and fruitful food forest she has today. 

We talked about Dani’s long and winding path to where she is now, how she learned about permaculture proactively by reading books and trying and failing, and how writing her recent book, The Home Scale Forest Garden: How to Plan, Plant, and Tend a Resilient Edible Landscape, is the fulfillment of a lifelong goal. To learn more about Dani and her work, check out CrossIslandFarms.com. 

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This podcast isn’t just about ideas—it’s about action. From these conversations, two organizations have emerged to bring regenerative real estate to life:

Latitude Regenerative Real Estate is the world’s first regenerative-focused real estate brokerage, dedicated to aligning values-driven buyers and sellers. With a strong presence in the Pacific Northwest and Great Lakes regions, Latitude also supports purpose-driven developments across North America through strategic marketing and branding services. If you're looking to buy, sell, or amplify a regenerative project, Latitude is your trusted partner.

Hamlet Capital is an investment and development firm committed to building resilient communities rooted in working farms. If you’re developing an agrihood or conservation community, we’d love to hear from you. Together, we can turn visionary ideas into thriving, place-based investments.