[3][2] Previously, he managed a farm program for Nuestras Raices, a nonprofit organization that ran community gardens in Holyoke, Massachusetts; and ran a mail-order seed company with Jonathan Bates for plants that would improve the soil or attract beneficial insects.
[4] Toensmeier's works include Paradise Lot,[5][6] Perennial Vegetables: From Artichoke to ‘Zuiki’ Taro, a Gardener’s Guide to Over 100 Delicious, Easy-to-Grow Edibles,[6] Edible Forests Gardens: Ecological Vision and Theory for Temperate Climate Permaculture (co-authored),[6][5] and Perennial Vegetables: A neglected resource for biodiversity, carbon sequestration, and nutrition (co-authored).
[7] In Perennial Vegetables: A neglected resource, Toensmeier provides information on crops that could help address malnutrition issues, including trees with edible, nutritious leaves.
[2] In February 2020, Toensmeier's 2016 book, Carbon Farming: A Global Toolkit for Stabilizing the Climate with Tree Crops and Regenerative Agriculture Practices, was released as an ebook.
[11] More recently, Toensmeier became a senior fellow at the climate think tank, Project Drawdown, as well as lecturing at Yale.