Homestead Food Forest

It’s late Winter and the season for bare root tree planting is quickly drawing to a close. We have bought chestnuts and almonds as a main tree crop for our food forest; I tried to select hardy tree species that have multiple purposes or that are very flexible in the way they can be consumed.  Chestnuts are a great source of carbohydrates and can be used as a flour substitute while almonds can also be made into flour, milk - oh, and both of these can be eaten as nuts too!

To try and mimic a forest system, we have also planted nitrogen fixing clovers, pigeon pea and vetch to help enrich the soil and give a helping hand to the trees.  Along with a nice cover of mulch, these trees should have a great start and require only a little attention over the summer months.

This area will be a work in progress for some time.  I intend on adding smaller trees, shrubs, root crops and more to the area as these plantings mature over time.

It was a hard few days of work, but very rewarding.  Watching my daughter collect worms and listen to stories from her grandmother is a picture I will always remember.  Thats what it all about, isn’t it?  The time we have together and what we can do to make the world a better place - what a marker in time these trees will be.  A fond memory we can be reminded of each year when we harvest fruit and nuts … the way life should be.