I'm literally sitting in my forest now and the chorus of insects and birds is as nourishing as the food I harvest for myself. Thank you for showing a way we can live together in peace with all. Cheers
The top branches of my large apple tree are beyond my reach so last year about 50 pounds of apples were left, and the birds feasted on them throughout the winter. I leave tall grasses around my raspberries, now that we're greening up again I'm pulling the dead grass & tossing it down, and the birds are using it for nesting. Right now I have a robin nest on top of my retractable clothesline, so I've pulled the lines out and will leave them all season to avoid disturbing them. And sometime this spring I'm expecting Juneberries, Nannyberries, and Buffaloberries.
I used to be a professional gardener, and I don't think it's a habit I'll ever be able to break entirely. So I just tidy 'slowly,' concentrating on the many irritating brambles first, giving myself lots of other projects over the winter, and not mowing any part of my land at any time of year. I can never get round to tidying the whole garden by the time Spring comes around, and the scattered brash heaps (all of them quite large) give lots of bugs, little beasts and some fairly sizable birds shelter from my attentions.
The untidy always bothered me. I live in Suburbia on 3/4 acre lots. Everyone has golf course green grass. I started a food forest 4 years ago. I left it mostly as is in the Fall and for the first time I am okay with the mess. I have so many birds on my little property with many nests. It’s a joy to watch life come alive this spring. I am finally understanding.
I’d love to be able to convince more people to leave their foliage well into spring. People go for hikes in forest and revel at how beautiful forests are, then come home and throw every single leaf and twig in the garbage.
Great video Keith! Just listened to journalist Ed Yong on CBC's The Current, talking about bird watching as a way to ground him in nature, and in reality. Watching you walk through your hazelnut orchard reminded me of my old friends, John and Hazel Spencer from Rosedale BC, who famously doled out business cards with, "Spencer's Nut Farm and Pee Stop," on one side, and , "First to have my nuts blown off by helicopter" on the other.
Glad to see the Food Forest videos! That's what brought me here originally, however i do appreciate all that you put out. Can't wait to see it in full action!
We have also stopped tidying up in the fall and even in the spring, not too early. Watched a video from Flock Finger Lakes about bees and I learned that natives will deposit eggs into hollow-stemmed plants in the spring, and some actually overwinter, so even when we do cut those types of plants down, we stack the stems along the back of the property so that insects still have access to get in or get out; later in early summer they will be broken down for compost. We also have some open areas with no vegetative cover over the soil for burrowing insects like ground bees and we can see the holes in the ground. My greatest joy is taking a cup of tea out on a sunny morning and watching all the wildlife and insects living their lives in the moment without a care for all the craziness that we worry about, but which does affect them greatly even though they don't know it in the same way we do. Love your channel; you remind me a lot of Shaun on Edible Acres who is constantly just sticking things in the ground and trying things out to live a more abundant life. He also makes amazing compost with his happy hens. You are all doing a great service to the goal of a sustainable life for all beings with whom we share this planet.
Love your videos! About those nasty ticks - we live where the dreaded deer ticks are very common, and have good luck making tick tubes - toilet paper tubes stuffed with cotton that has permethrin sprayed on it. The tubes are hidden in rocky crevices or tree roots around our 5 acres. Deer mice carry the cotton back to their nests and the ticks are killed off. Of course, without the ticks bothering the mice, we have very happy and healthy mice...
Love the contrast between the woolly dry early spring look and the overflowing exuberant green summer look and then the coloured autumn dress which turns into black and white winter. Love the birds... but I couldn't see them because you were walking with the camera. There is a small exhibition in Melbourne Australia about the effects of deforestation, planting of mono cultivation of avocados and the deaths of monarch butterflies in Mexico .(a bit ironic when Australia doesn't buy Mexican avocados and it has it's own deforestation issues over centuries). It's really important to spread the message that mono cultivation does not provide more of the desired crop without the high use of agro chemicsls and this in turn affects forests well out of the cultivation area. Your garden is a small example of how mixed cropping can take place with wildlife welcome including weeds and insects.
Have you ever thought about growing truffles? I know you have wine cap mushrooms. I just bought 2 small hazelnut bushes inoculated with truffles. I'll have to wait about 5 years to see if they grow where I am in the Netherlands and if they do not I still have hazelnuts. I did have to buy them from a grower in Germany.
What humans don't realize is that all species in an ecosystem is as important to the ecosystem as our organs are to our bodies. They both are fed and are feeding the ecosystem. We, being part of that ecosystem, are fed by the ecosystem. Unfortunately we try not to give back to, and actually fight, the ecosystem that feeds us!
It's amazing just what difference natural water sources make to a garden. I share a boundary stream that contains freshwater shrimp, a spring burst into life some years ago at the opposite end of the garden, and an old well that has been capped for over 20 years is now in the process of being transformed into a carp tank (maybe for 4 types of fish, since this well is large with 4 chambers). I see you place sticks in around plants too, as a defence against deer. I'm expanding on that idea too, as I find deer can 'hook' tree guards and wire mesh cages up with their antlers and get at the trees that way. My garden looks quite odd at the moment as there are more defensive sticks shoved the ground than visible trees and bushes (the deer were especially destructive last year, taking out 20 cherries and large blackcurrants. I've had enough of the damage deer cause, so over the past winter I've been planting a new, thick sloe hedge down one side of the garden where there's just a wire fence and brash hedge. I'm also disguising plants they find yummy by planting them within drifts of ornamental (but bee-friendly) shrubs they don't touch: Symphoricarpus, Spiraea, Weigela, Buddleia. Bees flock to them, butterflies mass upon them, deer walk on by. I figure that a combination of methods will finally make it more trouble than it's worth for the deer.
Simply sitting in my garden and watching all the wildlife probably represents the majority of time that I've spent there. I had been lacking flowers prior, so last season for my design project in an organic landcare course; I made a native wildflower strip to replace some lawn. The variety of insects that showed up was so awesome, also hummingbirds which was so cool. I've also added some mountain mints for this season so this year there should be so many insects that I can't even see the plants. I definitely garden for food first and foremost but designing for wildlife and seeing your creation supporting so many beings has been the most beautiful and fulfilling thing in my life.
Wondering if you deal with squirrels at all? I have stopped thinning my peach tree because the squirrels have gotten every single one long before they’re ripe. I got some cotton bags with twist ties to try and protect the ones I want to keep, but I know they can chew through it.
We have many many squirrels. Our dogs are left outside most of the day to help keep them away. I also have plenty of Jerusalem Artichokes which they dig up and love. I believe an important part of dealing with pests is to make sure they have other sources of food, so they leave yours alone (as much as possible), and then providing habitat for their predators.
Keith do you spray your apple trees with anything like dormantnoul or Sulphur? I'm curious because I don't but everyone tells me I should. My thinking is no spray no matter what. Is that a good way or is oil ok? I think anything we do affects our ecosystems
Might want to consider guerrilla planting some inconspicious root crop polycultures in a secluded area some distance away from your property in case you might have to quickly relocate your family for a couple of days to lay low.
I am very slowly coming to terms with my food forest and gardens not being nice neat rows. My brain keeps telling me I can’t have any grass or weeds growing in my wild gardens. But I need to just let it go!
I'm literally sitting in my forest now and the chorus of insects and birds is as nourishing as the food I harvest for myself. Thank you for showing a way we can live together in peace with all. Cheers
You can treat sumac as a food tree. In the Middle East, the red fuzzy berries are harvested as a food condiment.
The top branches of my large apple tree are beyond my reach so last year about 50 pounds of apples were left, and the birds feasted on them throughout the winter. I leave tall grasses around my raspberries, now that we're greening up again I'm pulling the dead grass & tossing it down, and the birds are using it for nesting. Right now I have a robin nest on top of my retractable clothesline, so I've pulled the lines out and will leave them all season to avoid disturbing them. And sometime this spring I'm expecting Juneberries, Nannyberries, and Buffaloberries.
I love this so much ❤️
It’s not easy to get rid of the „tidy is good”-attitude. Thank you for helping me to accept entropy as a goal ❤
I used to be a professional gardener, and I don't think it's a habit I'll ever be able to break entirely.
So I just tidy 'slowly,' concentrating on the many irritating brambles first, giving myself lots of other projects over the winter, and not mowing any part of my land at any time of year.
I can never get round to tidying the whole garden by the time Spring comes around, and the scattered brash heaps (all of them quite large) give lots of bugs, little beasts and some fairly sizable birds shelter from my attentions.
The untidy always bothered me. I live in Suburbia on 3/4 acre lots. Everyone has golf course green grass. I started a food forest 4 years ago. I left it mostly as is in the Fall and for the first time I am okay with the mess. I have so many birds on my little property with many nests. It’s a joy to watch life come alive this spring. I am finally understanding.
I’d love to be able to convince more people to leave their foliage well into spring.
People go for hikes in forest and revel at how beautiful forests are, then come home and throw every single leaf and twig in the garbage.
Great video Keith! Just listened to journalist Ed Yong on CBC's The Current, talking about bird watching as a way to ground him in nature, and in reality. Watching you walk through your hazelnut orchard reminded me of my old friends, John and Hazel Spencer from Rosedale BC, who famously doled out business cards with, "Spencer's Nut Farm and Pee Stop," on one side, and , "First to have my nuts blown off by helicopter" on the other.
❤️
Thanks for your videos. Very inspiring and informative
I didn't know that about conifers. Lovely spaces you're fostering there.
Glad to see the Food Forest videos! That's what brought me here originally, however i do appreciate all that you put out. Can't wait to see it in full action!
Beautiful, as always. That's my thinking too. Plant for you, plant for the wildlife and wildlife will repay you for that.
Well done! I hope many will follow!❤
last year a bird made it's nest in one of my rhubarbe pots, not practical for me but i left it of course
Thanks for your continuing work of inspiring others to create positive change.
Love this ~ wish everyone could see the beauty in a yard like yours!
We have also stopped tidying up in the fall and even in the spring, not too early. Watched a video from Flock Finger Lakes about bees and I learned that natives will deposit eggs into hollow-stemmed plants in the spring, and some actually overwinter, so even when we do cut those types of plants down, we stack the stems along the back of the property so that insects still have access to get in or get out; later in early summer they will be broken down for compost. We also have some open areas with no vegetative cover over the soil for burrowing insects like ground bees and we can see the holes in the ground. My greatest joy is taking a cup of tea out on a sunny morning and watching all the wildlife and insects living their lives in the moment without a care for all the craziness that we worry about, but which does affect them greatly even though they don't know it in the same way we do. Love your channel; you remind me a lot of Shaun on Edible Acres who is constantly just sticking things in the ground and trying things out to live a more abundant life. He also makes amazing compost with his happy hens. You are all doing a great service to the goal of a sustainable life for all beings with whom we share this planet.
Love your videos! About those nasty ticks - we live where the dreaded deer ticks are very common, and have good luck making tick tubes - toilet paper tubes stuffed with cotton that has permethrin sprayed on it. The tubes are hidden in rocky crevices or tree roots around our 5 acres. Deer mice carry the cotton back to their nests and the ticks are killed off. Of course, without the ticks bothering the mice, we have very happy and healthy mice...
Wonderful. So glad I found you. 💎
Love the contrast between the woolly dry early spring look and the overflowing exuberant green summer look and then the coloured autumn dress which turns into black and white winter. Love the birds... but I couldn't see them because you were walking with the camera. There is a small exhibition in Melbourne Australia about the effects of deforestation, planting of mono cultivation of avocados and the deaths of monarch butterflies in Mexico .(a bit ironic when Australia doesn't buy Mexican avocados and it has it's own deforestation issues over centuries). It's really important to spread the message that mono cultivation does not provide more of the desired crop without the high use of agro chemicsls and this in turn affects forests well out of the cultivation area. Your garden is a small example of how mixed cropping can take place with wildlife welcome including weeds and insects.
Cheers for the video, and have a happy growing season my friend!
I have a whole bunch of evergreen hollies and it does so much for the birds and other critters
Have you ever thought about growing truffles? I know you have wine cap mushrooms. I just bought 2 small hazelnut bushes inoculated with truffles. I'll have to wait about 5 years to see if they grow where I am in the Netherlands and if they do not I still have hazelnuts. I did have to buy them from a grower in Germany.
What humans don't realize is that all species in an ecosystem is as important to the ecosystem as our organs are to our bodies.
They both are fed and are feeding the ecosystem.
We, being part of that ecosystem, are fed by the ecosystem. Unfortunately we try not to give back to, and actually fight, the ecosystem that feeds us!
It's amazing just what difference natural water sources make to a garden.
I share a boundary stream that contains freshwater shrimp, a spring burst into life some years ago at the opposite end of the garden, and an old well that has been capped for over 20 years is now in the process of being transformed into a carp tank (maybe for 4 types of fish, since this well is large with 4 chambers).
I see you place sticks in around plants too, as a defence against deer.
I'm expanding on that idea too, as I find deer can 'hook' tree guards and wire mesh cages up with their antlers and get at the trees that way.
My garden looks quite odd at the moment as there are more defensive sticks shoved the ground than visible trees and bushes (the deer were especially destructive last year, taking out 20 cherries and large blackcurrants.
I've had enough of the damage deer cause, so over the past winter I've been planting a new, thick sloe hedge down one side of the garden where there's just a wire fence and brash hedge.
I'm also disguising plants they find yummy by planting them within drifts of ornamental (but bee-friendly) shrubs they don't touch: Symphoricarpus, Spiraea, Weigela, Buddleia. Bees flock to them, butterflies mass upon them, deer walk on by.
I figure that a combination of methods will finally make it more trouble than it's worth for the deer.
Appreciated your thoughts.
❤❤❤
Thanks for this, Keith. I have a bunch of cedars in my back yard and was thinking of removing them. I'll leave them for the birds.
Simply sitting in my garden and watching all the wildlife probably represents the majority of time that I've spent there.
I had been lacking flowers prior, so last season for my design project in an organic landcare course; I made a native wildflower strip to replace some lawn. The variety of insects that showed up was so awesome, also hummingbirds which was so cool. I've also added some mountain mints for this season so this year there should be so many insects that I can't even see the plants.
I definitely garden for food first and foremost but designing for wildlife and seeing your creation supporting so many beings has been the most beautiful and fulfilling thing in my life.
💕
Wondering if you deal with squirrels at all? I have stopped thinning my peach tree because the squirrels have gotten every single one long before they’re ripe. I got some cotton bags with twist ties to try and protect the ones I want to keep, but I know they can chew through it.
We have many many squirrels. Our dogs are left outside most of the day to help keep them away. I also have plenty of Jerusalem Artichokes which they dig up and love. I believe an important part of dealing with pests is to make sure they have other sources of food, so they leave yours alone (as much as possible), and then providing habitat for their predators.
I miss hearing the birds, it's been 7 or 8 years. It seems like they have all left our area... or have been poisioned off generations ago.
:(
And if not poisoned, their food has been.
Keith do you spray your apple trees with anything like dormantnoul or Sulphur? I'm curious because I don't but everyone tells me I should. My thinking is no spray no matter what. Is that a good way or is oil ok? I think anything we do affects our ecosystems
Might want to consider guerrilla planting some inconspicious root crop polycultures in a secluded area some distance away from your property in case you might have to quickly relocate your family for a couple of days to lay low.
I am very slowly coming to terms with my food forest and gardens not being nice neat rows. My brain keeps telling me I can’t have any grass or weeds growing in my wild gardens. But I need to just let it go!
What happens when you allow mom-nature to take over is amazing. Take it slow. Be happy and comfortable in your journey.