A Duck Farmer's Permaculture Orchard
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ก.พ. 2025
- Today I am offering up a tour of our duck farm's permaculture orchard. Consisting of roughly 600 trees and shrubs, our permaculture orchard features swales, berms and interplanted rows. We have chestnuts, elderberry, black locust, apple, mulberry and butternut on our farm in Vermont.
About Gold Shaw Farm: Gold Shaw Farm is more of a farm-in-progress than an honest-to-goodness farm. Our dream is that someday we are able to transform our 150+ acre parcel of land into a regenerative and productive homestead and farm.
Do you want to buy Gold Shaw Farm t-shirts and other merchandise? Go here: bit.ly/2tGBh97
Send us mail:
Gold Shaw Farm
PO Box 225
Peacham, VT 05862
TH-cam: / goldshawfarm
Web: www.goldshawfar...
Facebook: / goldshawfarm
Instagram: / goldshawfarm
Twitter: / goldshawfarm
You're better off saving that old sign for nostalgia and memories before it gets too far gone. It has good patina as it sets.
Defiantly need to keep it. seal it ;). when he's huge and famous he can auction it off ;). I'd bid on it now lol
"There's a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza..." I had to chuckle at that reference. I hadn't heard that in a long time and I wonder how many people out there remember that song about trying to fix first one thing only to discover that now there is another thing to consider! Endlessly! And the song eventually after many verses comes back to the original problem of the hole in the bucket! Great reference and fun memory! I have been gardening with ducks and find it very fun and helpful to being rid of slugs and pillbugs, etc. Ducks are so funny and good-natured.
I'm glad somebody got that one!
Well fix it dear Henry dear Henry dear Henry. Well Fix it dear Henry Dear Henry fix it. :)
Definitely interested in another video of getting those chestnut trees going
Cool!
Yes. Im looking forward to this too!
I tried looking for a more recent one on the video playlist, but I may have missed it. Would love to see an update too.
I saw a massive dead one in a park recently, did not know what it is, and looked it up. Made me quite sad to learn the 1904 story, but am hopeful and rooting for those who are trying to bring it back.
I’m just watching this video for the first time based on your recommendation from today’s video. You said something I found a little troubling. You said the world would be a better place if we just planted a lot more chestnut trees. You mean nothing but good things when you say that. I grew up on a dairy farm on Vermont. My dad as a young farmer in the 60’s and 70’s was encouraged to use more commercial fertilizer, make the farm bigger, push the cows to do more. A lot of those high ideas implemented by multitudes of farmers across the country resulted in some good things, eventually. But it also gave rise to a more industrial style of dairy farming and many hundreds of farmers had to go out of business when more community based farming operations were told they couldn’t compete globally. I’m not saying you are doing anything wrong. In fact I find your work inspiring. I would encourage you to constantly look for perspective, always be honing your vision and take feedback along your journey.
Hi..... Gold Shaw Farm, thank you for sharing your video homestead 👋 bye 👋 bye 👋 bye 👋 👋 🎥👍👍👍
Love the instrumental in the background! Thanks for the music and opening your home to the world.
Black locust BOO!! Endemic here in Missouri. They sprout up everywhere, the thorns are huge (1-5"), the cattle won't eat them because of the thorns if the cattle step on them they're lamed. They can put your eye out. Even if they die, they take years to decay, especially the thorns. If you brush-hog them off they come back bushier the same year. Not to mention the thorns are shredded in all directions.
Get the thornless locusts!! Honey locust.
Patience is a great thing. Stick with it and continue holding the dream you have. Best!
I am rewatching some of those older videos. Even though it has only been 2 years it makes me kind of nostalgic, lol.
Yes to the chestnut seeding. Also are you thinking if doing a working vacay for people who want to work a farm for fun? Also please reconsider burning your materials, we have enough imagination to reuse those materials into something useful for your farm.
For protection of the trees. 4’ welded wire fence with a t-post or rebar or bamboo for support. I have found this works well for protecting against anyone who wants to rub or gnaw on young trees at the same time allowing better air flow for the trunks. This eliminates that bark blanching that can happen with the plastic tree wrap systems. For direct seedlings I will set the fence with 3 posts until the sampling is established then, move to just one post to keep the fence off the tree and with an optional second post to help train the tree straight. Love your channel. Keep up the good work.
If I lived closer, I would be there to help with that barn. I love that stuff.
That would be a ton of fun!
Me too!
@@GoldShawFarm I live 3 hours from Peacham, on the other side of the border (Québec) would be more than happy to cross the border and help you out once we get through this situation and borders open again 😁😁
Such a beautiful piece of property you and Alison have. Thank you for sharing it, it really warms my heart. Looking forward to seeing all you both will do and the restoration of the barn. It is a gem!
Looking forward to a new tour this coming May 💜
Great idea with the landscape fabric for reducing weed pressures on the PoultryNet. Especially since you will be leaving it in place for months. If i may suggest, use metal T-Post as "tie-off corner posts." They will keep your fence more tight then those fiberglass tie-off post, Because they bend in a short time. Thats what we do, so thats my 2 cents 😀😀
Thanks!
One of the very first things to do on a homestead is plant some producing trees such as fruit and nut trees. For one thing , the nut trees are going to take quite a long time before they produce nuts . You know that you can make Elderberry wine , right ?
Don't forget pear and plum trees.
To begin the preservation of your barn , you can paint it barn red.
About swales and berms: it you make them with wider and gentler slopes, they are _much easier_ to mow.
I was a founding member of a Permablitz group that still builds a food forest every month in Texas. (I moved to the PNW in 2014, or I'd still be a member) Our swales were typically 6'-10' wide and 12'-24" deep; the berms mirrored the size and depth of the swales. We usually planted on the berms rather than on the bare slopes.
We typically filled the swales with wood chips - at least when they were available. That sets up a slow compost factory in the swales, which could be used as mulch in the fall. The wood chips tend to swell up with water, making them decompose faster, but also retaining water in the swales much longer.
That’s a great tip!
... was glad to see your hand grown baby chestnuts ...
I wear my hoodie almost everyday!! If it didn't take over a month to get a shirt I would order one!! If we were closer we could come help! Got to love gardening in the north!!
Thank you for all of the support!
Gold Shaw Farm us northerners have to stick together!!
Sand bist that old sign , will look. Cool. I do lots of old wood renovations with very! Careful blasting.
We lost five chestnuts about thirty years ago and I still miss roasting them each winter. You have inspired us and we will try to germinate a few nuts and hope for trees. Thanks.
So glad that life on your farm is somewhat back to normal. Cant wait to see the trees leaf out!
Soon!
Just found your Chanel, I will be bin watching to get fought up but so far I love it ducks rule!!! Looking forward to new shows good luck.
Thank you!!!
Been following goldshaw farms for awhile and just wanted to go back to the earlier days and give some love to the roots that has built an amazing channel amd farm for you! Thanks for all the amazing content my bro. Also still love that you are a punk rocker at heart haha
Great update. Would definitely like to see a video on the chestnuts.
Me, too!
I just came across your video's and watched the release of the quacken!! It instantly put a smile on my face. I only have 5 ducks myself but many of your comments and situations of your experiences with ducks i can relate to. I thought i was the only one with loud ducks lol. Thanks for the great duck content.
Your enthusiasm for chestnut trees just secured more being planted. I just got into trees. I'm super new into it--chestnut, huh? Cool. Please post lots more tree videos; this is fascinating!!!! Trees are neat.
The permaculture orchard is looking good, the swells will really start to work after this year, the first couple of years the trees are just trying build roots towards the swells and the water once they are established you'll have an amazing abundance of fruit. Also don't be so hard on yourself failure is a bad word for lesson learnt.
6:18. The apples that you don’t like can be used as root stock and you can graft the good ones on to the stock 😊
Sorry for blowing up comments> Excellent use of the sand and bucket to germinate the chestnuts! We do the same thing for our ginseng.
Love your orchard. I could see running ducks and geese in the swales and hogs and ruminants in the margins. I like the way you talk about what your doing with the land, very passionate. I'm doing similar things on 9 acres in Nebraska. I'll be posting some videos shortly myself.
My friend the wild Apple idea is awesome they can be used for so many things y'all are doing great thumbs up my friends please definitely make a video on the chestnut please
Kitty!
Hmm, yeah, your patch might benefit from having a dog or two to "discourage" visitors. Plus you can make a good buck from puppies if you have the luck to raise a perfectly healthy one, especially if it's a less common one. Being a Finn, I am drawn to recommending Karelian Bear Dogs, although them pups are pretty hard-noggined in terms of training and socialization.
And well, finally, there's no friend like a pooch.
I vote McNab sheepdogs! My family really wants one because we are the McNabbs, but the dogs arent good pet dogs becuase they have such an intense drive to work and run. Id LOVE to see them on your farm though!!!
@@persomnus Hello from Michigan! P.L. Liddell was my neighbor. I’ve been out to your place In Wyoming. How’s everyone doing? I hope to get out there in the next couple of years.
Things are waking up!!! Looking good, Morgan.
Thanks for the tour. You have a lot of great plans looking toward the future.
Thank you!
Looks like possum tracks to me. Possums have chubby toes and nails.
By the way, my first love was plants. I studied botany at the U of Washington in Seattle, but life's circumstances led me to a lifetime doing something else.
I'm back.
At 73, I'm a little late to the party, but I'm giving it my best, hoping to establish a tree farm in the next 50 or so years.
Ya, I know what you're thinking, but my clan lives long. My mom is going strong at 98.
Anyway, NEW SUBSCRIBER and here for the long haul. First up - Red Oak and Pecan.
North Texas
Beautiful farm! Your vision for your farm is inspirational. I would enjoy also seeing a video on sprouting and planting of the chestnuts. Thank you for sharing and happy spring!
Thanks for the tour! And yes to another video on the chestnuts and bringing them back to North America.
Maybe add sugar maple...... you can harvest and make your own maple syrup. Also if you add your clippings around the trees they become your mulch, and if you add clover into your pasture not only is it a nitrogen fixer, if you let it flower it is a great pollenator and for livestock like cows wildflowers help reduce methane they produce
I was thinking maples would be good as well. But for syrup you can use many other trees as well. A quick growing one is type of birch. You can get a usable tree in about 3 to 5 years.
Love chestnuts. Can't wait until I can grow them. I'm glad you are keeping them going.
Beautiful ,,,, looks like pictures in a magazine
I really like your work. I have a suggestion I have a mountain property in southern Vermont and I am in my 70’s. My grandson is in a forestry program. Your sprouted chestnut seedlings is an exciting idea for us to have a yearly tradition. You should consider letting people. Sign up for sprouted nuts each spring, which would give you a known market. I would greatly enjoy nurturing 6 nuts each year. If you were to start a sprouted nut club I would like to sign up.
I so wish I could get my hands on an old timey pear tree. A lady in Tennessee used to make Pear Preserves from a pear tree in her yard. I haven't found one like it.
That sounds wonderful. Good luck in your search!
As a child living in vancouver there was a chestnut tree near my house, I would collect them for my mom. Eventually sprouted one and re-planted it in a park near my house. Still think about how the tree is doing to this day.
Ducks will do that before going broody! They protect there eggs until they have as many as they want then set!! Great Farm!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you!
For black locust, it's also one of the highest BTU per cord woods out there. Very valuable as a heat source. It's also amazing pollination food for bees. You can make fritters out of the flowers. Plus all the other stuff you mentioned - fodder for animals, N-fixer, and great for lumber/posts due to anti-fungal properties. Amazing plant. Also really good as deer fencing if made into a hedgerow, because of the thorns.
I'm just new here, but I have a 6 year old permaculture food forest in Ontario Canada. You mentioning Miracle Farms (Stephan) is awesome. I'll keep checking your stuff out. Feel free to check me out also, we can probably learn from eachother. I'm a bit more into the wildlife ecosystem building aspect of a food forest, and you seem to be into the farming side of things, so I'm sure I can still learn a ton from you. I plan on having animals one day - just need to learn more about them.
Looking good Morgan. Swales will be something we implement out here. They may have to be larger though due to the sparse rainfall.
I would imagine they would be critical for you guys and your climate.
I wish you the best with your farm. I really enjoy watching your vids. Keep it coming! Learning a lot.
I would love to see the video of you making the nut into a seedling. That would be awesome. I enjoyed this video so much. You explained so much to us and it was so very interesting. I enjoy learning about all the different things on your farm and what everything is. I just love your channel and try to remember everytime I watch your videos to share and let everyone know about your great channel.
Thank you, Shirley! I really appreciate all of the support you have shown.
Hi, again. Can't wait to watch this video..Peace :)
Chestnuts are my favorite nuts. Locust is one of the best trees for the wood.
A varied orchard - how exciting ! I wish you all success in this, it will be great to follow : )
About apple pulp leftover from cider making: my ducks & geese adore apple pulp. They *_love_* cider apples. Actually, I haven't found a fruit yet that they don't love.
When they were baby 'lings, though, they got into the horseradish when I wasn't looking. They ate _all_ the leaves in a couple of hours. Now they don't like anything remotely spicy or "brassica-flavored".
My chickens back in Texas, however, would eat every chili they could reach, no matter how spicy and piquant.
keep it up man, it's growing a revolution
Thanks for another great video! Our family says "YES* to a chestnut video!
That barn can be converted to an airbnb. Any snake of any kind? The sound of flowing water is very relaxing.
We are huge fans of Beatrix Potter, my girls love the names of your two white ducks.
We would enjoy a video of you sprouting a chestnut. Thanks.
Looks like Your doing a great job! Keep doing what your doing. Rome wasn't built in a day!
Wow, everything is looking great! I'm excited to see how your duck house and the orchard progresses. Is there any update on the barn faucet situation? I think the track that you found might be from a skunk. The bears are hungry this time of year and are looking for anything to eat. Once they find some grubs and new growth, it'll probably wander off.
I'll do a barn/water update next week!
Awesome video! I watch every new video you post! You have a beautiful farm, wish I had one just like it! Keep up the great videos!! I would also love to see a video on the chestnuts!! I’ve actually started my own as well, very interested to see what you’ve done
what you did there is a permanent design, nature will take benefice of this far after your dead. Dont forget to give a start boost to some of the légumes trees to accelerate the process of biomass growing. Take Care, great job!
Thanks!
There are chestnut trees on the east slopes of Mt Greylock in Massachusetts.
I love your videos and your chose of music.
I definitely want to see a chestnut video ☺️ you’re trees are looking good! (: you have such a beautiful property!
Hi
By watching your videos I started this year my first batch of chestnut trees seeding, as we have huge tree in our neighborhood.
I live in big city in my basement and my landlord is kind enough to let me try your bucket idea in one corner of his property.
Will see how it goes.
Chestnut is also considered as rear protected trees here in Canada.
Bro, I'm with you on the chestnut
Beautiful farm.
Thanks so very much for the wonderful content.
You can put either a series of tarps or sheets of
heavy-duty plastic over that roof as a temporary
situation. That would only last a season but it
might be long enough for you to get the funding
for more permanent countermeasures. B'H.
Great idea on the landscaping fabric! Looks like those are a few different tracks.
Looking online I think they look like the backfoot of a small black bear.
I agree. It did look like a raccoon in there too.
was watching another ducker and he grows mulberries to feed his flock.. oh, more cat content please
Did the barn cats pay you to say that?
input from my best bud, a rescued barn cat.. although not quite sure who rescued who
Great video! I think chestnuts are hardy in my zone. I might add a few if I can in the fall.
LOVE what you're trying to do ❤
I’d like to see the the video of the chestnut tree sprouting!
My grandmother grew wild apple trees where I grew up until my parents died and my sister sold the property.
Love love love this tour! It’s gorgeous!
Incredible view from your place👍
Wild apple seedlings, even if they don’t make tasty apples, you can cut them off and over graft scion wood onto them because wild apple trees are the ones able to survive their local environment, possibly disease resistant for example and so they make awesome root socks. Also by then the tree was probably 6 years old for you to discover it tasted bad, well no need to waste that amazing established root, just pollard it off and graft scion wood onto it. Make a frankentree.
You can use crabapples as root stocks too, and crab apples usually germinate easily compared to other apples.
Another thing to think is, if you start seedling for root stocks, you can also start seeds from grocery store apples as well. You can then graft that store variety onto the wild root. Now the store bought apple seed is most likely pollinated by another tasty apple in the orchard its grown from so theres a great chance of a tasty tree coming from that seed. So you can discover new apple varieties that way too, and by grafting onto the wild local apple rootstock your adding hardiness for your area. Fun huh? Great project for your kids, growing trees together as family memories.
Nice! My chestnuts here are already sprouting out. And I live even a bit more further up north than you are, just on a different continent :)
Nice job.. love you and your work
Good video, enjoyed the tour.
Thanks!
Great farm tour with a nice master plan for us to follow as you proceed into your future. Duck security looks great, I hope it works well for you. Please let us know what made the footprint in a future video.
I think it was the back foot of a small black bear.
That was bear tracks near the stream
Hello from New Hampshire
In years past every orchardman an was also a shepherd. The sheep kept the grass short even over rough terrain, in your case the swales. In the past orchards were only kept on land that was too steep to plow. Geese were also a common livestock choice because they fatten well on grass. During the bulk of the year the farmer made money with the livestock and in the fall also sold apples. Pigs were run over the orchard to eat the dropped apples. This model of foraging animals in an orchard kept pressure on the insect pests which rely on fallen fruit, tall grass and dead leaves to proliferate. Every natural environment is characterized by a symbiotic relationship between plants and animals, we would be wise to do the same.
I really like your Dream!
One thing that sucked when moving from upstate New York to Illinois is there are not any wild apple trees.
As a kid we used to have apple fights. We would get into teams have Chuck apples at each other lol
Having dreams are good. it make us alive.
How much do you sell the geese for?
Newbie.
I watched when you first said you were getting them but either missed why or you didn't tell us. Really good video enjoyed it a lot. Have a great day and God Bless!
If you don't make mistakes, you aren't learning! Loving the chestnut trees! That would be awesome to get a bunch of them going. I don't know if I would transplant them. They may not transplant well. I would put them in the ground where they will grow with perhaps some fencing over them to protect them until they sprout. You can put the potting soil right in the ground. That saves time and energy.
If you sprout in a bucket again, you can gently put water in the bucket, then rake your hands through more gently and you won't be as apt to break them.
To get different geneticd, get nuts from different places.
You can buy anti-fungal products to use on the sprouts. You could try a diluted (1/5 1=hydrogen peroxide, 5 parts water) solution. There are rooting powders you can use too, to give them a good start. I'm a bit concerned about the mold ffrom some onto the others.
I like that you are experimenting
Yes please post a video for the chestnut tree :)
Won’t there be less grass for the cattle when the trees are big enough to throw a lot of shade?
Good point. I wonder what is the spacing between his swales. I plan to do the chestnuts and berries on our farm. I would do at least 50ft between swales, that should be plenty for tree shades and ally for animals grazing grass.
I'm also curious how the chestnuts are going - now that it's 2 years since this video. A lot of chestnuts suffer from chestnut blight. They look fine until they are about 2-3 years old, then they just up and die from blight. A lot of people are trying to regrow a blight-resistant American chestnut by crossing them with European ones. Check out Mark Shepards work in that area. It may be valuable for you to grab a few european ones and get experimenting. You have the land for it. Whoever makes an American chestnut that is resistant to blight is going to be pretty wealthy.
In the uk it’s called scrimping and the resultant cider is called scrumpy
Love to see you grow those seedlings on and explain your permaulture orchard I’m australian so I know about permacul5ure but there are people who don
So many uses and reasons to grow more trees . But you didn't mention 'for the bees ' To encourage a diversity of wild bees and also keep your own bees . Honey to sell , bees wax to make candles , honey to cook with and honey to make mead for the winter. Get in touch with a local apiarist , they love to share their knowledge . The bees will also increase your fruit , nut and vegetable crop with all their busy pollinating .
Nice video. Thank you for sharing.
Yes show the chestnut seedling! Yes yes yes thanks for asking
Very cool video. Thanks for sharing. Love the trees. What do you do for money ?