I went back and watched video #5 from four years ago. My goodness, it is incredible what you have achieved. We have planted some fruit bearing shrubs and trees over the past year and this gives me such hope for the future of our garden. You are an inspiration.
“Inspiration” is right! I installed 64 trees in several lines this spring directly influenced by the install being shown off. May many more lines of trees be planted.
I was confused at first. I know your property so well now, over the years, and I had the sound off on the video at the time. I wasn't sure where you were. Then I saw your house peeking it's nose in the background and realized you were on your neighbours property, showing the food forest you two worked on. WOWOW what an amazing change. Has it already been that long since you started that project? Unbelievable how time flies!
Yeah its a bit overwhelming how well it worked. This is the year I have to get over the hump of letting myself make drastically hard cuts on things, otherwise we won't be able to even enter the space!
That’s the best gate ever! I have a fenced paddock area on my property, it has four gate openings, with no gate … that’s going to be my solution until I can scavenge or make more proper gates.
We have an area between us and our closest neighbor (who is not all that close at all) where I'm trying to create something very much like what you have happening there ;). It has not taken off in anything like the way that your space has, but I keep putting elements in and hoping they will catch and thrive. This spring's pawpaw seem to be doing well and currants that I thought had failed completely are making a comeback in a couple of spots.
It's very encouraging to see the density. I've been peppering my lightly wooded chicken area with elderberries, black currants, raspberries, comfrey, and yarrow (almost entirely for the chickens, though there is some human "grazing") It's a couple years behind your patch, and I still pull and compost the garlic mustard and various vigorous asters around the fruit producing stuff until it gets established enough to push out on its own.
In the UK we make elderflower cordial from the fresh flowers, it’s really easy and such a refreshing summer drink. We also make elderflower wine. Then in autumn we make the berries into elderberry syrup, jellies, jams, and more wine. So much you can do with them, just don’t eat any part raw.
The property has great synergy, your water planning and intelligent usage of the forces of nature in upstate New York is sublime. You’ve taken lemons[ the busy road and the harsh winters] and made a lemonade stand. Your life and business model are exemplary.
No question - just very eager to learn how to make my own wine without a huge investment in equipment - thank you for the calm video to start my day. :)
If you are a birder elderberries are a great automatic feeder. Orioles, finches, and grosbeaks will come back year after year once they learn it's there.
What a beautiful mix of chaos! I live in high desert- hi heat, dry snd🥴… I just planted 3 elderberry cuttings that Needed to be planted & have 8 more ready this fall. Have a great day 👵🏻👩🌾❣️
I just had to jump onto my computer (I normally watch on the big tv) and thank you for teaching me how to propagate elderberry through cuttings! I did it this past winter and now I have 5 new plants putting on elder flowers! I also took a bunch of cuttings from dormant currants and they are doing well too as well as the cuttings from my basket weaver's willow and now I'm training that into a living fence. Here's what I'd love to learn from you next. Maybe there is already a video on this, so I'll search, but I'd like to learn more about those honeyberries. I never tried them on this property because I figured I didn't have enough acid in my soil for them to grow well, but maybe I'm wrong since you and I have very similar plants. My larger trees are red mulberry and slippery elm and I have four hazelnuts (2 American and 2 different European varieties). Can you propagate the honeyberries from cuttings too? Thanks
I got six more figs planted, four dwarf mulberry and I`m rooting more, two pineapple guava, strawberries, asparagus, various onion varieties, ground cherries, garlic and a lot of peas, beans, tubers, herbs and vegetables for fresh food. I already have blackberries and elderberry wild here.
LOL syntropic was exactly what I was thinking.. Amazing growth in such a short time. Using biomass fertility. Glad I'm not the only one using those type gates. Well done
I'm so jealous. But, I have autumn olives popping up volunteer and all 11 scotias you sent me are doing great! I have a few seaberry, no male though, and lots of river locust, aronia, serviceberry and high bush cranberry, yuk. So hopefully, I have a good start. Oh, and I'll have willows since I'm using them to root cuttings.
What do you do with all the currants? Marmelade? And same for the elderberries…? Soup? In Scandinavia (I am Danish), we do elderflower sirup for “lemonade”… Thanks for great content - recently got chickens thanks to your Channel👍
I love the way natural chaos increases fertility of the system. My only thought is, why so many currants, willow, and elderberry? As a nursery you can gather value in more ways than direct food\medicinal value, but you already have soooooo much of those on your property. I'm trying to think of other strong growers with higher food value. Sunchokes and hopniss come to mind right away. Inulin makes me fart, but I'll take gas over starvation. Hopniss grows kinda crazy, tangling over everything, but a perennial starch source is very valuable. I would be curious to know to most valuable food plants in your gardens throughout the season. The ones that really provide a lot of calories, not just micronutrients or medicinal value, actual sustenance. Nut trees and root crops seem like the best general categories as far as actual sustenance goes, but I don't know, probably some surprisingly valuable food crops at various times of the year.
We leaned into the three plants because they are just so easy to get going and work well in this context. There are actually many other characters in here, and maybe at some point will do a walking tour and see them on
@@edibleacres All good. Just gets me thinking about other strong growing plants to do the same thing. Nothing wrong with those ones except I don't want to eat a lot of currants and don't need much willow or elder for medicine. I mostly think about the garden as a system to prevent starvation. You guys do plenty on that front, so nothing wrong with growing extra medicine in a space that was lawn.
It's amazing what you have done in such a small area. Though to me the density seems like a haven for predators. Do you have any issues with losing chickens to predators?
Hi Thanks for the share, it is inspirational... Our "forest" in its 3rd year, so gradually developing. We've planted a line of willow hedge to act as a quick wind break. Could I ask your advice re pruning to encourage vigour? What would you do with a row of 2 year old willow whips? 😊
Just starting out. Clearing brush so I can put in more useful plants. It's a bad tick year. How do you handle them? Were even getting them in our zone 1, the zone 3/4 that I'm clearing is horrible. Are there things I can put in that deter them? Trying to be careful as we have a ton of lightening bugs that I want to keep habit for. Growing in sand doesn't help!
With your vast knowledge, do you know if evergreen autumn olives exist, and if they do, do they make good forage for sheep in the winter. I hear disiduous autumn olive trees make good forage. Thanks.
So, I'm trying to integrate potatoes into a simular situation. First I tried potatoes in rows on the south. But the disturbance might be too much. Would open patches work better? Maybe the potatoes should just be somewhere else?
It’s so cool seeing all this growth. One question that comes to mind would be regarding how replecatable this would be in drier climates/seasonal rain climates. Here in Dallas TX, we’ve been getting a lot of moisture but are moving into our dryer season. How does your mini jungle respond to drought conditions? Thanks as always for the lovely content!
Jack Spirko does this sort of thing in the DFW area. I think he has different plants that he uses in the climate, but same idea. You could check his channel.
Something parallel to your experience...Deer pressure is immense here. I have thrown down branches like you, but more intensely to make it hard for deer to walk/biodegradable cattle guard. Seems to work, but deer browse is so bursty, I'm not sure. Have you seen anything like this?
Autumn Olive has been a wonderful and helpful ally in our food for us over the years. Some folks have a different way to describe it, but we just love them.
Did you just insert cuttings of elderberry and they grew like that? We have this year many many slugs and I bearly get my rooted cuttings through since the slugs eat all off the leaves...
You've confirmed the food forest I'm consulting on for fall planting will need irrigation to get firmy established. The client is balking. The landscape architect & the hardscaper plus crew (& me) want to take a walk on this job if he coninues to ignore our recommendations provided he won't sign a waive to hold us harmless. The guy has the $$$. He's being stubborn.
You must live on the edge of town there is zero way I would get away it any of this. And as much as my neighbors should join in they would have no part of this. They already hate my yard and house
the hair - just one word - WOW!
I went back and watched video #5 from four years ago. My goodness, it is incredible what you have achieved. We have planted some fruit bearing shrubs and trees over the past year and this gives me such hope for the future of our garden. You are an inspiration.
“Inspiration” is right! I installed 64 trees in several lines this spring directly influenced by the install being shown off. May many more lines of trees be planted.
I was confused at first. I know your property so well now, over the years, and I had the sound off on the video at the time. I wasn't sure where you were. Then I saw your house peeking it's nose in the background and realized you were on your neighbours property, showing the food forest you two worked on. WOWOW what an amazing change. Has it already been that long since you started that project? Unbelievable how time flies!
Yeah its a bit overwhelming how well it worked. This is the year I have to get over the hump of letting myself make drastically hard cuts on things, otherwise we won't be able to even enter the space!
Love the density and lushness in such a short period of time. I am hoping my plants look that happy at 4 years along.
Wishing you unending abundance and health!
Love it. You are so lucky to live on such fertile land with apparently ample water. You are a peach and the wildlife is so lucky to have you.
They built up this land themselves over years from a regular house-lot. The transformation is in all the older videos!
That’s the best gate ever! I have a fenced paddock area on my property, it has four gate openings, with no gate … that’s going to be my solution until I can scavenge or make more proper gates.
Love the moral of the story! So concise
We have an area between us and our closest neighbor (who is not all that close at all) where I'm trying to create something very much like what you have happening there ;). It has not taken off in anything like the way that your space has, but I keep putting elements in and hoping they will catch and thrive. This spring's pawpaw seem to be doing well and currants that I thought had failed completely are making a comeback in a couple of spots.
What a dream of a hedgerow for me.
It's very encouraging to see the density.
I've been peppering my lightly wooded chicken area with elderberries, black currants, raspberries, comfrey, and yarrow (almost entirely for the chickens, though there is some human "grazing")
It's a couple years behind your patch, and I still pull and compost the garlic mustard and various vigorous asters around the fruit producing stuff until it gets established enough to push out on its own.
I'm not one for variegation but that willow is absolutely gorgeous amongst all the green
In the UK we make elderflower cordial from the fresh flowers, it’s really easy and such a refreshing summer drink. We also make elderflower wine. Then in autumn we make the berries into elderberry syrup, jellies, jams, and more wine. So much you can do with them, just don’t eat any part raw.
I would love to try all of those. I use mine mostly for lacto-ferment soda. “Gingerbug soda”. It’s delicious.
@@saltriverorchards4190 I will look that up!
The property has great synergy, your water planning and intelligent usage of the forces of nature in upstate New York is sublime. You’ve taken lemons[ the busy road and the harsh winters] and made a lemonade stand. Your life and business model are exemplary.
Look at all that beautiful life!
So wonderful and beautiful! Happy to see how well it's done! Thanks for taking us along on this journey with you!
No question - just very eager to learn how to make my own wine without a huge investment in equipment - thank you for the calm video to start my day. :)
Lucky hens ! What a great extension to their yard 😊
Exciting to see the progress of that area! 😊🌱💚🌻🐝
If you are a birder elderberries are a great automatic feeder. Orioles, finches, and grosbeaks will come back year after year once they learn it's there.
What a beautiful mix of chaos! I live in high desert- hi heat, dry snd🥴… I just planted 3 elderberry cuttings that Needed to be planted & have 8 more ready this fall.
Have a great day 👵🏻👩🌾❣️
Sounds great!
Great video! We've got a similar forest garden that was planted 5 years ago :D
I just had to jump onto my computer (I normally watch on the big tv) and thank you for teaching me how to propagate elderberry through cuttings! I did it this past winter and now I have 5 new plants putting on elder flowers! I also took a bunch of cuttings from dormant currants and they are doing well too as well as the cuttings from my basket weaver's willow and now I'm training that into a living fence. Here's what I'd love to learn from you next. Maybe there is already a video on this, so I'll search, but I'd like to learn more about those honeyberries. I never tried them on this property because I figured I didn't have enough acid in my soil for them to grow well, but maybe I'm wrong since you and I have very similar plants. My larger trees are red mulberry and slippery elm and I have four hazelnuts (2 American and 2 different European varieties). Can you propagate the honeyberries from cuttings too? Thanks
Another excellent, inspiring video
Amazing growth!
I got six more figs planted, four dwarf mulberry and I`m rooting more, two pineapple guava, strawberries, asparagus, various onion varieties, ground cherries, garlic and a lot of peas, beans, tubers, herbs and vegetables for fresh food. I already have blackberries and elderberry wild here.
Looks amazing! Organized chaos, love it!💚
LOL syntropic was exactly what I was thinking.. Amazing growth in such a short time. Using biomass fertility. Glad I'm not the only one using those type gates. Well done
Lovely lushness helping to reduce the carbon! Hoping to see Sasha & Zelda again!
Absolutely amazing! 🌱💚🌿
I enjoyed the video and appreciated how useful the information is for my own food forest garden.
love seeing your more wild spaces taking form. excited for the dandywine video!
looks like my zone 8 food jungle but much higher north well done
Please tell me that you've written a book about all of this wonderful knowledge!
Seriously, I'd love to learn this.
inspiring as always! thanks for the walkthrough
Beautiful space.
Awesome video as always, loving the jungle vibes!
Lovely😊
Thanks for the video. As always, great content and great presentation. All the best!
I wonder what that unused land you found in Syracuse looks like, If someone leveled all those fruit trees . They have got to be huge by now. 😊
Hi Sean, in 2022 you had added american persimmons and pawpaws in between the willows and elders... Did they take? Didnt see a mention in this update
Wet one down here in Tennessee, it’s like gardening in Jurassic Park! 🖖😎
I'm so jealous. But, I have autumn olives popping up volunteer and all 11 scotias you sent me are doing great! I have a few seaberry, no male though, and lots of river locust, aronia, serviceberry and high bush cranberry, yuk. So hopefully, I have a good start. Oh, and I'll have willows since I'm using them to root cuttings.
What do you do with all the currants? Marmelade? And same for the elderberries…? Soup? In Scandinavia (I am Danish), we do elderflower sirup for “lemonade”…
Thanks for great content - recently got chickens thanks to your Channel👍
Are you seeing any more caterpillar pressure aside from the ones in the nettles?
Elderberry flower as yeast. Interesting
Seems kind of a waste of delicious elderflowers to me, though I suppose if the apocalypse comes and you can’t buy yeast in stores it would be useful!
I love the way natural chaos increases fertility of the system. My only thought is, why so many currants, willow, and elderberry? As a nursery you can gather value in more ways than direct food\medicinal value, but you already have soooooo much of those on your property.
I'm trying to think of other strong growers with higher food value. Sunchokes and hopniss come to mind right away. Inulin makes me fart, but I'll take gas over starvation. Hopniss grows kinda crazy, tangling over everything, but a perennial starch source is very valuable.
I would be curious to know to most valuable food plants in your gardens throughout the season. The ones that really provide a lot of calories, not just micronutrients or medicinal value, actual sustenance. Nut trees and root crops seem like the best general categories as far as actual sustenance goes, but I don't know, probably some surprisingly valuable food crops at various times of the year.
We leaned into the three plants because they are just so easy to get going and work well in this context. There are actually many other characters in here, and maybe at some point will do a walking tour and see them on
@@edibleacres All good. Just gets me thinking about other strong growing plants to do the same thing. Nothing wrong with those ones except I don't want to eat a lot of currants and don't need much willow or elder for medicine. I mostly think about the garden as a system to prevent starvation. You guys do plenty on that front, so nothing wrong with growing extra medicine in a space that was lawn.
It's amazing what you have done in such a small area. Though to me the density seems like a haven for predators. Do you have any issues with losing chickens to predators?
Hi
Thanks for the share, it is inspirational... Our "forest" in its 3rd year, so gradually developing. We've planted a line of willow hedge to act as a quick wind break.
Could I ask your advice re pruning to encourage vigour? What would you do with a row of 2 year old willow whips?
😊
My overgrown areas are not pleasant to walk thru due to mosquitos and ticks. Not to mention most of the plants have thorns or sticky seeds.
Just starting out. Clearing brush so I can put in more useful plants. It's a bad tick year. How do you handle them? Were even getting them in our zone 1, the zone 3/4 that I'm clearing is horrible. Are there things I can put in that deter them? Trying to be careful as we have a ton of lightening bugs that I want to keep habit for. Growing in sand doesn't help!
With your vast knowledge, do you know if evergreen autumn olives exist, and if they do, do they make good forage for sheep in the winter. I hear disiduous autumn olive trees make good forage. Thanks.
I'm also using elderberry for chop and drop - What other bushy species do you use?
So, I'm trying to integrate potatoes into a simular situation. First I tried potatoes in rows on the south. But the disturbance might be too much. Would open patches work better?
Maybe the potatoes should just be somewhere else?
It’s so cool seeing all this growth. One question that comes to mind would be regarding how replecatable this would be in drier climates/seasonal rain climates. Here in Dallas TX, we’ve been getting a lot of moisture but are moving into our dryer season. How does your mini jungle respond to drought conditions? Thanks as always for the lovely content!
Jack Spirko does this sort of thing in the DFW area. I think he has different plants that he uses in the climate, but same idea. You could check his channel.
There’s a dwarf elder that is more of an herbaceous perennial:
Sambucus ebulus
From Europe but politely naturalized here
So lush and wild. Do y'all make elderflower wine?
We have in the past, but not this year
Is there a resource to identify the variety of elderberry from other varieties?
Perhaps a truly silly question, how do you decide which plant to step on while walking around and which plant to "protect"?
Some plants are more resilient than others, some can handle a good trampling and some can’t
Something parallel to your experience...Deer pressure is immense here. I have thrown down branches like you, but more intensely to make it hard for deer to walk/biodegradable cattle guard. Seems to work, but deer browse is so bursty, I'm not sure. Have you seen anything like this?
your place always looks so beatyful
Nice video! Isn’t the autumn olive extremely invasive? It is in Georgia at least.
Autumn Olive has been a wonderful and helpful ally in our food for us over the years. Some folks have a different way to describe it, but we just love them.
Haha, AWESOME!🤗💛🤗
What was the elderberry spacing?
Definitely way too close, about 2 feet apart. Probably 6 to 8 feet apart would be more ideal.
Question: at the min 2:40, what is the plant by his left hand? Nettle or something else. I have several in my rhubarb.
Looks like goldenrod
What zone are u?
Where do u get your currant stock?
In Northwestern VT zone 4
We are zone 5B originally and now more 6B realistically. We sourced our plants from an incredibly wide range of sources over the years
Now thats fast food
Did you just insert cuttings of elderberry and they grew like that? We have this year many many slugs and I bearly get my rooted cuttings through since the slugs eat all off the leaves...
We just pushed them in. Some years it works great some years not perfect
You've confirmed the food forest I'm consulting on for fall planting will need irrigation to get firmy established. The client is balking. The landscape architect & the hardscaper plus crew (& me) want to take a walk on this job if he coninues to ignore our recommendations provided he won't sign a waive to hold us harmless. The guy has the $$$. He's being stubborn.
Holunder
I tried but a cop showed up and threatened fines even though other properties have similar things but those properties are wealthier
Autumn Olive😢
Am I first?!
My friend you first with the best of them :)
You must live on the edge of town there is zero way I would get away it any of this. And as much as my neighbors should join in they would have no part of this. They already hate my yard and house
If you go back and watch other videos, you'll see that they actually live on a half acre lot on a really busy road!
@@mamabeargardens9439 I've been watching for yrs I know that.