My cold climate food forest has come along way over the years! If you enjoyed this video, be sure to check out the same food forest tour... 7 years later! 👉 ua-cam.com/video/T4gSnSlKGZI/v-deo.html
I'm another cold climate permaculturer/food forester. It is possible, and as much work as it takes during the spring, summer, and fall, I like my winters to relax. I couldn't imagine doing it year round in a warmer climate. I'm pushing zone 6, so I get a few more choices than zone 4, but there are a ton of options out there, even for zone 4. I have pawpaws, persimmons, peaches, plums, jujubes, pears, apples, medlar, apricots, cherries, and several walnut varieties. I may have every berry bush you can grow in my climate, lol. I think everyone that has an opportunity to plant and maintain anything that produces food should do so not just for the physical health benefits, but for the mental benefit as well. It is very therapeutic to plant something, take care of it, and nurture it until it gives food back as your reward. I honestly think if we all took a little more time to grow things and be outside, the world would be a much better place. Thanks for taking the time to make the video so more people can see what is possible.
You're welcome. I 100% agree with everything you said! Thanks for sharing. The more people we get growing food and reconnected to the natural world, the better off we will be, physically and mentally. It's so important. I'm glad you're another cold climate food forester, though I'm jealous of all the additional options you have available to you in Zone 6! I hope you have a great growing season!
Wonderful! We are moving to a zone 6 from zone 9 and was in fear of not being able to create our food forest. The plantings are not damaged by all of the freezing? They just come back every spring?
Thank you, I live zone 7 and was pleased to know that many of the plants you have listed are thriving here in my food forest. With the advent of the 400 year solar cycle (Grand Solar Minimum) it is gratifying to know my food forest will survive in a zone 4 setting as well. The cycle (not theory) will be about some years with very erratic cold weather and some years not so much, but with a duration of 30 years at least. This is the best video I have seen for my peace=of-mind. A perennial system is the best hedge against disaster no matter where you plant one.
You're welcome, thanks for watching the video. And yes, perennial systems are definitely the way to go. If you haven't seen my updated tour of the food forest, you can see it here: ua-cam.com/video/T4gSnSlKGZI/v-deo.html
Beautiful Food Forest. I loved the fruit tree guilds with Comfrey, Mint, Oregano, Lambs Ear, and Currants. Thanks for the tour. I look forward to seeing you grow!
Yay! Awesome. I've been working on my 2 acres for years...trying to plant everything medicinal, edible, and beneficial as well. In WI (zone 5b), and getting almonds and English walnuts off young trees is so exciting. I've got paw paws, hardy kiwi, sea berries, honey berries persimmon, pecan, etc. all established. Herbs, flowers, honey bee hives/ organic veggie garden. Minus a few flowers...everything you are growing:) Love seeing what like-minded people are doing. Wish I knew one around here :P I invest everything I have, and have to admit I pay a very hard working guy more than I make an hr. to move all my wood chips and create new garden beds. It's worth it to me. Just brought another truckload of cardboard home tonight and by tomorrow afternoon, there will be tons more garden space/ less lawn. Not sure he's going to be happy I have 4 dump truck loads in my drive...but he's got the stronger back:/ Hopefully I will make a n awesome video like you have. Thanks for sharing:)
Wonderful Martha! Glad you're building a food forest in WI! I would love to see a video of it. We need more cold climate examples out there. Very cool that you have paw paws, persimmons and pecans! Wish those could grow here. Yes, it's great to connect with like-minded people. I started holding film nights and potlucks in my community to build interest, awareness and create a group of like-minded people. It's been such a gift with people sharing their ideas and experience. Perhaps that would work where you live? Who doesn't want to eat persimmons and pecans?? And completely understand on moving the wood chip! It's a lot of sweat equity to put in these food forests.
I'm from WI also And I have a fruit orchard (Apples, pears, peaches, and plums) fenced in with chickens for insect control and fertilization. I love permaculture!
Another Wisconsinite here 🙌 would love to connect. Find me on Facebook Victoria Wadsworth in Poynette, WI. Just over 2 acres with hugelculture mounds on contour and perennial borders with Ancona ducks and African guinea hens for insect/tick control.
This is such a beautiful garden and very inspiring! I started a food forest last year (zone 5b) with a lot of the same plants you have. At this point it's still mostly a pollinator/herb garden until our peaches start producing and we can add more food producers like berries, nuts and root crops. Excellent video, and now I'll go watch the update, too. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for watching! Wonderful that you started a food forest last year. I'm jealous that you're able to grow peaches in your zone! Good luck on getting the rest of the system established. It's definitely a process but so worth it!!
@@BrokenGround thank you! I hope we start getting peaches next year. We need a lot more sunlight on the food forest area. Maybe we could do a collab video some day. Happy foresting!
Thanks! Very exciting that you are starting your food forest next spring! And yes, I have very few straight rows in my gardens. After all, there are no straight lines in nature! The curved nature of my garden beds in the food forest area is based on the pattern of the landscape. There is a very gentle downward slope that follows those curved beds and berms. I first plotted the contours with a laser level before planting (this can also be done with an A-Frame) and designed much of the food forest based on that pattern. Good luck!
You're welcome! Thanks for watching. Have you seen my updated tour. You can watch it here if you're interested: ua-cam.com/video/T4gSnSlKGZI/v-deo.html
Oh great, glad that was useful for you! Did you see my follow-up video that I did a few years later? You can see the evolution! Go here: ua-cam.com/video/T4gSnSlKGZI/v-deo.html
Loganberries and tayberries are good fruits and their productive stems grow very long in a season. You could train them along wires across that wooden fence in the background (if it's yours). Thornless blackberries would do equally well in the same spot (better than they do for me here in this really damp part of Scotland). Also, I have some Jerusalem Artichokes, Garlic Chives, Kyoto Spring Onions (good onions for those with IBS). I use Yacons and Japanese Yams as semi-hardy perennial vegetables. Also have Pig-nuts and hope that the Earth-Nuts have made it through the winter. Jerusalem Artichokes are food for life, but need shelter to stop them from being broken. I'm growing a lot of new hazelnut trees here this year, not just because they make a fine, productive food source, but because the long new growth can be used to help make small fence panels, and every now and again if used as support canes - one will grow. I have a few that are pretty robust now and these will be used to support hanging baskets containing radish and lettuce (and any other small plant that needs to be kept well out of the way of the bunnies). To be honest I would be tempted to grow something on that green between you and the road, a lot of noise and pollution coming in there.
Hi Debbie! Thanks for the recommendations. Unfortunately, we are in USDA Hardiness Zone 4 so as far as I know, loganberries and tayberries won't overwinter here, nor will blackberries. It's such a shame! But I do have some Jerusalem artichokes and garlic chives and I'll look up the Kyoto spring onions. I have some Egyptian onions in the food forest but haven't heard for Kyoto ones. Wonderful that you are growing hazelnuts! I love your idea of them acting as support! I currently have honeysuckle and hops growing along the fence but they have been slower to get going. I agree with the green area between me and the road but unfortunately, we don't own it. Otherwise, I would totally convert it to more edibles!!
This was just so fabulous. I am just starting off a food forest in my orchard area/garden in Tasmania. Your explanations and showing the plants actually growing together was WONDERFUL! Thank you.
I'm glad this was helpful to you, Wendy. Thanks for watching. Have you seen my most recent tour, a few years later? It gives you other design ideas as well. Good luck with your food forest! Here's a link to the latest video here: ua-cam.com/video/T4gSnSlKGZI/v-deo.html
wonderful garden tour, very satisfying to watch and informative - love how you get right to the plants, no messing about - I wish you great health and happiness with your food forest
Beautiful I planted the start of our food forest this spring. I'm now going to start thinking on the next layers. I planted squash under my one area of fruit trees to keep weeds down and on the other area I planted water melons. Worked great for me but now to think about doing it properly. Your video has given me some great info and is inspiring Thanks. I'm a bit scared of planting the mint out but I must give it a go.
Wonderful, glad you got your food forest started this spring, how exciting! And great idea to plant squash and water melons. Annuals are a great way to take advantage of the sun space and cut down on the weeds, as you mentioned, while you're filling in the herb layer with perennial plantings. Yes! I totally understand your hesitation about the mint. Though it can get out of control, it competes well with the grass and is a great pollinator species. Just be sure to put it in a place where you're okay with it spreading and plant less invasive things in areas where you're limited. Good luck!!
Just out of curiosity, how do you get your squash to produce? I live in SE Wyoming, which is also zone 4. But our growing season is so short, that I have been unable to produce squash of any kind so far. The frost kills them.
Great content, very educational! I didn't think all this is possible in cold climate. I live in Michigan and very motivated to start my own. Thank you so much!
You're welcome, thanks so much for watching. I'm glad the video helped motivate you to start your own food forest. Good luck! Have you seen my follow-up video that I made several years later? It has some helpful design tips in it as well. Here's a link to it: ua-cam.com/video/T4gSnSlKGZI/v-deo.html
You're welcome and glad you're doing the same! If you haven't seen it already, I did an updated tour just this past year. You can check it out here if you want to see its progression: ua-cam.com/video/T4gSnSlKGZI/v-deo.html
Thank you for sharing! It’s possible I may not stay in California forever since it’s so pricey here. So, I need encouragement that I can still have a good forest in a more colder climate.
Yes! It's definitely possible! I have fresh fruit from the food forest 6 months of the year and frozen fruit well into the winter. Have you seen my tour a few years later? You can check it out here: ua-cam.com/video/T4gSnSlKGZI/v-deo.html
This so awesome! Thank you for making this video. I'm moving to AK and need all the info I can get for growing in a cold climate. God bless:) Keep growing. Looks like you're doing a great job.
Lifestyle Gardener Thanks! Glad you enjoyed. Food forest establishment just takes a little time, patience and a whole lot of cardboard and wood chip 😊. So I’m certain you’ll be able to do the same. Good luck!
Hi James! The cardboard is used as part of the sheet mulching layers. It's the first layer that you lay down, in order to suppress the grass. In other words, rather than digging up the sod, you lay the cardboard on top of the grass, followed by manure, straw, compost etc. Here's a link to sheet mulching if you want to learn more: tobyhemenway.com/resources/how-to-the-ultimate-bomb-proof-sheet-mulch/ . In the food forest, I don't stick so particularly to all of the layers and the amounts and usually just end up putting down cardboard, manure and wood chip, basically what's available in the moment!
I never heard of this concept. I'm currently in the process of restoring an Oak Savanna habitat in SW Wisconsin, and am restoring the native prairie grasses and forbs for the most part, but I plan to spot plant items kind of like your setup, but they would be more widely dispersed and all will be native to the area. It will be interesting as the prairie needs to be burned every three years or-so. Many of the things you are growing are natives to my area, but there is a lot to choose from. Another difference is that we don't and wont have introduced honey bees. We have plenty of native bees for pollination. We have a playlist showing the progress on our channel, but 2020 will only be our third year. We plan to restore about 5 acres, but can go up to 35. We are on a ridge in zone 4a right where Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa meet.
Sounds like a great project! Yes, do look up food forests and how to get them established. It would be great to do an entirely native food forest. That's a wonderful idea! We no longer have honey bees as they often don't make it during our cold Montana winters so I am focusing, as well, on attracting more native bees to our area. Good luck with your project!
I love your food forest & have watched your video several times. I've gardened my entire life (50+ years) in Minnesota zone 4, but just started a food forest last fall. Would you be willing to post a list of all the plants/trees you have in your garden? Thanks.
This was actually helpful for a world building project of mine. I'm writing a fantasy setting with some friends and one of the factions lives in a cold climate. I now have a rough idea of some the stuff they'd eat on a day-to-day basis. 👍
Gorgeous layout and healthy looking! Impressive tho I'm happy I can have it both winter and summer in Far NorCali. Love seeing the native bee (masons) accommodations.
I'm jealous! It'd be great to even have a couple of extra months of a growing season here. Everything is under several feet of snow right now and I can't wait until it's green again. Thanks for watching!
@@BrokenGround You have the massive benefit of low population density, I envy that and couldn't see living south of where I am. We have our winters too but we can *just* get away with some evergreens like avocados, citrus, loquats....and still good stone fruit environment. Thanks for the video.
Wonderful! Glad that this video helped out. We need more and more examples of these types of systems so it's always good to know that there are others out there that will be transforming their spaces, while feeding themselves. Good luck!
@@BrokenGround Might be back this summer! My daughter is in Helena but has friends in Bozeman. I'll keep you in mind! I will be starting a new food forest in CT.
I'm starting permaculture principals in Missoula. I'd love to visit your food forest this summer if that is something you allow. My zone, soil, and exposure have been a challenge. Please let me know if you are available to talk.
A newcomer to your channel here! Lovely garden, pity about the wind distorting your voice :) I appreciate your experiences, it such a different thing altogether to have garden in North instead of temperate regions as the short growing season does seriously limit what can be successfully planted. I have a tiny backyard in Northern Europe, I wonder how your climate corresponds to ours? We have snowy winter, very cold, for 6 months and basically the effective growing season lasts only abt 4 months. But we get almost 24 h of light per day on high summer. Unfortunately the summer weather can vary extremely from sad and miserable +10 degrees C to +30 degrees C and it may rain all summer or none at all! Currants often grow very well, raspberries too and certain varieties of strawberries as well. I definitely agree with you that the berry bushes are the way to go for large crop, especially here where the fruit trees need to be specially hardy to withstand the harsh winters. I have just this summer planted a green and red gooseberry and 3 different varieties of honeyberry - no crop so far, but it was the first summer so no surprise. Sea buckthorn does grow here nicely in a sunny spot too. You are aware that you need both the "girl" and the "boy" variety to get berries with sea buckthorns? The boy buckthorns are much smaller than the girls and they do not bear fruit but are needed to pollinate the berry bearing varieties. You need roughly 1 boy for 4 girls. I'll subscribe to your channel and follow your updates with interest!
Thanks for watching the video! Yes, cold climate food forests and gardening, in general, are definitely more challenging! Sometimes I wonder why I chose such a challenge! Our growing season is between 90 and 110 days typically, so perhaps a little shorter than yours but it sounds like it's sunnier here. We are in USDA Hardiness zone 4b, which is a designation determined by the average minimum winter temperature, which varies between minus 31.7 and minus 28.9 degrees C so pretty darn cold! But we still manage to be able to grow quite a bit of fruit. In fact, now that the food forest is producing more, we haven't had to buy fruit from the grocery story since July! And yes, I do have both male and female sea buckthorns. Thanks for subscribing and good luck!
Great video Kareen! I'm in the process of building what you have in Wyoming. Are you putting weed barrier under your paths and mulching over them? Thanks Dave
Thanks for watching Dave! Wonderful that you are doing the same in Wyoming. As to your question, I put cardboard and wood chip down for the pathways and have also used burlap bags and then wood chip. However, this does mean that I periodically have to redo parts of the pathway every couple of years. The good thing about this approach is it constantly gives you an opportunity to be adding organic matter to your food forest. However, it requires more maintenance. So if you're looking to keep things low maintenance, then I might suggest putting an actual weed barrier down for the pathways. Another option that breaks down slower is using old cotton fabric and/or cotton clothes. I've done both in the food forest. Great way to get rid of old jeans that the thrift store won't even accept! Hope this helps!
Broken Ground - I’ve used layers of old dingy tee shirts w recycled cardboard boxes on top of the tee shirts. Both free. I simply put L-gravel over the top.
Thanks for watching! If you haven't seen my updated tour of the food forest that I released this year, you can see it here: ua-cam.com/video/T4gSnSlKGZI/v-deo.html
Great information. I'm in the Black Hills at elevation. Technically, we are "the banana belt" of the state at zone 5, but the elevation means that zone 5 doesn't really live through the winter without microclimates or help. Next time you do a video can you coordinate the speaker and the camera? You were talking so fast and pointing in different directions that the camera had a hard time keeping up. lol
I was looking for a video about a food forest I could grow where I live, so I clicked on this cold climate video and it just happens to be from exactly where I live!😂
Lovely garden, but video footage didn't show us everything and it was a little hard to hear. Look forward to creating a similar garden in the coming years.
Thank you for this. Most of the vids I have seen on food forests are more southern climes. I am on Vancouver island and just beginning m food forest this year. It is built around an existing winter apple. I plan to expand it this fall , assuming all goes Re are blueberries, black currants and a grape vine in the forest for now. I have lots of herbs in pots but haven’t yet added them as I am not sure if they are hardy enough or whether the food forest floor is at the point where it nourishes small plants. I hope to see more of your videos. janet
Thanks for watching! Yes, there are definitely less examples of food forests in cold climates. Living in Vancouver Island might enable you to grow even more as you have a slightly milder climate than we do here. Have you seen my updated video? I did another tour last year that you can see here: ua-cam.com/video/T4gSnSlKGZI/v-deo.html
Wonderful. I've never heard the term "food Forest". I like it. My vision conceived along the lines of an edible landscape or permaculture.. I believe the latter term coined in Australia. I've lived in Bozeman--- it is harsh indeed. Four ears later, how is your food forest doing? I thought of hazels before you revealed yours, because hazels are "edgy", growing both in the PNW and the Great Lakes area, but absent from Montana. Random factors of dispersal can govern distribution. If you introduce hazel can you imagine if it became naturalized? Which raises the question: are you growing Corylus americana?
Glad I could introduce you to the term. I made another video tour of my food forest a few years later. You can see the video here: ua-cam.com/video/T4gSnSlKGZI/v-deo.html . And yes, I'm growing American Hazelnuts. Thanks for watching!
@@BrokenGround I will look at both and comment. I am a vegetation ecologist who has worked in a variety of ecoregions and I hope to work at the wildland interface after retirement.
Wonderful! Very excited for you, it's such a joy. We got our first big crop of pears this year and I had such a sense of gratitude and abundance. Good luck!
@@MYPERMACULTUREGARDEN Thanks! That's sweet of you. I'm probably not working the SEO, key words angle or something like that. There is also a ton of other great information online but I appreciate the kudos!
So happy I found this video! We are moving to Montana soon and this has got me SOOOO excited to grow a food forest! I was worried it might be too cold but it looks like all of your plants are just fine in their plant community! Do you have a list of all of these plants? Or even a map of what you did? (Doesn’t have to be exact)
Hi Amanda, I'm glad you found this video as well! Have you seen my latest tour of the food forest? You can check it out here: ua-cam.com/video/T4gSnSlKGZI/v-deo.html&lc=UgwfHDw516qSFsmFW3V4AaABAg I do have a food forest list. If you get in touch via email, I can forward along to you. You can fill out my contact form on my website here: brokengroundpermaculture.com/
It's common comfrey, as far as I know. I got it from a local gardener in town. It wouldn't hurt to put in a few different varieties if possible. Good luck with your permaculture garden!
Thanks for the video! I’m zone 4a in Wyoming and have been trying to grow anything and everything... with mixed success. This gives me a ton of new ideas for this year! I can’t wait, I’m already sprouting, and it just snowed a foot 🤪 oh! What is your irrigation setup? Thanks!
You're welcome! Glad this gives you some new ideas! I have several sprinkler heads that provide overhead irrigation for the herbaceous layer, they are fairly wind resistant and as conservative on water as they can be. Then, I hand water deeply (with a hose) all of my fruit trees and berry bushes once/week for a six week period (july to mid-August). I'm finding that as the forest matures, I have to do this a lot less. I didn't opt for drip irrigation throughout the food forest because that seemed far too complicated and involved with all the understorey plants. Hope that helps. Good luck this season!
Hi it is wonderful to see someone who is doing a food forest in zone four. I am also in zone four in Maine and have some different fruit trees that I would like to add bushes around and eventually some flowers and herbs. My concern however is how do you water when you do need to water because it’s difficult to get around with the hose?Also it looks like it would be difficult to pick all the fruit that the trees produce with the bushes and flowers underneath them. How do you do that?
Hi Michele, thanks for watching and very good question. I have overhead sprays that are fairly efficient and water the herbaceous layer. I water the trees and shrubs with a hose. This only has to happen once/week so it's not a big deal. And, as the food forest matures, they need less and less water. But you can also do a combo of drip irrigation to the trees and shrubs and then sprays for the herbaceous layer. As to your question about harvest, you definitely want pathways that lead to the trees to make harvest easier, so you aren't trampling or compacting plants that often. However, since harvest only happens once/year, I'm also not too worried about it. I often bring a step ladder and place it above the herb layer and things seem to do fine. Have you seen my most recent video, which is several years later, I give more design tips and considerations in that video if you haven't already checked it out. Here's the link: ua-cam.com/video/T4gSnSlKGZI/v-deo.html
I'm not sure I understand what you mean. Did I mention that in the video? I understand that the warmth of a season will determine growth rate, however, I think my reference to how cold our winter gets is in relation to the USDA Hardiness Zones, which are determined by the average minimum winter temperature. The hardiness zone will determine which trees survive or die in a particular region. Or am I misunderstanding what you are saying? Let me know!
The more warm weather (ie. the sum of heat) your area gets over the growing season dictates wither a tree will bear mature seed (and therefore fruit). Even though a perennial may survive the winter, it may not fruit if summers are too cool. This is what determines the native range of many trees. There's a lot of plants I can't grow because, even though I have a 130-140 day growing season, very warm days are few. While your area is in zone 4, your growing season receives 50% more heat than my zone 5. I have a pawpaw tree. It is hardy to zone five but it's native zone stops in northeastern US for no apparent reason if you look at hardiness zones. If you check growing season heat, however, you get an almost perfect match. So I expect my pawpaw tree to grow but never bear fruit.
cold "enough" is not the problem below zone 7. Length of cold is. The lower the zone, usually means the longer the cold period. How the plant is adapted to short, cool growing seasons restricts it's growth in warmer zones. Haskap, for instance, suffers from late frost and to much heat in higher zones. It just needs a cold period and can grow in zone six. Due to it's early burst of growth and immediate flowering, it is not native below zone 5 and rare below zone 3.
I have boxes for my vegetable garden. I am growing lettuce….I would like to know …if I let it go to seed, and do nothing it will grow next year? I don’t remove the plant in the fall? I am in zone 4 like you. Thank you :) I did not realize things could regrow. I always remove everything from my boxes …
It will not regrow but if you let the lettuce go to seed, it will self seed in that same space, most likely. Not in neat little rows :-) but it will likely come up. In other words, the plant won't overwinter but the seeds that drop will germinate in the spring. But also don't remove the plant until the spring, leave the stalk up for the winter. Let me know how it goes!
The best place to source plants is a local or regional nursery if you have one nearby. They will at least be able to give you the cultivars that work in your particular region. Where are you located? For more unusual food forest plants, One Green World or Oikos Tree Crops are also good sources. But I would start local if you can. In terms of where to start - I mention quite a few species in this tour, in addition to my updated tour. I'm not sure if you've seen that video: ua-cam.com/video/T4gSnSlKGZI/v-deo.html
I'm reading the first few comments 😕 I'm zone 6(b?) Anyways the face is cause your garden is amazing and I want one. I have a decent yard for my area although only a bit over half an acre. I don't know where to start. I've planted a bunch of blueberries some apples peaches just put paw paw seeds in the ground we'll see how that does and few other fruit trees. I do have pine trees I wanna take down to put productive trees up. Is there any way to figure all this out? I don't like how i just place the trees in spots that look open for them when I have such big plans that I don't know how to start and I don't want it to look horrible later in life as they all grow in together. Thanks for any idea
Hello and thanks for watching the video! I would start with an overall master plan for your site. It's important to understand the overall patterns of your site, create a base map, and then think through your site design in a more integrated way. Refer to my video in the link below where I go through the three initial steps to designing a homestead, which can be applied to designing a food forest as well. I, of course, consult with clients on site design so if you are interested in my services, you can go to my website, www.brokengroundpermaculture.com. But this video should get you started: ua-cam.com/video/pXuCniXp0Oo/v-deo.html
A few different places. Some were from our local nursery, others from Lawyer's Nursery (which has since shut down) and still others from neighbors and other growers in town.
Ninja 87 my website is brokengroundpermaculture.com. If you go there and then to the contact page and email me, I’ll send you a list of food forest species for cold climates. I don’t have it anywhere online. Thanks!
This food forest was established through a combination of purchased and gifted and grown plants. This did not require mega money at all. If I were to estimate how much money I invested in its establishment it was likely under $500 over the course of 3 seasons. I purchased most of the woody perennials bare root which made it less expensive and many of the herbaceous plants I either grew from seed, they were gifted to me or I dug them up at someone else's property. And of course all of the mulch material, manure and cardboard was free. It's possible to establish a system like this fairly inexpensively if you're able to do most of the labor!
Hi, thanks for sharing i'm in the same zone as you and i was wondering how your sweet sixteen matures, I went to the Pristine and Williams pride for the mid-late August maturity for my apples. Also I planted Baco Noir grapes and crossing my fingers.
Sorry for the delay in responding! I have had issues with things maturing a little late so you were probably smart to go with Pristine and Williams! Good luck with the grapes!
@@BrokenGround Thank-you for the reply, it's tricky growing in this zone I'm from Niagara (tender Fruit Country) and it's about 30 frost free days less here. I've planted shrub cherries, apples, plums, grapes*, and mulberry* this year.......next spring will tell on a couple* . Namaste
Alina Reisbak we are close to an increasingly busy road, unfortunately. So it’s nice to have the food forest as a bit of a reprieve! Thanks for watching!
Thanks for watching! We actually have a deer fence around our backyard which has kept most animals out. Three years ago, we had a very motivated black bear climb a tree, get over our fence and help himself to a chicken dinner and honey for dessert but, for the most part, we've kept that to a minimum. We do have an issue with voles, however, which I've dealt with with a combination of neighborhood cats and natural vole repellent.
Great question, Andrew. To give you an idea, our size food forest (which is roughly 90 feet x 90 feet) gives us fresh fruit for 6 consecutive months and dried/frozen fruit for at least another 2 to 3 months. We are a family of 3. That's just fruit, though. I also have annual gardens that roughly encompass a 70' x 50' area as well. I think if you wanted to grow more calorie crops like nuts and tubers, in addition to annual veggies as well as potatoes etc. you'd need quite a bit more space. Are you familiar with John Jeavons 'How to Grow More Vegetables' book. He really breaks it down well. I believe he says that every person would need 4000 square feet. But there's a lot.you can do with vertical spaces, denser planting etc. Just some thoughts!
Not very much, I have some orach (it's a green) that self-seeds in the food forest but that's about it, most is perennial. When the food forest is immature and there is still a lot of sun space (i.e. before the trees get mature and shade plants below them), you can definitely incorporate annuals. However, as the system matures and the soil is more fungally dominated, annuals won't do as well. You'll also find that a food forest and an annual garden take different amounts of care so you may want to keep them separate. But putting squashes or brassicas in there to initially cover some ground is totally doable!
Yes, they are definitely to be eaten with caution, depending on how bitter they are. The more bitter, the more toxic. I have them mostly for the gorgeous blooms in early spring that give forage for early season pollinators.
Here's the best advice to all you foragers out there When you pick a pawpaw, or a prickly pear And you prick a raw paw, next time beware Don't pick the prickly pear by the paw, when you pick a pear try to use the claw But you don't need to use the claw when you pick a pear of the big pawpaw
Kareen, may I know what you did for soil to retain water since last watering was June & next will be July.. Is this located in your property? I want to plant horseradish which you have, what are your challenges with it? You said you plant comfrey beside trees but you did not say the reason so please clarify why. Thanks,
Adding organic matter is the key to increasing soil retention. To establish the food forest, I added a lot of wood chip, manure and straw. Horseradish is super easy to grow and establish and have never had any challenges with it. It's hardy and grows like a weed in this climate and in our soils. Comfrey is a great soil-builder and used as mulch around the trees. Did you see my video about making comfrey tea? That will give you a little more insight! You can check it out here: ua-cam.com/video/qIn6m9eY1N4/v-deo.html
Pretty much think flat lasagna compost. Manure layer, dryleaves, kitchen scraps, green wood mulch with leaves.... as it breaks down via mycilum(fungi) then dry hard material turns soft and spongy. just dont till un-composted mulch into the soil or it robs the plants you plant from nitrogen.
Hi Sunny, no, I haven't. Do you mean how I overwinter things in the food forest? The only things I do are protecting the trees from voles with hardware cloth, protecting young trees from sun scald with tree protectors, and chopping and dropping the comfrey. I leave all the other perennials up over the winter. That's about it! But good idea on a video, I may do that if I have time this fall. Thanks for tuning in!
Your garden is lovely, you’re lovely, the idea of a “food forest” is lovely, and your video is great. However, I have extensively practiced “permaculture” techniques and it’s mostly a romantic notion. But it is a lot of fun and you’ve done a great job.
I'd be curious about what you mean with regards to a 'romantic notion.' While I agree that permaculture is not the answer to all of the world's problems, many of the techniques it promotes are based in ecological principles. Please elaborate as I would like to hear more about your experiences of what worked and what didn't, in your particular case. If you're saying that permaculture design itself is a romantic notion, then I would disagree. Permaculture is a design framework based on a set of principles, it's not a set of techniques. I believe the design framework is actually quite sound. Like any field, it's evolving but we run into issues when people equate permaculture techniques (e.g. herb spirals, fruit tree guilds etc.) with the actual design approach. Thanks for watching!
Broken Ground First, I mean no disrespect. Your garden is incredible. I’ve tried to recreate the same thing in my yard. However, a food forest as we understand it really doesn’t exist in the state of nature. As such, we are constantly battling nature (e.g. the growing habits and soil requirements of competing plants as well as deer, squirrels, rabbits, etc, insects, fungi, molds, weeds, drought, heat, cold and so on). This year, I did not spray my apples and they were essentially inedible due to worms and holes and pests. Also, despite tremendous effort (and expense), the produce from my garden barely impacted what we purchased from the grocery store. I could be wrong but I don’t think we will ever be able to replace intensive monoculture agriculture in today’s world. Nevertheless, growing an edible garden is a wonderful past time.
@@tedtimmis8135 No offense taken. I'm always curious about people's experience. We need more and more people sharing their experiences with these techniques. There is a wild food forest in Kazahstan that exists with a variety of different species (e.g. roses, currants etc.) growing with the apples. Regardless of whether or not a food forest exists in a natural state, we are essentially mimicking the architecture of a woodland ecosystem and creating habitat as such. We are creating our own mini ecosystems and have to constantly accepting the feedback of various experiments that we try. As to productivity, I haven't had to buy fresh fruit since July and still have pounds and pounds of raspberries, rhubarb, gooseberries, red currants, apples and pears that are either frozen, canned or dehydrated. So it has definitely put a dent in my grocery bill, no doubt about it. With regards to permaculture replacing monocultures, I think we have to think more about taking a multifaceted approach to feeding the world. In my opinion, we won't feed 9 billion people through large scale monocultures or some 'tech'ed up solution'. We will feed 9 billion people through every community deciding to become more self-reliant through a diversity of strategies, whether they be food forests, backyard gardens, market gardeners etc. Every community needs to create its own local food system based on the culture, climate, and region that they are in. What I like about the concept of permaculture is that it invites you to reconnect with the land and the place and find design solutions based very much on where you are.
Broken Ground Well said, especially in regard to reconnecting with the land. To put it another way, watching gardening videos in December makes me happy. Thanks for replying.
Comfrey doesn't fix nitrogen but is high in nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, potash and calcium. It harvests these nutrients from deep in the soil with its deep roots. I think I misspoke in the video. Sorry for the confusion!
My cold climate food forest has come along way over the years! If you enjoyed this video, be sure to check out the same food forest tour... 7 years later! 👉 ua-cam.com/video/T4gSnSlKGZI/v-deo.html
I was just about to post a question about what it looks like now ;)
@@peterellis4262 Great, were you able to watch the other video! I'm probably due for another update soon! Stay tuned!
I always love a walk through the garden.
I'm another cold climate permaculturer/food forester. It is possible, and as much work as it takes during the spring, summer, and fall, I like my winters to relax. I couldn't imagine doing it year round in a warmer climate. I'm pushing zone 6, so I get a few more choices than zone 4, but there are a ton of options out there, even for zone 4. I have pawpaws, persimmons, peaches, plums, jujubes, pears, apples, medlar, apricots, cherries, and several walnut varieties. I may have every berry bush you can grow in my climate, lol. I think everyone that has an opportunity to plant and maintain anything that produces food should do so not just for the physical health benefits, but for the mental benefit as well. It is very therapeutic to plant something, take care of it, and nurture it until it gives food back as your reward. I honestly think if we all took a little more time to grow things and be outside, the world would be a much better place. Thanks for taking the time to make the video so more people can see what is possible.
You're welcome. I 100% agree with everything you said! Thanks for sharing. The more people we get growing food and reconnected to the natural world, the better off we will be, physically and mentally. It's so important. I'm glad you're another cold climate food forester, though I'm jealous of all the additional options you have available to you in Zone 6! I hope you have a great growing season!
Ive lived in both zone 4 and 6. Let me say that zone 6 is wayyy easier.
Zone 4 might be a stretch but have you tried hardy kiwi?
Wonderful! We are moving to a zone 6 from zone 9 and was in fear of not being able to create our food forest. The plantings are not damaged by all of the freezing? They just come back every spring?
@@kimtriplep7145 You'll do great! Don't worry! These plants are tough!
Thanks for the shared video! You have created a wonderful food forest!
It must smell incredible walking through.
Wow this is amazing ! Thank you so much :)
Awesome!
nice garden good work thank you for tour
I can’t stop watching this video! I am in love with your food forest, it’s everything I dream of for ours!
Yay! Glad it's good inspiration for your future food forest!
Thank you, I live zone 7 and was pleased to know that many of the plants you have listed are thriving here in my food forest. With the advent of the 400 year solar cycle (Grand Solar Minimum) it is gratifying to know my food forest will survive in a zone 4 setting as well. The cycle (not theory) will be about some years with very erratic cold weather and some years not so much, but with a duration of 30 years at least. This is the best video I have seen for my peace=of-mind. A perennial system is the best hedge against disaster no matter where you plant one.
You're welcome, thanks for watching the video. And yes, perennial systems are definitely the way to go. If you haven't seen my updated tour of the food forest, you can see it here: ua-cam.com/video/T4gSnSlKGZI/v-deo.html
Beautiful Food Forest. I loved the fruit tree guilds with Comfrey, Mint, Oregano, Lambs Ear, and Currants. Thanks for the tour. I look forward to seeing you grow!
You're welcome Nigel. Glad you enjoyed the tour! I plan on doing another tour in a year or so to track the growth. Stay tuned!
Yay! Awesome. I've been working on my 2 acres for years...trying to plant everything medicinal, edible, and beneficial as well. In WI (zone 5b), and getting almonds and English walnuts off young trees is so exciting. I've got paw paws, hardy kiwi, sea berries, honey berries persimmon, pecan, etc. all established. Herbs, flowers, honey bee hives/ organic veggie garden. Minus a few flowers...everything you are growing:) Love seeing what like-minded people are doing. Wish I knew one around here :P I invest everything I have, and have to admit I pay a very hard working guy more than I make an hr. to move all my wood chips and create new garden beds. It's worth it to me. Just brought another truckload of cardboard home tonight and by tomorrow afternoon, there will be tons more garden space/ less lawn. Not sure he's going to be happy I have 4 dump truck loads in my drive...but he's got the stronger back:/ Hopefully I will make a n awesome video like you have. Thanks for sharing:)
Wonderful Martha! Glad you're building a food forest in WI! I would love to see a video of it. We need more cold climate examples out there. Very cool that you have paw paws, persimmons and pecans! Wish those could grow here. Yes, it's great to connect with like-minded people. I started holding film nights and potlucks in my community to build interest, awareness and create a group of like-minded people. It's been such a gift with people sharing their ideas and experience. Perhaps that would work where you live? Who doesn't want to eat persimmons and pecans?? And completely understand on moving the wood chip! It's a lot of sweat equity to put in these food forests.
I'm from WI also And I have a fruit orchard (Apples, pears, peaches, and plums) fenced in with chickens for insect control and fertilization. I love permaculture!
Another Wisconsinite here 🙌 would love to connect. Find me on Facebook Victoria Wadsworth in Poynette, WI. Just over 2 acres with hugelculture mounds on contour and perennial borders with Ancona ducks and African guinea hens for insect/tick control.
permies.com
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Ohhhh Montana 😍! I hope to go one day!
Yes, definitely come for a visit. It's a gorgeous state!
Looks like my yard!👍✌️
So cool! Looks like a refreshing place to spend time
This is such a beautiful garden and very inspiring! I started a food forest last year (zone 5b) with a lot of the same plants you have. At this point it's still mostly a pollinator/herb garden until our peaches start producing and we can add more food producers like berries, nuts and root crops. Excellent video, and now I'll go watch the update, too. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for watching! Wonderful that you started a food forest last year. I'm jealous that you're able to grow peaches in your zone! Good luck on getting the rest of the system established. It's definitely a process but so worth it!!
@@BrokenGround thank you! I hope we start getting peaches next year. We need a lot more sunlight on the food forest area. Maybe we could do a collab video some day. Happy foresting!
Your garden is lovely! I'm starting my food forest next spring so I appreciate the tips! I love your layout, it's making me rethink my straight rows!
Thanks! Very exciting that you are starting your food forest next spring! And yes, I have very few straight rows in my gardens. After all, there are no straight lines in nature! The curved nature of my garden beds in the food forest area is based on the pattern of the landscape. There is a very gentle downward slope that follows those curved beds and berms. I first plotted the contours with a laser level before planting (this can also be done with an A-Frame) and designed much of the food forest based on that pattern. Good luck!
One of the design principles in Permaculture is "Maximize Edge"
Wonderful!! so inspiring, Thank you!
You're welcome! Thanks for watching. Have you seen my updated tour. You can watch it here if you're interested: ua-cam.com/video/T4gSnSlKGZI/v-deo.html
It looks great. Thank you for sharing with us.
rctd06 You’re welcome, I hope it was helpful!
Well shared thank you!
You're welcome, thanks for watching!
Your food forest is so lush! I am in zone 5 so the plants you are growing would also work for me, so I've gotten lots of good ideas!
Oh great, glad that was useful for you! Did you see my follow-up video that I did a few years later? You can see the evolution! Go here: ua-cam.com/video/T4gSnSlKGZI/v-deo.html
Loganberries and tayberries are good fruits and their productive stems grow very long in a season. You could train them along wires across that wooden fence in the background (if it's yours). Thornless blackberries would do equally well in the same spot (better than they do for me here in this really damp part of Scotland).
Also, I have some Jerusalem Artichokes, Garlic Chives, Kyoto Spring Onions (good onions for those with IBS). I use Yacons and Japanese Yams as semi-hardy perennial vegetables. Also have Pig-nuts and hope that the Earth-Nuts have made it through the winter. Jerusalem Artichokes are food for life, but need shelter to stop them from being broken.
I'm growing a lot of new hazelnut trees here this year, not just because they make a fine, productive food source, but because the long new growth can be used to help make small fence panels, and every now and again if used as support canes - one will grow. I have a few that are pretty robust now and these will be used to support hanging baskets containing radish and lettuce (and any other small plant that needs to be kept well out of the way of the bunnies).
To be honest I would be tempted to grow something on that green between you and the road, a lot of noise and pollution coming in there.
Hi Debbie! Thanks for the recommendations. Unfortunately, we are in USDA Hardiness Zone 4 so as far as I know, loganberries and tayberries won't overwinter here, nor will blackberries. It's such a shame! But I do have some Jerusalem artichokes and garlic chives and I'll look up the Kyoto spring onions. I have some Egyptian onions in the food forest but haven't heard for Kyoto ones. Wonderful that you are growing hazelnuts! I love your idea of them acting as support! I currently have honeysuckle and hops growing along the fence but they have been slower to get going. I agree with the green area between me and the road but unfortunately, we don't own it. Otherwise, I would totally convert it to more edibles!!
Love it.
Congratulations for this amazing food forest! Great job!
Thanks for watching the video Angelica!
This was just so fabulous. I am just starting off a food forest in my orchard area/garden in Tasmania. Your explanations and showing the plants actually growing together was WONDERFUL! Thank you.
I'm glad this was helpful to you, Wendy. Thanks for watching. Have you seen my most recent tour, a few years later? It gives you other design ideas as well. Good luck with your food forest! Here's a link to the latest video here: ua-cam.com/video/T4gSnSlKGZI/v-deo.html
@@BrokenGround Oh thank you. Yes I watched that video. I LOVED it too. Thank you so much for making these videos.
@@wendyhonnor2487 You're welcome Wendy!
Great to see more cold climate permaculture. Just subscribed!
Thanks for subscribing and yes, we definitely need more information and practitioners of cold climate permaculture!
@@BrokenGround You're welcome. I am a few years into permaculture in a small yard in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It is fun.
wonderful garden tour, very satisfying to watch and informative - love how you get right to the plants, no messing about - I wish you great health and happiness with your food forest
Thanks for watching and glad you enjoyed it!
Beautiful I planted the start of our food forest this spring. I'm now going to start thinking on the next layers. I planted squash under my one area of fruit trees to keep weeds down and on the other area I planted water melons. Worked great for me but now to think about doing it properly. Your video has given me some great info and is inspiring Thanks. I'm a bit scared of planting the mint out but I must give it a go.
Wonderful, glad you got your food forest started this spring, how exciting! And great idea to plant squash and water melons. Annuals are a great way to take advantage of the sun space and cut down on the weeds, as you mentioned, while you're filling in the herb layer with perennial plantings. Yes! I totally understand your hesitation about the mint. Though it can get out of control, it competes well with the grass and is a great pollinator species. Just be sure to put it in a place where you're okay with it spreading and plant less invasive things in areas where you're limited. Good luck!!
Just out of curiosity, how do you get your squash to produce? I live in SE Wyoming, which is also zone 4. But our growing season is so short, that I have been unable to produce squash of any kind so far. The frost kills them.
Amanda Barnes mine have a long season. Plant direct in the soil in may and just yesterday the cool weather hit them so that's the end of mine.
awesome
Thanks for watching!
Awesome project! Thanks for sharing!
Prairie Ally you’re welcome!
Great content, very educational! I didn't think all this is possible in cold climate. I live in Michigan and very motivated to start my own. Thank you so much!
You're welcome, thanks so much for watching. I'm glad the video helped motivate you to start your own food forest. Good luck! Have you seen my follow-up video that I made several years later? It has some helpful design tips in it as well. Here's a link to it: ua-cam.com/video/T4gSnSlKGZI/v-deo.html
Fantastic assortment of trees and plants: I am slowly but surely turning my land into a food forest too. Thank you for the tour!
You're welcome and glad you're doing the same! If you haven't seen it already, I did an updated tour just this past year. You can check it out here if you want to see its progression: ua-cam.com/video/T4gSnSlKGZI/v-deo.html
Wow...I am trying to do this too. Your way ahead of me, but we are having fun.
Wonderful Joshua! I'm glad to hear it. We need more and more people setting up food forests in cold climates. Good luck!
Thank you for sharing your beautiful forest with us. It looks fantastic!
Thanks for watching Melissa!!
Thank you for sharing! It’s possible I may not stay in California forever since it’s so pricey here. So, I need encouragement that I can still have a good forest in a more colder climate.
Yes! It's definitely possible! I have fresh fruit from the food forest 6 months of the year and frozen fruit well into the winter. Have you seen my tour a few years later? You can check it out here: ua-cam.com/video/T4gSnSlKGZI/v-deo.html
You have an amazing food forest.
This so awesome! Thank you for making this video. I'm moving to AK and need all the info I can get for growing in a cold climate. God bless:) Keep growing. Looks like you're doing a great job.
Thanks for watching the video. Good luck with growing in AK!
@@BrokenGround thank you!:)
So Very informative and everything looks beautiful!
Thanks for watching!
Thank you! You might enjoy adding bayberry, its leaves are wonderfully fragrant and when roasted they make a nice tea.
Thanks for the recommendation, I'll check it out!
Hello . Nice tour . Thank you kindly for sharing your wonderful intel . All the best Howie
You're welcome Howie, glad it was helpful for you!
Beautiful forest. Hopefully I will be-able to do this one day.
Lifestyle Gardener Thanks! Glad you enjoyed. Food forest establishment just takes a little time, patience and a whole lot of cardboard and wood chip 😊. So I’m certain you’ll be able to do the same. Good luck!
Broken Ground what are you using the cardboard for (I’m halfway through the video, if you have described it in the video)
Hi James! The cardboard is used as part of the sheet mulching layers. It's the first layer that you lay down, in order to suppress the grass. In other words, rather than digging up the sod, you lay the cardboard on top of the grass, followed by manure, straw, compost etc. Here's a link to sheet mulching if you want to learn more: tobyhemenway.com/resources/how-to-the-ultimate-bomb-proof-sheet-mulch/ . In the food forest, I don't stick so particularly to all of the layers and the amounts and usually just end up putting down cardboard, manure and wood chip, basically what's available in the moment!
Wow 👍🏼😊
I never heard of this concept. I'm currently in the process of restoring an Oak Savanna habitat in SW Wisconsin, and am restoring the native prairie grasses and forbs for the most part, but I plan to spot plant items kind of like your setup, but they would be more widely dispersed and all will be native to the area. It will be interesting as the prairie needs to be burned every three years or-so. Many of the things you are growing are natives to my area, but there is a lot to choose from. Another difference is that we don't and wont have introduced honey bees. We have plenty of native bees for pollination. We have a playlist showing the progress on our channel, but 2020 will only be our third year. We plan to restore about 5 acres, but can go up to 35. We are on a ridge in zone 4a right where Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa meet.
Sounds like a great project! Yes, do look up food forests and how to get them established. It would be great to do an entirely native food forest. That's a wonderful idea! We no longer have honey bees as they often don't make it during our cold Montana winters so I am focusing, as well, on attracting more native bees to our area. Good luck with your project!
Wonderful beauty and lovingcare for your place on Earth. Thank you for sharing! I'm encouraged. (Zone 3-4 here in southern Alberta, Canada.)
Yay! Good luck and thanks for watching!
BEAUTIFUL! 😍
I'm getting a lot of ideas of what to plant in the lower layer
Great! Thanks for watching!
Thank you! This is very helpful
You're welcome, thanks for watching!
I love your food forest & have watched your video several times. I've gardened my entire life (50+ years) in Minnesota zone 4, but just started a food forest last fall. Would you be willing to post a list of all the plants/trees you have in your garden? Thanks.
Hi Beth! Thanks for watching the video! If you email me at info@brokengroundpermaculture.com, I'll send you a list!
This was actually helpful for a world building project of mine. I'm writing a fantasy setting with some friends and one of the factions lives in a cold climate. I now have a rough idea of some the stuff they'd eat on a day-to-day basis. 👍
Very cool! Glad it was useful for you. Thanks for watching!
I would love to see an update of this garden now!
Thanks for watching the video! Here's a video I posted of the food forest a few years later: ua-cam.com/video/T4gSnSlKGZI/v-deo.html
Gorgeous layout and healthy looking! Impressive tho I'm happy I can have it both winter and summer in Far NorCali. Love seeing the native bee (masons) accommodations.
I'm jealous! It'd be great to even have a couple of extra months of a growing season here. Everything is under several feet of snow right now and I can't wait until it's green again. Thanks for watching!
@@BrokenGround You have the massive benefit of low population density, I envy that and couldn't see living south of where I am. We have our winters too but we can *just* get away with some evergreens like avocados, citrus, loquats....and still good stone fruit environment. Thanks for the video.
This was fascinating thank you, Iam looking to do something similar with my back yard so am looking for ideas / inspiration - I got loads from this!
Wonderful! Glad that this video helped out. We need more and more examples of these types of systems so it's always good to know that there are others out there that will be transforming their spaces, while feeding themselves. Good luck!
Thank you!
You're welcome! Thanks for watching!
excellent information thank you
Huge inspiration. Thank you very much ^_^
You're welcome. Thanks for watching!
Beautiful!!!! Great complexity. Thank you for posting! I was in Bozeman in Oct 2018, wish I had stopped by.
I wish you would have to! Thanks for watching!
@@BrokenGround Might be back this summer! My daughter is in Helena but has friends in Bozeman. I'll keep you in mind! I will be starting a new food forest in CT.
@@paulbourdon1236 Yes, definitely get in touch if you're passing through!
Amazing. Hoping I can get a lot of beneficial plants growing like that on my place. So inspiring!
Thanks! Good luck with establishing your food forest!
I'm starting permaculture principals in Missoula. I'd love to visit your food forest this summer if that is something you allow. My zone, soil, and exposure have been a challenge. Please let me know if you are available to talk.
A newcomer to your channel here! Lovely garden, pity about the wind distorting your voice :) I appreciate your experiences, it such a different thing altogether to have garden in North instead of temperate regions as the short growing season does seriously limit what can be successfully planted. I have a tiny backyard in Northern Europe, I wonder how your climate corresponds to ours? We have snowy winter, very cold, for 6 months and basically the effective growing season lasts only abt 4 months. But we get almost 24 h of light per day on high summer. Unfortunately the summer weather can vary extremely from sad and miserable +10 degrees C to +30 degrees C and it may rain all summer or none at all! Currants often grow very well, raspberries too and certain varieties of strawberries as well. I definitely agree with you that the berry bushes are the way to go for large crop, especially here where the fruit trees need to be specially hardy to withstand the harsh winters. I have just this summer planted a green and red gooseberry and 3 different varieties of honeyberry - no crop so far, but it was the first summer so no surprise. Sea buckthorn does grow here nicely in a sunny spot too. You are aware that you need both the "girl" and the "boy" variety to get berries with sea buckthorns? The boy buckthorns are much smaller than the girls and they do not bear fruit but are needed to pollinate the berry bearing varieties. You need roughly 1 boy for 4 girls. I'll subscribe to your channel and follow your updates with interest!
Thanks for watching the video! Yes, cold climate food forests and gardening, in general, are definitely more challenging! Sometimes I wonder why I chose such a challenge! Our growing season is between 90 and 110 days typically, so perhaps a little shorter than yours but it sounds like it's sunnier here. We are in USDA Hardiness zone 4b, which is a designation determined by the average minimum winter temperature, which varies between minus 31.7 and minus 28.9 degrees C so pretty darn cold! But we still manage to be able to grow quite a bit of fruit. In fact, now that the food forest is producing more, we haven't had to buy fruit from the grocery story since July! And yes, I do have both male and female sea buckthorns. Thanks for subscribing and good luck!
Great video Kareen! I'm in the process of building what you have in
Wyoming. Are you putting weed barrier under your paths and mulching over them?
Thanks Dave
Thanks for watching Dave! Wonderful that you are doing the same in Wyoming. As to your question, I put cardboard and wood chip down for the pathways and have also used burlap bags and then wood chip. However, this does mean that I periodically have to redo parts of the pathway every couple of years. The good thing about this approach is it constantly gives you an opportunity to be adding organic matter to your food forest. However, it requires more maintenance. So if you're looking to keep things low maintenance, then I might suggest putting an actual weed barrier down for the pathways. Another option that breaks down slower is using old cotton fabric and/or cotton clothes. I've done both in the food forest. Great way to get rid of old jeans that the thrift store won't even accept! Hope this helps!
Broken Ground - I’ve used layers of old dingy tee shirts w recycled cardboard boxes on top of the tee shirts. Both free. I simply put L-gravel over the top.
Very nice.
Thanks for watching! If you haven't seen my updated tour of the food forest that I released this year, you can see it here: ua-cam.com/video/T4gSnSlKGZI/v-deo.html
Great information. I'm in the Black Hills at elevation. Technically, we are "the banana belt" of the state at zone 5, but the elevation means that zone 5 doesn't really live through the winter without microclimates or help.
Next time you do a video can you coordinate the speaker and the camera? You were talking so fast and pointing in different directions that the camera had a hard time keeping up. lol
Also, I had no idea that lettuce would self sow in zone 4!
Yes indeed, I hope to do an updated food forest tour and be a little less all over the place next time! Thanks for watching!
I was looking for a video about a food forest I could grow where I live, so I clicked on this cold climate video and it just happens to be from exactly where I live!😂
Glad you found me! If you need extra guidance, feel free to get in touch! brokengroundpermaculture.com/
Excellent video.
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it! I hope it was helpful for you1
Thank you for including the Latin names!
You're welcome!
Lovely garden, but video footage didn't show us everything and it was a little hard to hear. Look forward to creating a similar garden in the coming years.
Yes, it was hard to capture all of it. Have fun establishing your own, it's such a fulfilling project (on many levels!).
Very well done.
Thanks! Hopefully it was helpful to you!
bravisimo medame
Thank you for this. Most of the vids I have seen on food forests are more southern climes. I am on Vancouver island and just beginning m food forest this year. It is built around an existing winter apple. I plan to expand it this fall , assuming all goes Re are blueberries, black currants and a grape vine in the forest for now. I have lots of herbs in pots but haven’t yet added them as I am not sure if they are hardy enough or whether the food forest floor is at the point where it nourishes small plants. I hope to see more of your videos. janet
Thanks for watching! Yes, there are definitely less examples of food forests in cold climates. Living in Vancouver Island might enable you to grow even more as you have a slightly milder climate than we do here. Have you seen my updated video? I did another tour last year that you can see here: ua-cam.com/video/T4gSnSlKGZI/v-deo.html
beautiful!
Thanks!!
Wonderful. I've never heard the term "food Forest". I like it. My vision conceived along the lines of an edible landscape or permaculture.. I believe the latter term coined in Australia. I've lived in Bozeman--- it is harsh indeed. Four ears later, how is your food forest doing? I thought of hazels before you revealed yours, because hazels are "edgy", growing both in the PNW and the Great Lakes area, but absent from Montana. Random factors of dispersal can govern distribution. If you introduce hazel can you imagine if it became naturalized? Which raises the question: are you growing Corylus americana?
Glad I could introduce you to the term. I made another video tour of my food forest a few years later. You can see the video here: ua-cam.com/video/T4gSnSlKGZI/v-deo.html . And yes, I'm growing American Hazelnuts. Thanks for watching!
@@BrokenGround I will look at both and comment. I am a vegetation ecologist who has worked in a variety of ecoregions and I hope to work at the wildland interface after retirement.
NEW SUBSCRIBER !!! I HAVE STARTED A FOOD FOREST TOO ,,, BUT I CANT WAIT TILL MINE LOOKS LIKE YOURS ! IM IN ZONE 7a
Wonderful! Very excited for you, it's such a joy. We got our first big crop of pears this year and I had such a sense of gratitude and abundance. Good luck!
@@BrokenGround ,, You are almost at 500.... I don't get it,,,, you your content is excellent .... You should be over 1000.
@@MYPERMACULTUREGARDEN Thanks! That's sweet of you. I'm probably not working the SEO, key words angle or something like that. There is also a ton of other great information online but I appreciate the kudos!
So happy I found this video! We are moving to Montana soon and this has got me SOOOO excited to grow a food forest! I was worried it might be too cold but it looks like all of your plants are just fine in their plant community! Do you have a list of all of these plants? Or even a map of what you did? (Doesn’t have to be exact)
Hi Amanda, I'm glad you found this video as well! Have you seen my latest tour of the food forest? You can check it out here: ua-cam.com/video/T4gSnSlKGZI/v-deo.html&lc=UgwfHDw516qSFsmFW3V4AaABAg I do have a food forest list. If you get in touch via email, I can forward along to you. You can fill out my contact form on my website here: brokengroundpermaculture.com/
Beautiful and bountiful garden! Too bad there is so much noise pollution it would be so peaceful.
What type of comfrey do you grow? I’m starting a permaculture garden in northwest Wyoming. I am inspired by your garden...simply beautiful!
It's common comfrey, as far as I know. I got it from a local gardener in town. It wouldn't hurt to put in a few different varieties if possible. Good luck with your permaculture garden!
Thanks for the video! I’m zone 4a in Wyoming and have been trying to grow anything and everything... with mixed success. This gives me a ton of new ideas for this year! I can’t wait, I’m already sprouting, and it just snowed a foot 🤪 oh! What is your irrigation setup? Thanks!
You're welcome! Glad this gives you some new ideas! I have several sprinkler heads that provide overhead irrigation for the herbaceous layer, they are fairly wind resistant and as conservative on water as they can be. Then, I hand water deeply (with a hose) all of my fruit trees and berry bushes once/week for a six week period (july to mid-August). I'm finding that as the forest matures, I have to do this a lot less. I didn't opt for drip irrigation throughout the food forest because that seemed far too complicated and involved with all the understorey plants. Hope that helps. Good luck this season!
Hi it is wonderful to see someone who is doing a food forest in zone four. I am also in zone four in Maine and have some different fruit trees that I would like to add bushes around and eventually some flowers and herbs. My concern however is how do you water when you do need to water because it’s difficult to get around with the hose?Also it looks like it would be difficult to pick all the fruit that the trees produce with the bushes and flowers underneath them. How do you do that?
Hi Michele, thanks for watching and very good question. I have overhead sprays that are fairly efficient and water the herbaceous layer. I water the trees and shrubs with a hose. This only has to happen once/week so it's not a big deal. And, as the food forest matures, they need less and less water. But you can also do a combo of drip irrigation to the trees and shrubs and then sprays for the herbaceous layer. As to your question about harvest, you definitely want pathways that lead to the trees to make harvest easier, so you aren't trampling or compacting plants that often. However, since harvest only happens once/year, I'm also not too worried about it. I often bring a step ladder and place it above the herb layer and things seem to do fine. Have you seen my most recent video, which is several years later, I give more design tips and considerations in that video if you haven't already checked it out. Here's the link: ua-cam.com/video/T4gSnSlKGZI/v-deo.html
Wow!
very professional video. charming host.
FYI. The growth of a tree depends more on how warm your growing season gets than on how cold your winter gets.
I'm not sure I understand what you mean. Did I mention that in the video? I understand that the warmth of a season will determine growth rate, however, I think my reference to how cold our winter gets is in relation to the USDA Hardiness Zones, which are determined by the average minimum winter temperature. The hardiness zone will determine which trees survive or die in a particular region. Or am I misunderstanding what you are saying? Let me know!
The more warm weather (ie. the sum of heat) your area gets over the growing season dictates wither a tree will bear mature seed (and therefore fruit). Even though a perennial may survive the winter, it may not fruit if summers are too cool. This is what determines the native range of many trees. There's a lot of plants I can't grow because, even though I have a 130-140 day growing season, very warm days are few.
While your area is in zone 4, your growing season receives 50% more heat than my zone 5. I have a pawpaw tree. It is hardy to zone five but it's native zone stops in northeastern US for no apparent reason if you look at hardiness zones. If you check growing season heat, however, you get an almost perfect match. So I expect my pawpaw tree to grow but never bear fruit.
cold "enough" is not the problem below zone 7. Length of cold is. The lower the zone, usually means the longer the cold period. How the plant is adapted to short, cool growing seasons restricts it's growth in warmer zones.
Haskap, for instance, suffers from late frost and to much heat in higher zones. It just needs a cold period and can grow in zone six.
Due to it's early burst of growth and immediate flowering, it is not native below zone 5 and rare below zone 3.
@@ecocentrichomestead6783 Thanks for the info!
I have boxes for my vegetable garden. I am growing lettuce….I would like to know …if I let it go to seed, and do nothing it will grow next year? I don’t remove the plant in the fall? I am in zone 4 like you. Thank you :) I did not realize things could regrow. I always remove everything from my boxes …
It will not regrow but if you let the lettuce go to seed, it will self seed in that same space, most likely. Not in neat little rows :-) but it will likely come up. In other words, the plant won't overwinter but the seeds that drop will germinate in the spring. But also don't remove the plant until the spring, leave the stalk up for the winter. Let me know how it goes!
A hedge to block that road would do wonders
Where is a good place to source plants and a good list to start with. Thank you!
The best place to source plants is a local or regional nursery if you have one nearby. They will at least be able to give you the cultivars that work in your particular region. Where are you located? For more unusual food forest plants, One Green World or Oikos Tree Crops are also good sources. But I would start local if you can. In terms of where to start - I mention quite a few species in this tour, in addition to my updated tour. I'm not sure if you've seen that video: ua-cam.com/video/T4gSnSlKGZI/v-deo.html
I'm watching this video again! Is there an aerial view that you have?
Hi David, there's a drone shot near the end of the video, perhaps you saw it?
@@BrokenGround actually no lol! I stopped after about the 15 minute mark when it seemed like you were concluding the video. I'll check it out now
I'm reading the first few comments 😕 I'm zone 6(b?) Anyways the face is cause your garden is amazing and I want one. I have a decent yard for my area although only a bit over half an acre. I don't know where to start. I've planted a bunch of blueberries some apples peaches just put paw paw seeds in the ground we'll see how that does and few other fruit trees. I do have pine trees I wanna take down to put productive trees up. Is there any way to figure all this out? I don't like how i just place the trees in spots that look open for them when I have such big plans that I don't know how to start and I don't want it to look horrible later in life as they all grow in together. Thanks for any idea
Hello and thanks for watching the video! I would start with an overall master plan for your site. It's important to understand the overall patterns of your site, create a base map, and then think through your site design in a more integrated way. Refer to my video in the link below where I go through the three initial steps to designing a homestead, which can be applied to designing a food forest as well. I, of course, consult with clients on site design so if you are interested in my services, you can go to my website, www.brokengroundpermaculture.com. But this video should get you started: ua-cam.com/video/pXuCniXp0Oo/v-deo.html
I’d love to know where you sourced all these variety of plants!
A few different places. Some were from our local nursery, others from Lawyer's Nursery (which has since shut down) and still others from neighbors and other growers in town.
johnnys select seed
burpees
then local guys will find you once you get a few catalogs
search native plants for your area & see who pops up
bol
Is there a website where you listed all your plants?
Beautiful food forest!
Ninja 87 my website is brokengroundpermaculture.com. If you go there and then to the contact page and email me, I’ll send you a list of food forest species for cold climates. I don’t have it anywhere online. Thanks!
Wow nice. You must have been able to purchase all that stuff. Im foraging for starts and cultivating cuz i dont have mega money
This food forest was established through a combination of purchased and gifted and grown plants. This did not require mega money at all. If I were to estimate how much money I invested in its establishment it was likely under $500 over the course of 3 seasons. I purchased most of the woody perennials bare root which made it less expensive and many of the herbaceous plants I either grew from seed, they were gifted to me or I dug them up at someone else's property. And of course all of the mulch material, manure and cardboard was free. It's possible to establish a system like this fairly inexpensively if you're able to do most of the labor!
Hi, thanks for sharing i'm in the same zone as you and i was wondering how your sweet sixteen matures, I went to the Pristine and Williams pride for the mid-late August maturity for my apples. Also I planted Baco Noir grapes and crossing my fingers.
Sorry for the delay in responding! I have had issues with things maturing a little late so you were probably smart to go with Pristine and Williams! Good luck with the grapes!
@@BrokenGround Thank-you for the reply, it's tricky growing in this zone I'm from Niagara (tender Fruit Country) and it's about 30 frost free days less here. I've planted shrub cherries, apples, plums, grapes*, and mulberry* this year.......next spring will tell on a couple* . Namaste
I appreciate the Latin! Very good project! What is the surrounding noise - are you close to an airport or so?
Alina Reisbak we are close to an increasingly busy road, unfortunately. So it’s nice to have the food forest as a bit of a reprieve! Thanks for watching!
I love it! Do you have any issues with animals?
Thanks for watching! We actually have a deer fence around our backyard which has kept most animals out. Three years ago, we had a very motivated black bear climb a tree, get over our fence and help himself to a chicken dinner and honey for dessert but, for the most part, we've kept that to a minimum. We do have an issue with voles, however, which I've dealt with with a combination of neighborhood cats and natural vole repellent.
@@BrokenGround thanks for the reply. Beautiful food forest!
@@sdbruceb You're welcome and thanks!
I wonder about how much food forest it would take to supply the bulk of food for a family, or even a neighborhood? Any thoughts on this?
Great question, Andrew. To give you an idea, our size food forest (which is roughly 90 feet x 90 feet) gives us fresh fruit for 6 consecutive months and dried/frozen fruit for at least another 2 to 3 months. We are a family of 3. That's just fruit, though. I also have annual gardens that roughly encompass a 70' x 50' area as well. I think if you wanted to grow more calorie crops like nuts and tubers, in addition to annual veggies as well as potatoes etc. you'd need quite a bit more space. Are you familiar with John Jeavons 'How to Grow More Vegetables' book. He really breaks it down well. I believe he says that every person would need 4000 square feet. But there's a lot.you can do with vertical spaces, denser planting etc. Just some thoughts!
@@BrokenGround Thanks for your intput ...and I might have to investigate that book.
Do you incorporate vegetables into the food forest or do those elsewhere? i.e. nightshades, cucurbits, brassicas, etc.
Not very much, I have some orach (it's a green) that self-seeds in the food forest but that's about it, most is perennial. When the food forest is immature and there is still a lot of sun space (i.e. before the trees get mature and shade plants below them), you can definitely incorporate annuals. However, as the system matures and the soil is more fungally dominated, annuals won't do as well. You'll also find that a food forest and an annual garden take different amounts of care so you may want to keep them separate. But putting squashes or brassicas in there to initially cover some ground is totally doable!
I have just purchased a 1/2acre and am looking to get a food forest set up in cold central north island of New Zealand 🇳🇿
Wonderful to hear! Did you see my updated tour? This will give you more design considerations: ua-cam.com/video/T4gSnSlKGZI/v-deo.html. Good luck!
Can you do an update this upcoming growing season? Thanks
I'm going to try. I was just thinking it was due for an update! Thanks for watching the video!
How are you using the Prunus tenella? (I was under the impression that they aren't edible due to high cyanide content)?
Yes, they are definitely to be eaten with caution, depending on how bitter they are. The more bitter, the more toxic. I have them mostly for the gorgeous blooms in early spring that give forage for early season pollinators.
Here's the best advice to all you foragers out there
When you pick a pawpaw, or a prickly pear
And you prick a raw paw, next time beware
Don't pick the prickly pear by the paw, when you pick a pear try to use the claw
But you don't need to use the claw when you pick a pear of the big pawpaw
Kareen, may I know what you did for soil to retain water since last watering was June & next will be July.. Is this located in your property? I want to plant horseradish which you have, what are your challenges with it? You said you plant comfrey beside trees but you did not say the reason so please clarify why. Thanks,
Adding organic matter is the key to increasing soil retention. To establish the food forest, I added a lot of wood chip, manure and straw. Horseradish is super easy to grow and establish and have never had any challenges with it. It's hardy and grows like a weed in this climate and in our soils. Comfrey is a great soil-builder and used as mulch around the trees. Did you see my video about making comfrey tea? That will give you a little more insight! You can check it out here: ua-cam.com/video/qIn6m9eY1N4/v-deo.html
Pretty much think flat lasagna compost. Manure layer, dryleaves, kitchen scraps, green wood mulch with leaves....
as it breaks down via mycilum(fungi) then dry hard material turns soft and spongy.
just dont till un-composted mulch into the soil or it robs the plants you plant from nitrogen.
New to your channel, have you made a video about how you overwinter things? I looked but did not see anything about it.
Hi Sunny, no, I haven't. Do you mean how I overwinter things in the food forest? The only things I do are protecting the trees from voles with hardware cloth, protecting young trees from sun scald with tree protectors, and chopping and dropping the comfrey. I leave all the other perennials up over the winter. That's about it! But good idea on a video, I may do that if I have time this fall. Thanks for tuning in!
Your garden is lovely, you’re lovely, the idea of a “food forest” is lovely, and your video is great. However, I have extensively practiced “permaculture” techniques and it’s mostly a romantic notion. But it is a lot of fun and you’ve done a great job.
I'd be curious about what you mean with regards to a 'romantic notion.' While I agree that permaculture is not the answer to all of the world's problems, many of the techniques it promotes are based in ecological principles. Please elaborate as I would like to hear more about your experiences of what worked and what didn't, in your particular case. If you're saying that permaculture design itself is a romantic notion, then I would disagree. Permaculture is a design framework based on a set of principles, it's not a set of techniques. I believe the design framework is actually quite sound. Like any field, it's evolving but we run into issues when people equate permaculture techniques (e.g. herb spirals, fruit tree guilds etc.) with the actual design approach. Thanks for watching!
Broken Ground First, I mean no disrespect. Your garden is incredible. I’ve tried to recreate the same thing in my yard. However, a food forest as we understand it really doesn’t exist in the state of nature. As such, we are constantly battling nature (e.g. the growing habits and soil requirements of competing plants as well as deer, squirrels, rabbits, etc, insects, fungi, molds, weeds, drought, heat, cold and so on).
This year, I did not spray my apples and they were essentially inedible due to worms and holes and pests. Also, despite tremendous effort (and expense), the produce from my garden barely impacted what we purchased from the grocery store. I could be wrong but I don’t think we will ever be able to replace intensive monoculture agriculture in today’s world. Nevertheless, growing an edible garden is a wonderful past time.
@@tedtimmis8135 No offense taken. I'm always curious about people's experience. We need more and more people sharing their experiences with these techniques. There is a wild food forest in Kazahstan that exists with a variety of different species (e.g. roses, currants etc.) growing with the apples. Regardless of whether or not a food forest exists in a natural state, we are essentially mimicking the architecture of a woodland ecosystem and creating habitat as such. We are creating our own mini ecosystems and have to constantly accepting the feedback of various experiments that we try. As to productivity, I haven't had to buy fresh fruit since July and still have pounds and pounds of raspberries, rhubarb, gooseberries, red currants, apples and pears that are either frozen, canned or dehydrated. So it has definitely put a dent in my grocery bill, no doubt about it. With regards to permaculture replacing monocultures, I think we have to think more about taking a multifaceted approach to feeding the world. In my opinion, we won't feed 9 billion people through large scale monocultures or some 'tech'ed up solution'. We will feed 9 billion people through every community deciding to become more self-reliant through a diversity of strategies, whether they be food forests, backyard gardens, market gardeners etc. Every community needs to create its own local food system based on the culture, climate, and region that they are in. What I like about the concept of permaculture is that it invites you to reconnect with the land and the place and find design solutions based very much on where you are.
Broken Ground Well said, especially in regard to reconnecting with the land. To put it another way, watching gardening videos in December makes me happy. Thanks for replying.
Ted about your first bad experience was pretty similar to the first experience of Masanobu Fukuoka
In what mechanism does comfrey fix nitrogen? I’m familiar with the legumes ability, is it the same?
Comfrey doesn't fix nitrogen but is high in nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, potash and calcium. It harvests these nutrients from deep in the soil with its deep roots. I think I misspoke in the video. Sorry for the confusion!