Agroforestry for Small Farms & Homesteads - Food Forest & Homestead Design

The old John Eyler Homestead - once completely logged - is now Regenerating into a Dynamic Food Forest.
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If the future is nuts.. then the fine folks at Stoney Spring Farm on the historic John Eyler Homestead site are well set. This hillside farm nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains feels like it is right out of a John Steinbeck book, a peaceful ‘away’ place many of us dream about.
This beautiful site has just become more majestic with over 1,000 fruit and nut rich plantings in a dynamic agroforestry/permaculture design.
The first objective of the site design was water. Being a hillside farm water was sheeting off, leaving the soil dry even just a few days after strong rains, and pulling organic matter off with it - a double loss!
To slow, sink and spread the water we created swales on contour that consist of a dug out basin and corresponding downhill berm. These swales on contour are capturing the water sliding down the hill falling into the basins which then sink all that wonderful water into the water table - hydrating the soil for 30-40 feet downslope. This key design completely changes the soil dynamic and thus the success of whatever is planted.
So, what did we plant?!
Overstory:
Northern pecans, hybrid chestnuts, hickories, select black walnuts, heartnuts, pine nuts, sweet oaks,sugar maples, honey locusts, persimmons, mulberries, willows..
Understory:
Paw paws, hazelnuts, juneberries, elderberries, hawthorns, cornelian cherries, red buds, spice bushes..
Ground Covers:
Mountain mint, running comfrey, bee balms, clovers.
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