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Over 20 new plants in the food forest!

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Yesterday was a fun day. It finally rained after weeks of a cold dry spring. We had also picked up an order of trees and shrubs on Monday and Tuesday and wanted to get planting. Why not get out there in the rain and transplant them so they could get watered in? So we went for it. All together we planted: 1 Prairie Welcome Pear 1 Aronia Viking 2 Thimbleberry 1 Wolfberry 1 Josta Berry 3 Gooseberries 2 Black Currants 2 Haskap 2 High Bush Blueberries 2 Low Bush Blueberries 2 Lingon Berries We also planted 2 Robert Chokecherry trees near, but not in, the food forest. Over last years mulching we seeded in white clover. This will provide a ground cover that will cut down on weeds and can be easily removed if needed as it has shallow roots. I also planted a mint plant into the food forest last week. I know it can get out of control but I want that. When it gets too much I will just chop and drop. This morning, I also planted some Sorrel and Borage seeds. I am nervous...
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Spring 2020 update

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Well it's the Spring of 2020 and it's just over one year since I planted my first trees! I didn't put a fence or winter protection around me trees because we have no deer or rabbits. Our little oasis is totally surrounded by huge fields and larger wildlife seems to not make the jump. Unfortunately, this was the wrong decision. Mid winter a large snowshoe hare moved into the area and ate my cherries right to the snow line, most of one apricot, and large chunks of the other apricot, cherry plum and currants. I rushed to cover what I had left with tree guards and he didn't cause anymore damage. I started walking the dogs in a big loop around the property so he couldn't come back as well. The good news is that this spring, even the little 6 inch sticks left of the cherries has leaf buds. It make take them a bit to recover, but it looks like they are going to try! phew. Stupid rabbit. This spring my focus was to get the rest of the food forest area mulched before the...
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Plant Profile - Black Currant

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Black Currant ( Ribes nigrum) Black Currant is a woody shrub grown primarily for its berries. In our food forest it will be an understory shrub, so it is currently placed next to a cherry. They originate in the temperate parts of central and northern Europe and Asia and are hardy to zone 2.  The Black Currant comes in a few varieties, but all have a bushy growth and can range from 3-5ft. As the name suggest, the berries are black and similar in size to a blueberry (a wild blueberry not one of those store-bought monsters). There are claims that one mature Black Currant can produce 10 pounds of berries in a season. That would be impressive and fantastic. The berries are tasty and can be eaten fresh or made into jams, jellies etc. Berries can also be dried and added to cooking throughout the winter. There are small delicate flowers in the spring that progress into clusters of berries by midsummer. The leaves are fairly large for a plant it’s size and have 5 lobes, ...
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Plant Profile - Prairie Magic Apple

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Well, it's been 2 weeks. Time for the next plant profile! Prairie Magic Apple ( Malus 'Prairie Magic' ) Prairie Magic is a relatively new very hardy red apple. It is hardy to zone 3a and can live to 50 years or more. I wanted a compact, reliable apple tree and this seems to be it. The information I’ve found suggests this apple was created in Neepawa, Manitoba so it’s a local tree! Since this is a Manitoba apple and fairly new, it was very difficult to find photos, and mine is currently a very proud stick. If I get a photo next summer I will update this post. This apple tree is available in both a full size and dwarf. I chose to go with the dwarf variety as it grows to a height of 15 feet and a spread of 12 feet, and will not overwhelm the food forest. This tree is said to produce large apples with a blushed pink exterior and white flesh. They are ready for picking in mid september and have a sweet taste and crisp texture. They are most often used for fresh eati...
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Plant Profile: Manchurian Apricot

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Since we’re heading into winter here, with snow on the ground, I thought I’d try to do one plant profile every 2 weeks to give a little information about what is in the forest garden so far. Hopefully this will get me to spring when I start bringing in new plants and can continue with these profiles biweekly. We will see. Without further delay… Time for our first plant profile! Manchurian Apricot (Prunus armeniaca var. mandshurica) I know what you’re thinking… an Apricot?! Mais oui. This apricot tree is native to Korea and Manchuria (Manchuria: an exonym for several large overlapping historical and geographic regions in Northeast Asia) and is hardy to Zone 3. It is a relative to our native plums. So some clever person brought it over to North America. Manchuria The tree grows up to 12 feet tall, but there are instances of some growing to 26 feet tall with a 32 foot spread just over in North Dakota, so you never know. The bark is smooth and brown, and kind of shiny if yo...
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Mulching: Stage 1

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Having decided to move from the permaculture orchard idea into a food forest, it was time to get some Mulch in place to start the battle against the grass. We ordered 10 yards, knowing we wouldn't be able to get much more than that done before the snow flies, given our current schedules. Last week the mulch arrived on Wednesday evening and Saturday we started hauling mulch one cart at a time. The mulch we ordered is not the freshly chipped kind, but rather includes leaf litter and is starting to break down. I thought this would be better to get a jump start with new plants. We put untreated craft paper down as a weed barrier, knowing that it will help to smother the grass but also eventually break down and not be a permanent barrier to plant growth. Then we placed 4-8 inches depending on the pre-existing conditions. When we planted the fruit trees originally we had placed black landscape cloth around them and covered that in wood chips and most had stayed grass free for the sum...
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The Journey Begins...

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Well, it's time to start documenting my journey towards building a food forest! We bought a house in spring of 2019 on 10 acres in the Rosewood area just east of Winnipeg, Manitoba. We had always wanted to move out to the country and this was the perfect opportunity. The property itself has four distinct areas: the main yard, an area of red pines, a small meadow area and  a poplar forest (majority of the area). The main yard is way too big for us so we marked out a large portion to let the poplar forest spread into, but I also started reading about forest gardens. I had originally been reading about permaculture orchards when we bought the property. We planted a bunch of fruit trees in the spring based on the permaculture ideas. I also hit some sales late spring and early fall and added a few shrubs around the fruit trees. Then mid fall I went down the rabbit hole of forest gardens after seeing some compelling Youtube videos. So I ordered 10 yards of mulch and the journey has...
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