TREE UPDATE
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Hello dear tree friends, We have to start with an apology, as it's been a while since you heard from us last. But I am here now to give you a little update about our food forest and homestead project here in Italy. We left our land and trees "wintering" last November and arrived back to a forest of fava beans in April. I've told "my fava bean story" to anyone who would listen :-), so you might have already heard/seen it on social media or via my Newsletter. |
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These new beds that we created have now tripled our vegetable garden and that has actually taken a lot of our focus, time and energy this spring and summer. Even though we are using the winter-cover-crop method to enrich the soil, turning our clay dominant soil into more humus rich nutrition for the plants and trees is a long term process. Some of the permaculture tricks that we are using include:
- making our own "quick compost". Eli is turning into quite an expert in this process (he is currently editing an update on the composting process for his Maestro of Everything youtube channel). It has been so satisfying to witness our seedlings and plants thriving when we have used our own good quality compost.
- we keep adding organic matter to all the beds: dried and green leaves, green matter that has not gone to seed and woodchips
- using "weed-tea" to water and spray the plants ca once/month. Weed fertilizer tea is exactly what it sounds like - an infusion of weeds in water that you can use to fertilize the garden to give the plants a little boost. I make the "tea" by gathering some weeds into a big bucket (we've discovered that nettles work really well, but also dandelion, milk thistle, comfrey) and fill the bucket with water (ideally non-chlorinated) , then cover with a lid and leave it for ca 4 weeks, stirring it weekly. Warning - this stuff smells bad :-) and you need to dilute it before using it on the plants. The resulting liquid has no seeds in it, but you are able to extract the phosphorus, potassium, nitrogen, magnesium, sulfur, copper, boron, and other minerals and nutrients they have stored in their roots and leaves and add them to enrich your soil.
- "compost tea" is another homemade liquid fertilizer we use for the trees and plants. What we make is called an aerated compost tea - we "brew" it from our own good quality compost by placing a mesh-bag full of compost into a big bucket of non-chlorinated water and add sugar (or molasses) as a food source for the bacteria to grow. We then use an aerating pump (like the ones used in fish tanks) to create bubbling action and keep the liquid aerated. In 24-36 hours this tea is ready to be diluted and used in the garden.
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We are experimenting and observing the effects of these methods as they are intended to improve the nutrient content in the soil, build healthy bacteria and help to defend plants against pests and a variety of microorganisms. This year we were so grateful for the energy we put into the earthworks last year by creating the swale system that is the foundation of our food forest (here's Eli gushing over some swale magic). We had a rainy spring and early summer and we were enjoying the sight of swales brimming with water, knowing that a huge portion of that water will now be stored in our land rather than it washing off taking the top soil with it. |
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And now finally I'm getting to our TREES! All planted trees except one Kaki plant survived the winter and went into gorgeous bloom in early spring. We have one of the Mulberries named Bart, a dwarf Apple named Carlo and both Kumquats Anne and Jenny bearing fruit already this year, other trees are still sending their energy towards establishing strong root systems and adjusting to the change of being transplanted. As I said above - the poor soil and pests are an issue, so we have been using all the above mentioned methods to offer our support to the trees.
We also made a decision to NOT rush planting more trees this spring. The house renovation was taking a lot of our energy and focus, plus now the triple sized vegetable garden is a lot of work for just the 2 of us. One core principle of permaculture that our teacher John really cemented in us, is to start small and take it slow. To observe and let nature show the way! So with the food forest this year, we wanted to focus on the vegetable garden and observe how the existing trees are coping. We also now have seen with our own eyes how important the earthworks and a well thought out swale system is for the thriving of the whole ecosystem we are trying to create here. We have a whole big "back section" of the land where we plan to plant ca 20-30 more trees, but we still need to "meditate" on the design of the layout.
If you don't see your tree planted yet amongst the pictures below, know that we plan to plant some more fruit and nitrogen fixing trees in the front section of the land in the autumn before we leave. But the design for the back-land and a big portion of the nut trees will be planted next spring.
We also made a decision to NOT rush planting more trees this spring. The house renovation was taking a lot of our energy and focus, plus now the triple sized vegetable garden is a lot of work for just the 2 of us. One core principle of permaculture that our teacher John really cemented in us, is to start small and take it slow. To observe and let nature show the way! So with the food forest this year, we wanted to focus on the vegetable garden and observe how the existing trees are coping. We also now have seen with our own eyes how important the earthworks and a well thought out swale system is for the thriving of the whole ecosystem we are trying to create here. We have a whole big "back section" of the land where we plan to plant ca 20-30 more trees, but we still need to "meditate" on the design of the layout.
If you don't see your tree planted yet amongst the pictures below, know that we plan to plant some more fruit and nitrogen fixing trees in the front section of the land in the autumn before we leave. But the design for the back-land and a big portion of the nut trees will be planted next spring.
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One big accomplishment that is indirectly related to the food forest, is that we now have one simple, rustic yet comfortable room in our house somewhat ready. In fact at the moment, Eli is busy making some finishing touches to it, as we will have our first volunteer come and stay with us and help us next week. Even a project as small as ours is a lot of work and we are so excited to now be better equipped to welcome people to come and help out while learning about permaculture and sustainable living.
Please check out and follow our new FB page, to give you a more fluid interactive experience.
As you will see, the FB page is trying out a new name for our homestead, "Oasi Verde", which is Italian for Green Oasis. It feels fitting for us, partly because our land is a little island of atypical practices in this region; surrounded only by olive orchards, our food forest is indeed an oasis of green. A neighbor, in a fit of exuberance, recently said "the plants are just so green over there, when compared to the other plots in the area!!"......and we didn't even pay him to say that!!
But we are still having hesitation about the name as it seems INCREDIBLY common for many different farms and tourist attractions in Italy, so we might be lost in that "sea of identical branding". What do you think? Do you have any ideas to make it more unique? We welcome all creative input!
We continue to be grateful for your support and patience.
If you need some tissue hydration and nourishment, please remember to try out the
SOMATIC PRACTICES
I gifted you as our THANK YOU!!
If you need some tissue hydration and nourishment, please remember to try out the
SOMATIC PRACTICES
I gifted you as our THANK YOU!!
WE LOOK FORWARD TO WELCOMING YOU TO THIS BEAUTIFUL REGION ONE DAY!