Top 10 Lessons after 10 Years on our Homestead

[@charlesdevier8203]

This was an excellent video. You sure hit all the high points. We purchased our farm here in mid-Missouri, zone 6b (was 6a) seven years ago. When I started the orchard six years ago, we had to build a fence to keep out all the deer. Now, that main orchard has 30+ fruit trees spaced 20 feet apart. I have fruiting bushes planted between the trees. In addition, I planted about 35 more fruit and nut trees around the edges of our wooded ares. Most of these trees are in rows, so I can mow the alley ways with a riding mower.

[@BrokenGround]

Thanks for watching and glad it was useful for you! Sounds like you have an amazing orchard!

[@DDGLJ]

Appreciate all your videos, so helpful to me. What a lovely insight about the gate- my elderly neighbor put in a path toward my house- how wonderful that made my family feel! The children of a family on another side of our property eat the wild raspberries in exchange for pulling invasive grass (more berries are harvested than grass, but that’s ok 🙂). About waiting- so true- we had to wait due to circumstances & discovered three old planting beds with beautiful soil completely free of rocks. What a gift! Only briefly in the late fall could we see them after the foliage drop- then in the winter they were covered up by snow. Finally, my plant journey is in reverse of yours- I started with native landscaping and am now moving into food- when you talk about volunteers, in the native landscape they can be disastrous. I’ve seen mint and catnip take over small areas along the Yellowstone River. So just another reason to keep an eye out. Currently, I’m battling bellflower (which is illegal to have in Calgary due to invasiveness). It spread into the surrounding wild environment where I live, and is difficult to locate in its early stages, and nearly impossible to kill. But other plants from the original homeowners have naturalized well. I would implore folks living in wild areas to be very careful about all non-natives. Research them carefully & think about what might happen if you move, or are unable to get into the garden. Even some commercial “cabin mixes” of ostensibly native wildflowers & grasses contain invasive brome.

[@BrokenGround]

Glad this video was helpful and thanks for sharing more of your experience. I love that your neighbor children get to take advantage of the raspberries! And I feel you with the bellflower! We don't have much but it's taken over yards in the center of town where I live and homeowners are constantly dealing with it! Good luck with more food expansion on your property!!

[@melissagoodwin2602]

Great tips

[@BrokenGround]

Thanks for watching!

[@ourmontanahomestead8880]

Great tips! I’m on year 3 at our new property in Montana (had 10 yrs gardening in town in Helena prior to moving). I really enjoy your videos 😊

[@BrokenGround]

Thanks so much for watching, hope it was useful for you!

[@nateanderson5289]

Thanks for so generously sharing your experience. When you talk about weeding the paths, what type of paths are you talking about? Like paving stone pathways?

[@BrokenGround]

I just have mulched pathways in my garden and food forest. If you have stone pathways, that helps a lot in terms of cutting down on weeding.

[@juliefleury6439]

Yes on the weed mat! Question: what herbaceous plants would you have included?

[@BrokenGround]

Pale purple coneflower, prarie coneflower, blue flax, maybe Rosy pussytoes as a groundcover, wild bergamot, white sage. Those are some of them!

[@jenn6838]

Hi Kareen! First off, love your videos as I'm also a Montanan. You have been a great inspiration and resource for starting my own food forest two seasons ago. Could you please elaborate on what to do for pruning young fruit trees? How far apart are your fruit trees vs how far apart would you recommend?

[@BrokenGround]

Thanks so much for watching my videos! And nice to know a fellow Montanan! In terms of spacing, I would have added an extra two to three feet between the fruit trees, beyond the mature spread of the tree, just for more of an open canopy, so if you have the space, I'd recommend that. With regards to pruning, I'd google pruning young fruit trees for some tips. I can't seem to find the video I like but the whole idea is to really determine shape and structure early in the fruit tree's growth, part of it is to make is such that if you looked at the tree from above, it would stair step up in a fairly symmetrical fashion. This video might help: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eJ7Qg6Vqhbmsfa8

[@jenn6838]

@@BrokenGround Thank you!

[@tlopez5821]

Great info, Kareen, thanks so much for sharing. Would you have any suggestions for filtering through options of plants for food forest? Staying with the native theme, it seems hard to find details on taste/texture when looking at fruiting plant options. I also appreciate the encouragement you share to stay with the beginner mind, mother nature is our best teacher. Blessed Be!

[@BrokenGround]

Thanks for watching! Yes, it's definitely difficult to find great options for that. I would say that if you have a native plant society in your area, definitely reach out to them and see if you can go on some plant walks and/or at least talk to folks who might be able to speak to specific varieties that you are interested in. And to clarify, I would still stick with non native fruit trees and berry bushes in the food forest as they are some things that you'll definitely want (i.e. apples, pears, cherries etc.) but I'd put in more herbaceous perennials. I'm not sure where you are located but in terms of native fruiting shrubs, elderberries, serviceberries, alpine strawberries and golden currants are all native and great additions!

[@barbarasimoes9463]

As far as taste goes, I will google, What does "X" taste like? This is how I found "Weird Explorer" who has made it his mission to taste and describe every fruit in the world. He has a wonderful way of describing the taste and he is honest as to whether it is good or not, flavor-wise. You can enter a particular fruit like medlar or che or whatever you are wondering about, and chances are, he's done a video about it!

[@BrokenGround]

@@barbarasimoes9463 Thanks for the tip! I'll definitely check him out!