Tour Our PERMACULTURE ORCHARD - Ep. 260

[@ja-uh9gz]

"If you build it...they will come.", and they are coming. 😊 How cool to see the snapping turtle finding its way into your compost pile. Everything is coming along very nicely and the animals/insects really appreciate it! I love it.

[@PrismaticFarm]

Turtles love to lay eggs in compost piles because of the heat!

[@mimosveta]

aw medlar, mušmula in my language. she has to catch the first frost while still on tree, or, you can pick it and keep it in the fridge to ripen. i haven't had it since childhood, but if I remember correctly, it looks rotten when ripe, and tastes like shovel in your head sweet!

[@EighteenandCloudy]

The snapping turtle knows a good thing when she sees it... nesting material and a gourmet buffet on tap! Thank you for the tour, I'm amazed by the breadth of your plantings, including many edible species I've not heard of before. I love your use of ground cover with the mints and strawberries too.

[@dr.susanchaudoir8576]

I really loved this update! All your hard work and patience are paying off! How cute to have a delicious strawberry surprise on your tour! Love your channel, love seeing your projects, and I savor the love for diversity amongst your garden flora. ❤ May more and more success come to you!😅

[@gardenfunwithpaulie]

Absolutely love the space. A true paradise for the senses and soul ❤

[@pinkyfromhaughtfarms6550]

I love that as soon as you saw the turtle you relinquished the pile to her. Also, just a heads up, but there has been a pretty big rise in grazon being present in hay fed to horses and cattle, causing grazon contamination in compost and soils. It wreaks havoc in a garden. Not at all saying it will happen to you or you haven't done your homework, just want to make sure people know that it's a risk these days🫶

[@FlockFingerLakes]

Our neighbor is basically a naturopath for horses, so it's part of the reason why we take her manure because she ensures that her horses have only been fed the best food. But yeah, that grazon stuff looks awful and folks should be aware of it, so thanks for mentioning it.

[@wimhance6541]

Horsetail, you can fight, but you can't win. Just make friends with it. The sheer volume and variety of planting is its own protection here. Doesn't matter if you eat stuff with dirt on it, it just adds to the flavour and your immune system. I love it.

[@sherylemoore8626]

You will have fennel forever! Mine surprises me every so often. The orchard is beautiful. Great ideas for combining plants. I am starting my own little orchard. Your videos are giving me some great ideas. Thank you.

[@FlockFingerLakes]

Thanks for taking the time to watch. Glad it can provide some ideas for your own orchard.

[@jcriverside]

I'm so glad you included the permaculture orchard, I've been wondering about it for a while. I hope you'll pop in again on a video as this season progresses. I'd love to see how you use (cooking, herb prep) some of those things, especially the more unusual ones. Will you be getting more interesting stuff from Ort Family Farms? Is there a reason you don't have hazelnuts and the like there? Will you be adding more permaculture areas or doing anything with the ponds? Do you paddleboard and/or float around on the half lake, and if not, why not?

[@FlockFingerLakes]

Methinks when we are finished with the bulk of the renovation (hopefully end of Spring 2025), then we'll have more free time to do videos on food and cooking and just the cool nature that abounds here. As of right now, it's managing professional work and renovations. Oh and hazelnuts, we have a whole 1-acre nut grove with oak, hickory, almond and hazelnuts. It's part of the interstitial area, and I think we highlighted it in our permaculture zones video here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/haLNfJ-EmqeBodk..... Ponds are a 2025 project...post-renovation, but the ponds will be largely keep with natural plantings. They are all intensely productive with life and are fully stocked. And again, I think when we are not busy with work, we may spend a bit more time lounging in the pond. But for now, it's back to painting boards for the barn! Have a lovely day!

[@lesliesgarden6798]

Looking good! Thanks for sharing the update!

[@sharonknorr1106]

So, several comments on this video. So glad you are in contact with Shaun at Edible Acres - he has an amazing permaculture nursery set-up and his chicken compost videos are epic; his is the other KZbinr I follow from my former Finger Lakes stomping grounds. My Carmine cherry bushes are fruiting for the first time this year - they really followed the sleep, creep and leap scenario. It will be interesting to see what these small cherries taste like. My yellow raspberries from Stark Bros. are among my favorite fruits, but we have to fight the yellow jackets to harvest them before they are ruined. Our serviceberries are amazing this year - large, sweet, juicy and prolific. My golden currants have been attacked by blister aphids, but are holding their own. Young apple trees have fruit for the first time as well - just have to address the thistle "orchard" they are growing in which has even crowded out the comfrey and garlic chives. Huge crabapple harvest coming - my husband has found a recipe for some kind of bourbon/crabapple concoction. Putting most of my strawberries in my Greenstalk - can't stand losing them to the slugs. Anyways, nothing better than fresh fruit. Your permaculture orchard is off to a fabulous start.

[@MatthewMalchan]

Just loved the turtle!

[@MartinaSchoppe]

Nice update, thanks. I used to not like black currants, but I like them more and more. Try them mixed with other berries - raspberries, strawberries and the red/white currants. I think, all the currants are better when left on the plants longer. It's hard to wait, but they really will be so much sweeter.

[@ulla.umlaut]

It's so hard to wait until beautiful fruit is fully ripe!

[@MartinaSchoppe]

@@ulla.umlaut True! But it is also a matter of knowing. When I watch garden videos about harvesting currants, I often see them picked, when the smallest on the tip are still almost green and a few "upper ones" are also not quite red, black or translucent in the case of "white" ones. and then the person goes "Currants are rather tart!" ehm, yeah. Every unripe fruit is.... 🤨😂

[@FlockFingerLakes]

This is my first time growing white currants and I find those are hard to figure out whether they are ripe or not! ha.

[@MartinaSchoppe]

@@FlockFingerLakes yeah, currants are a bit different than other berries. Except for the black ones, they should be "translucent" and the seeds inside be visible. Or you could try some every few days. In Germany they are called "Johannisbeeren" because they are ripe around the day of "Johanni" - that is the 21st of June. (Climate change is Effing that up, of course...). It's even more difficult, when birds discover them and start harvesting :D Then you have to net the bushes.

[@gardenfunwithpaulie]

Thanks!

[@MonoiLuv]

Such a cute turtle

[@alanFconrad]

Nice Tour.... Thanks !

[@FlockFingerLakes]

Our pleasure!

[@_JanetLouise]

so cool to watch the progress

[@SequoiaElisabeth]

Love the Snapper. Looks things are coming along. Lots of challenges which seem to be resolving. 🙂

[@rickyt3961]

thanks for the update! it’s looking great! 🍓😊

[@nancycunningham4225]

Companion planting! Recc the book, Roses Love Garlic.

[@jeanneamato8278]

The snapper is the watchdog for Flock.

[@FlockFingerLakes]

Got lots of watchdogs then!!! 4th one we’ve seen this year.

[@JoyoftheGardenandHome]

You're the only one I know who likes wild strawberry weeds.

[@FlockFingerLakes]

Is that so? I transplanted them here so I hope I like it over time. They are so plentiful here. Got them growing in just about every garden now. Plus the leaves are medicinal as well…

[@barbarabranstetter1784]

Love the turtle 🐢

[@LittleSpaceCase]

I plant bigleaf lupines in between all my blueberries for the nitrogen hahaha, I have a lot of woodchips too.

[@FlockFingerLakes]

Love that. We have our native Lupinus perennis in the meadow so maybe we should consider transferring some here!

[@tallgrassprairiedream]

Love seeing the orchard update! I like horsetail, too. Do you water your fruit trees? Do you have a drone recommendation? Enjoy the berries

[@kathymacomber5115]

Love the turtle

[@FlockFingerLakes]

Us too. Fourth one we've seen laying eggs on the land!

[@douglasbarrows8110]

Beautiful😊

[@KP-gw5zv]

Love your videos. For your strawberries you should put straw around the strawberries so that snails, slugs and other bugs that will eat the strawberries.

[@FlockFingerLakes]

We definitely need a good source for straw...Plenty of hay around here, but it comes with all the seeds.

[@TheWoodlandOrchard]

I'm planning a permaculture orchard which I'll hopefully start in the autumn. It'll be alongside my food forest and woodland areas. Really inspiring to see your design. Subscribed! Thank you for the video.

[@FlockFingerLakes]

Good for you! Enjoy the experience of designing and growing it!

[@Fellowtellurian]

Love all the blueberries! You think Deer browse is bad, wait until you encounter duck browse! I have runner ducks in a aquaculture and permaculture set up and they love the blueberry leaves. Also, I know you love your vocabulary, here is a new one for you aQUACKculture. It is where you use ducks to provide the nutrients for your hydroponics.

[@FlockFingerLakes]

Haha love that pun on words!

[@gardenfunwithpaulie]

Another great episode ❤

[@mimosveta]

lol, but those "wild" strawberries taste 1000 times better than the cultivated ones, it just takes time to pick them all

[@FlockFingerLakes]

Totally. I wind up licking my fingers more from picking them than anything.

[@organicelectrics]

Snapping turtle live cam!

[@shephusted2714]

looks great but you should go bigger on compost - vital component to keep everything humming - you do have to be semi choosy but bigger is better especially in the winter

[@Fabdanc]

Have you noticed any swallowtails on your fennel? They will use it as a larval host plant.

[@FlockFingerLakes]

I haven’t seen them yet this year but the fennel is still small. Last year they seemed to be on the fennel later in the season - at least here

[@colbywilliams7595]

Love the horsetail and medlar - two ancient plants growing together! Did you dig swales, or are your berms just mounded up?

[@FlockFingerLakes]

We just mounded the dirt up on the slope of the land. The area was about 4-6” thick of gravel, so mounding with a berm that we can continually build up over time seemed the most feasible since all we had was a shovel and wheelbarrow. Still saving up for a tractor! Maybe some day… but even without a swale, the water seems to get caught behind the berm pretty well, with the woodchips on the edges slowing the flow.

[@mountainfigsperennialfruits]

Good to see the permaculture approach. Really an unusual wonderful diverse mix, both native and non, which will amplify each year. Great run of strawberries. What of aronia and pawpaw, mulberry, quince, goumi, everbearing raspberry? Seaberry, goji, die-back fig, hardy lemon (Flying Dragon), Incaberry...? Or are you capping the number of different species of fruit to go in this particular orchard? The more bushes and trees, the less groundcover, so a trade-off.

[@FlockFingerLakes]

This orchard is pretty full now, especially knowing that it’ll grow out quite a bit in the coming years. We did a video of our other permaculture zones where we have planted many of the plants you mentioned but they are in more ‘wildscaped’ areas of the land, so they feel a bit more naturalistic in the land. We had a beautiful but small weeping mulberry that seemed to get mowed over, which is a loss, so we are waiting to plant an alternative in an area where the grass is more maintained…

[@fjam4963]

Thanks for all your videos...Are the Mushrooms coming along well? the mushrooms planted in the forest, by you and your partners.

[@FlockFingerLakes]

We were never out back in the forest, so we moved those inoculated wood chips to the orchard, and that's where we collect them now :)

[@fjam4963]

@@FlockFingerLakes Thanks for the reply back.

[@gasperkanoni8838]

❤❤❤🇸🇮💪🏾🐉

[@Dyshof]

Why not making from the currants a wonderful cumberland sauce?

[@BN-nq5wb]

Where did you get so much knowledge from? Where can I start? Are there any books that you recommend?

[@nancycunningham4225]

Service Berries.

[@esthersanchez2264]

💖 🙋🏽‍♀️ 🪱💜 🐛 😁 🐢

[@mariagamboa6249]

🐢🫠

[@mimosveta]

how come you put fences around each tree, instead of one fence around the orchard?

[@FlockFingerLakes]

It's easier to make individual fences with our old deer fence. And we wouldn't have enough fence from the old fence to include around the whole orchard. So, we're just upcycling the leftover fence that we have.

[@kathymacomber5115]

I looked up gooseberry plants and they are illegal in most states..not in New York?

[@FlockFingerLakes]

No I think the ban was lifted back in the 1960s. That's for gooseberries and currants because it can serve as an intermediary host for a fungus for the white pine. But it's a little ridiculous there was a ban in the first place because Ribes is a native plant at least in this state.

[@josephinerichardson543]

Dock for chop and drop?

[@SR-gt350]

Whats with the redline and bark turning paper thin where deer bit the branches. Is it a disease or a bacteria in the deers saliva? All my mountain ash and apple trees die that way.

[@FlockFingerLakes]

I haven't experienced that. If you find out, please let us know. But I would imagine if branches are broken, it can allow for more easy access for fungus and bacteria to move in.

[@SR-gt350]

​@FlockFingerLakes yes, we've been here 10 years and every time they bite a red ring forms and moves its way down the branch. It reminds me of how a grass fire would move. I've tried to cut about 3 inches from the original bite and sometimes it stops it.

[@paulyounger1190]

@@SR-gt350 sounds like fireblight

[@SR-gt350]

@paulyounger1190 ya it does.

[@lazzstreets3072]

Those strawberries must taste amazing!! But try not to eat the things that grow close to the ground, cause they might be contaminated by a lot of microbes.

[@FlockFingerLakes]

Love us some microbes. Builds up our microbiome and immune system!

[@lazzstreets3072]

@@FlockFingerLakes that’s true. Some parasites though can come along with animal depositions, for instance, and harm us pretty bad, cause they manage to evade our immune system no matter how strong it is. Anyway, thank you for all your videos and all the things you teach everyone. It’s a pleasure to listen to you speak and discover all the things you guys do in the Flocks. You inspired me and made me find a new “hobby”. I have no garden, but I’m trying to transform my terrace into one. I can’t keep from looking at all the plants that I encounter 😂 I want them all like Pokemon 😂

[@nancycunningham4225]

You will need bird netting.

[@srantoniomatos]

You are confusing soil (mineral) and compost (organic material). Plants dont feed on organics directly, only after been "mineralized" by microorganisms and washed by water enough... years.. To a anual/bianual veggie "more compost" dosent add nutriton.

[@ingeleonora-denouden6222]

😮you threw away that wild strawberry?! Did you ever taste a wild strawberry? Even those miniscule ones ... their taste is like a 'condensed' strawberry! The large cultivated strawberries may be more juicy, that's all. So please, do not treat the wild ones as if they have no value!

[@FlockFingerLakes]

Yes of course I tasted wild strawberries. Grew up eating them and wild black caps and raspberries, but I leave those tiny tasty ones for the animals so we can get the bigger ones. Our orchard is for the smaller animals and birds as well.