Farm Tour! First in some years…

[@jameskniskern2261]

Cut the American Chestnut at the base and it will send up new shoots. It will be fine. On species migration: The indigenous peoples helped their favorite species migrate to places they wouldn't have on their own. So I feel that it is our job to help the process along with every species that we find useful and needed for our new ecosystems. If we plant it, they will come.

[@mlindsay527]

Nothing simple about the simple life! I have to be in the right mindset for it but I enjoyed the “tooling around the farm” video style. Lots of thoughts and observations similar to my own as I walk around my farm. At some point, it’d be really interesting to hear your top 5-10 successes, things that you feel have really worked out well in terms of production and labor requirements.

[@lauramorin5846]

Thank you Ben. Zone five b here in central ma.. You have inspired my homesteading journey, even when difficult for many years.

[@freedomruss]

The stoke radiates across borders and bioregions Ben! Thanks for this AMAZING entertainment and shared experiential capital. The PNW is a smoke fest right now, perhaps the latest fire season I can recall (I'm 42 and have lived on Vancouver Island for 40 of those years). I'm just stoked to be up on the north coast out of the haze for another week and rain is finally coming to douse those flames in southern BC and Washington. It's a crazy ride this life, I hope to keep sowing apples in random spots and sprinkling acorns around just for fun until the worms turn my carcass into food for those trees. Haha!

[@stevesundberg5956]

Thanks for sharing. I remember a few years back you did a walk through. Things have changed.

[@miloauker8706]

That walnut tree will be fine. When I get damage to the main lead at that age, I select the next largest lower branch. Then I get a small stake and bend that branch into a vertical position. Then prune the tips on the remaining branches. By the next season the tree commits to the branch as the main lead. In 5 years when the trunk caliper increases the old damage is erased.

[@ExperimentalSimplification]

Oh great! It is always great to see systems evolving over time.

[@ajg942]

crucial information while I re-establish diverse, value bearing, multi generation ecosystem on denuded site. thank you

[@leonsaquaponicsandhomegard6793]

Looks fantastic 😊😊😊

[@antoniohache5111]

Great video Ben! I write you from Denia, Spain, and your work is very inspiring. I learn a lot from you ☺

[@TapoNothFarm]

Thanks Ben, great to see.

[@GoldShawFarm]

Things are looking great! I feel your pain with the pressure of the cattle on the trees. My trees are looking a bit rough after a year of alley grazing.

[@BlueSpirit422]

Hope they didn't cause too much damage

[@sonofabear]

I was going to ask for a homestead tour! Thanks for sharing your landscape design

[@jamesnemenyi]

Thank you Ben

[@cabwaldo]

Sounds like your cows are pruning your trees for you. Maybe try planting more chestnut than others in select spots and see if you get a few that survive the cows and you get straighter saw logs out of it?

[@DianaMJoice]

Amazing farm you've built. Have you considered lifting the pipes 'the liability', just enough to turn the outflow downwards a bit? So that the water can leak out? Just typing unabashed... I love the life you've built for yourself. I'm in the progress of planning something roughly as well. We'll see how it turns out once I have the land. Thank you for sharing your journey!

[@freegandavehartman8908]

Keep it up buddy! Your are definitely inspiring me to keep pushing my mountain homestead over here in the northern Rockies.

[@JoshuaRes]

Thanks for sharing! Beautiful landscape.

[@SN-tx9yh]

Amazing Ben, thanks. Please consider a better camera.

[@breecedjpancake8565]

Great stuff as always, Ben. Thank you for the tour!

[@roospop]

Thank you for touring us, always insightful, and I love your book! Just the camerawork is a bit wild and I cant watch the whole video because i get a bit nautious.. anyhow, great great work, inspiring!

[@wholesystems]

thanks! i'll try to slow it down...

[@shaunms328]

Love seeing your videos thank you for sharing. I don't want to ask what specifically is planting in the hedge rows -- but more along how did you decide what to plant in the hedge rows?

[@larsendrake]

Thanks for the update - great to see those trees growing growing growing. Question about your spring work - is that springbox concrete? Did you install or is it legacy? Concrete cover too?

[@wholesystems]

concrete yes and we did it. good to hear from you Drake!

[@tonyblast4592]

I'm wondering, where is that part of your property in relationship to your house, studio, pond etc, that is featured in your book? Is that a new part?

[@maclagor]

2x4 is great for deer, but what would you do to protect against rabbits? They have eaten the bark from 10 bare roots I planted last year, not to mention every single veggie I planted. Fencing the zone 1 garden and lining that with wire too, but would have likely gone for chicken wire had you not said to avoid...

[@wholesystems]

We don't have rabbits so i'm not sure but our vole guards are metal window screen.. i have a video on those..

[@smittys19daytona]

why not run a single hot wire around the tree area once there trained a lot of times it doesn't have to be hot everywhere , thanks for the tour

[@wholesystems]

We actually often do. I’m not sure why I didn’t mention it here - perhaps it was early in that process. But it works well so long as ice doesn’t pull it down.

[@larsendrake]

Where’s the Leopoldo reference from?

[@wholesystems]

a lesser known work, i can't remember the name, it was in my grad school library..a lot about game management..

[@apalaghieilucian3052]

greg judy can help with the watering situation

[@garrettghent2061]

would sheep cause less damage to your trees? what happened to your sheep?

[@amirajnd7552]

hi .ive seen your video about antiradiation aluminum foil . do you sujest any other metal to reverse voice to skull radiations?

[@jesserahimzadeh4298]

Any issues with cows walking on chestnut burrs?

[@wholesystems]

I don’t think so, they have hooves. And coexist with chestnuts all over Europe.