Latest / Old Ways New Days / Backyard Food Forests for Beginners: Layered Planting Systems, Perennial Foods, and Low-Maintenance Abundance

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Backyard Food Forests for Beginners: Layered Planting Systems, Perennial Foods, and Low-Maintenance Abundance · Old Ways New Days

0:00
SPEAKER_00: Imagine stepping outside your back door on a warm summer morning.
0:05
SPEAKER_00: The air still carries the coolness of dawn, dew clings to the leaves, a robin hops beneath a berry bush, hunting for breakfast.
0:16
SPEAKER_00: Bees move lazily between blossoms where sunlight filters through the branches of a fruit tree overhead.
0:24
SPEAKER_00: You reach out and pick a handful of raspberries.
0:27
SPEAKER_00: A few steps further, you grab herbs for tea.
0:31
SPEAKER_00: Near the edge of the garden, perennial onions push up through the soil exactly where they did last year.
0:38
SPEAKER_00: Beneath a fruit tree.
0:40
SPEAKER_00: Strawberries spread like a living carpet.
0:43
SPEAKER_00: The soil is soft, dark, and alive.
0:47
SPEAKER_00: You aren't standing in a conventional vegetable garden.
0:51
SPEAKER_00: You're standing in a food forest.
0:54
SPEAKER_00: A place where plants cooperate instead of compete.
0:58
SPEAKER_00: A place that becomes more productive with each passing year.
1:02
SPEAKER_00: A place that asks less work from you while you're giving more in return.
1:08
SPEAKER_00: And perhaps most importantly, it's a system that echoes the wisdom of nature itself.
1:15
SPEAKER_00: Because long before humans planted neat rows of crops, forests were feeding entire ecosystems.
1:22
SPEAKER_00: So tonight we're talking about how to create your own backyard food forest.
1:28
SPEAKER_00: Even if you're a complete beginner.
1:31
SPEAKER_01: Welcome, witches, pagans, heathens, spiritualists, and anyone interested in living sustainably.
1:37
SPEAKER_00: This is Old Ways, New Days, where the old ways meet the good dirt.
1:43
SPEAKER_00: I'm Kayla, and I'm Noel.
1:45
SPEAKER_00: And each week we explore the sacred art of living close to the land.
1:50
SPEAKER_00: From compost to covens, chickens to charms, we're reclaiming self-sufficiency, seasonal living, and ancestral wisdom.
1:58
SPEAKER_01: Whether you're stirring your cauldron or your soup pot, this is a space for wild-hearted folk walking the homesteading path with intention, magic, and muddy boots.
2:35
SPEAKER_00: How's it going, Gila?
2:37
SPEAKER_00: Good! We've had some beautiful weather.
2:40
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's been kind of strange.
2:42
SPEAKER_01: I'm hot.
2:45
SPEAKER_01: I'm fine with it.
2:47
SPEAKER_01: Uh my did I did I tell you I neglected my um cilantro and it bolted.
2:56
SPEAKER_01: So now I get coriander seeds.
2:58
SPEAKER_01: So I don't need to buy coriander this year.
3:01
SPEAKER_01: Woohoo! I know, I think.
3:04
SPEAKER_01: I I don't get any cilantro, unfortunately.
3:07
SPEAKER_01: Right.
3:08
SPEAKER_01: But that that's on me.
3:10
SPEAKER_01: Right.
3:10
SPEAKER_01: It got so hot so fast, and cilantro is one of those really temperamental herbs, and it did not did not like the heat.
3:20
SPEAKER_01: No.
3:21
SPEAKER_01: So now it's all it's really pretty white flowers.
3:24
SPEAKER_01: So now I have to wait for them to go to seed.
3:26
SPEAKER_01: And then my fiance discovered that what he thought was an oversized rhubarb was actually a tiny rhubarb with an oversized burdock root.
3:38
SPEAKER_01: So he dug most of the burdock root out so that the rhubarb can grow.
3:45
SPEAKER_01: Grow.
3:45
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's one thing that I've been doing at the house is pulling up so much burdock.
3:52
SPEAKER_00: It's ridiculous how deep those roots go.
3:54
SPEAKER_00: I know.
3:56
SPEAKER_00: Burdock and um thistle.
4:01
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
4:04
SPEAKER_00: I'm so sick of thistle.
4:06
SPEAKER_00: Your hands.
4:07
SPEAKER_01: I hope you're wearing gloves.
4:08
SPEAKER_01: Oh, of course.
4:09
SPEAKER_01: Okay, alright.
4:10
SPEAKER_00: But the thistle even sinkes through the leather gloves sometimes.
4:14
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, those those tiny, tiny microscopic- But I have a tool now.
4:20
SPEAKER_00: Ooh.
4:21
SPEAKER_00: Where I can just pluck it into the ground.
4:24
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
4:25
SPEAKER_00: And pull.
4:27
SPEAKER_00: Sweet.
4:28
SPEAKER_00: But my arm gets so freaking tired.
4:31
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
4:32
SPEAKER_01: And then we have all that buckthorn to get rid of.
4:36
SPEAKER_01: Hey, you're at least you remembered what it was called this time.
4:38
SPEAKER_01: I did.
4:39
SPEAKER_01: Did you look into goats?
4:41
SPEAKER_01: No.
4:41
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
4:42
SPEAKER_01: You really need to look into goats.
4:44
SPEAKER_01: So before we get started in today's topic of food force, I wanted to just kind of give a shout out to all of our new listeners.
4:50
SPEAKER_01: I know we've had a bunch of activity on the Facebook page, and that has increased some of our listenership.
4:56
SPEAKER_01: We are almost to 500 downloads in total.
5:00
SPEAKER_01: And when we hit a thousand, then we can start getting monetization from the platform.
5:06
SPEAKER_01: So we're we're almost halfway there.
5:09
SPEAKER_01: Let's go.
5:10
SPEAKER_01: Right?
5:10
SPEAKER_01: So let's go.
5:12
SPEAKER_01: So we for countries, we're obviously the United States, um, because that's where we're out of, but we have South Africa, Brazil, and Great Britain.
5:21
SPEAKER_01: We have some new listeners there, so welcome.
5:24
SPEAKER_01: Specifically in cities, uh, we have Chicago, Illinois, Fairbury, Illinois, Jacksonville, Illinois, Hellertown, Pennsylvania, Boardman, Oregon, Columbia, Missouri, Cape Town, Western Cape, West Chester, Pennsylvania, Ashburn, Virginia, Brasilia, Federal District.
5:45
SPEAKER_01: Okay, Cottage Grove, Minnesota, Columbus, Ohio, Linden, Michigan, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Palm Springs, California, San Antonio, Texas, Petersburg, Petersburg, in Irvington, New Jersey, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
6:00
SPEAKER_01: So welcome all new listeners.
6:02
SPEAKER_01: I just pulled the data from the last five episodes.
6:05
SPEAKER_01: So that should give us all of our most of our relatively newest listeners.
6:12
SPEAKER_01: I mean, if I do all episodes, then I think, let's see, let me click on that.
6:18
SPEAKER_01: The total is 137 cities.
6:23
SPEAKER_01: Dang! I know, and 38 countries slash territories.
6:28
SPEAKER_01: So I'm very proud of us.
6:30
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
6:31
SPEAKER_01: And so I want to welcome all of you new people who uh started listening to us.
6:36
SPEAKER_01: Uh, we are very glad to have you here.
6:38
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
6:39
SPEAKER_00: So let us get started with And again, if you hear meows, it's cats.
6:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I have four cats.
6:46
SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna start um by answering the question: what is a food forest?
6:51
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what is one.
6:52
SPEAKER_01: All right.
6:53
SPEAKER_01: Are you gonna tell me?
6:54
SPEAKER_01: I am gonna tell you.
6:55
SPEAKER_01: So we can tell our listeners too.
6:57
SPEAKER_01: Awesome! I'm learning with you.
6:59
SPEAKER_01: I know.
6:59
SPEAKER_01: The phrase food forest, it sounds exotic, but the idea is surprisingly simple.
7:04
SPEAKER_01: A food forest is a garden designed to mimic the structure and relationships found in a natural woodland ecosystem.
7:11
SPEAKER_01: Instead of planting one crop in one place, we create layers of edible and useful plants that work together.
7:19
SPEAKER_01: Nature rarely grows in straight lines.
7:21
SPEAKER_01: Look at any healthy forest.
7:23
SPEAKER_01: Trees grow above shrubs, shrubs grow above herbs, ground covers protect the soil, roots occupy underground spaces.
7:32
SPEAKER_01: Vines climb upward seeking sunlight.
7:34
SPEAKER_01: Every level serves a purpose.
7:36
SPEAKER_01: Food forests borrow this natural design and replace some of those wild species with food-producing plants.
7:43
SPEAKER_01: So the goal isn't control, the goal is cooperation.
7:48
SPEAKER_01: That's one of the reasons food forests resonates so deeply with many pagans and earth-centered practitioners.
7:54
SPEAKER_01: Rather than imposing our will on the landscape, we learn to work with existing ecological patterns.
8:00
SPEAKER_01: Instead of fighting nature, we partner with her, and that's where the magic begins.
8:06
SPEAKER_01: I know.
8:08
SPEAKER_01: So now tell us why food forests matter.
8:11
SPEAKER_00: Well, traditional annual gardens are wonderful.
8:16
SPEAKER_00: They come with a lot of work.
8:19
SPEAKER_00: Every year we start seeds, prepare beds, weed heavily, replant crops, and mend soil.
8:26
SPEAKER_00: Food forests reduce much of that workload over time.
8:30
SPEAKER_00: Many food forest plants are perennial.
8:33
SPEAKER_00: That means they return year after year.
8:36
SPEAKER_00: You plant them once and harvest for decades.
8:40
SPEAKER_00: Think about that.
8:41
SPEAKER_00: An apple tree can produce fruit for generations.
8:45
SPEAKER_00: Asparagus can provide harvest for 20 years or more.
8:50
SPEAKER_00: Berry bushes can feed a family for decades.
8:53
SPEAKER_00: Nut trees may outlive the person who planted them.
8:57
SPEAKER_00: There is something profoundly ancestral about planting food that your grandchildren may someday harvest.
9:04
SPEAKER_00: Food forests encourage us to think beyond the current growing season.
9:10
SPEAKER_00: They remind us that stewardship is a long-term relationship.
9:16
SPEAKER_01: One of the most important concepts in food forest design is the seven-layer system.
9:21
SPEAKER_01: Seven layers, you say.
9:22
SPEAKER_01: Seven layers.
9:23
SPEAKER_01: Is that like a terramasu?
9:26
SPEAKER_01: Are there seven layers?
9:27
SPEAKER_01: And I've never made a terramisu.
9:29
SPEAKER_01: I love it.
9:30
SPEAKER_01: I eat it.
9:32
SPEAKER_01: But I can't say that I've ever made one.
9:35
SPEAKER_01: Are there seven layers?
9:36
SPEAKER_01: I mean that I've had seven layer bars.
9:39
SPEAKER_01: Well, or like lasagna.
9:41
SPEAKER_01: Like a it's a it's a lasagna, but of agriculture.
9:47
SPEAKER_01: Teramasu.
9:50
SPEAKER_01: Damn you! So do I.
9:52
SPEAKER_01: Alright, anyway.
9:54
SPEAKER_01: So one of the most famous concepts in food force design is the seven-layer system.
9:59
SPEAKER_01: Layer one is your canopy trees.
10:02
SPEAKER_01: These are the largest trees.
10:04
SPEAKER_01: Examples include apple, pear, chestnut, walnut, and mulberry.
10:08
SPEAKER_01: Although mulberry get really dirty.
10:13
SPEAKER_01: Uh in that they drop a lot of crap.
10:18
SPEAKER_00: Mm-hmm.
10:18
SPEAKER_00: Don't park your vehicle under a mulberry tree.
10:21
SPEAKER_00: No.
10:22
SPEAKER_00: Unless you want it spotted with purpled gunk.
10:25
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
10:27
SPEAKER_01: These trees form the upper structure of the food forest.
10:30
SPEAKER_01: Not every backyard needs giant canopy trees.
10:33
SPEAKER_01: Even a single dwarf fruit tree can fulfill this role in an urban setting.
10:38
SPEAKER_01: There are also ways to trim apple trees and fruit trees so that they are almost flat.
10:46
SPEAKER_01: So if you had a fence, you could grow them against the fence.
10:49
SPEAKER_01: And that would still create your canopy, but it won't be sh as shaded.
10:53
SPEAKER_00: Right.
10:54
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
10:55
SPEAKER_00: Or if you don't have a butt head of a neighbor.
10:58
SPEAKER_00: Oh.
10:59
SPEAKER_00: Already neighbor problems?
11:01
SPEAKER_01: No.
11:01
SPEAKER_00: Oh.
11:02
SPEAKER_00: My neighbors are good.
11:03
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
11:04
SPEAKER_01: Smaller fruit producing trees fit here, so in your second understory.
11:09
SPEAKER_01: Sorry, I should probably.
11:11
SPEAKER_01: Layer two! Layer two! Understory trees.
11:16
SPEAKER_01: Smaller fruit-producing trees fit here.
11:18
SPEAKER_01: Examples include dwarf apple, plum, peach, cherry, and service berry.
11:23
SPEAKER_01: These trees grow beneath the larger canopy.
11:25
SPEAKER_01: They provide food while occupying a different level of sunlight.
11:30
SPEAKER_01: Layer three would be your shrubs.
11:32
SPEAKER_01: This is often where beginners are seek quick rewards.
11:35
SPEAKER_01: Examples include boo boo berries?
11:40
SPEAKER_01: Boo berries! My mouth just went blah.
11:43
SPEAKER_01: Blueberries, gooseberries, currants, elderberries, aronia berries, and raspberries.
11:48
SPEAKER_01: What's an aronia berry?
11:50
SPEAKER_01: I don't know, but it came up in the list.
11:52
SPEAKER_00: And you didn't even look it up because you knew I was gonna ask you this?
11:56
SPEAKER_01: I didn't, I was kind of rushed.
11:58
SPEAKER_01: Sorry.
11:59
SPEAKER_01: Alright, something else for you to look up while I'm reading.
12:02
SPEAKER_01: Shrubs provide tremendous harvest in relatively small spaces.
12:06
SPEAKER_01: Oh, it's a chokeberry.
12:08
SPEAKER_00: Oh, well, I have choke cherries.
12:10
SPEAKER_00: No, not a choke cherry.
12:13
SPEAKER_00: A chokeberry.
12:14
SPEAKER_00: Interesting.
12:15
SPEAKER_00: Does it look like a cherry?
12:18
SPEAKER_00: No.
12:19
SPEAKER_00: They look like grapes.
12:21
SPEAKER_01: Oh, okay.
12:24
SPEAKER_01: They also look like I would consider them poisonous, but okay.
12:28
SPEAKER_00: A chokeberry is a decidious shrub native to eastern North America, known for their glossy leaves, white spring flowers, and clusters of dark astringent berries that ripen in late summer.
12:47
SPEAKER_00: The fruit is considered a superfruit due to its high antioxidant content, making it popular for jams, jellies, and juices.
12:58
SPEAKER_00: Very interesting.
12:59
SPEAKER_00: We would not be able to grow that here.
13:02
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
13:03
SPEAKER_01: But our Pennsylvania listeners would.
13:06
SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
13:10
SPEAKER_01: There is something deeply powerful about growing your own medicine.
13:14
SPEAKER_01: Not the kind that comes in a plastic bottle from a pharmacy shelf, but the kind that begins with soil under your fingernails, sunlight on green leaves, and the quiet patience of the seasons.
13:26
SPEAKER_01: For thousands of years, people all over the world turned to plants first.
13:30
SPEAKER_01: Long before modern pharmaceuticals, families kept small plots of healing herbs close to the kitchen door.
13:36
SPEAKER_01: Plants for fever, for cough, for sleep, for calming the nerves after a long day's work.
13:42
SPEAKER_01: Those gardens weren't just practical, they were sacred.
13:46
SPEAKER_01: Medicinal garden is one of the simplest ways to reconnect with that tradition, even if you only have a patio, a balcony, or a few containers in a sunny window.
13:55
SPEAKER_01: That's why we have partnered with a medicinal growing kit that's perfect for beginners and seasoned plant lovers alike.
14:01
SPEAKER_01: This kit comes with carefully selected seeds for classic healing herbs, like chamomile for calming teas, calendula for skin healing, lemon balm for stress and sleep, peppermint for digestion, lavender for relaxation.
14:17
SPEAKER_01: What we like about this starter kit is that it removes the overwhelm.
14:21
SPEAKER_01: You're not standing in a garden center staring at hundreds of seed packets, wondering where to begin.
14:26
SPEAKER_01: Instead, you start with the plants that have been traditionally used in herbalism for generations.
14:31
SPEAKER_01: With your seed kit, you'll also receive a copy of the Herbal Medicinal Guide from Seeds to Remedies.
14:38
SPEAKER_01: This guide will show you how to turn these 10 plants into tinctures, ointments, salves, poultices, decoctions, infusions, essential oils.
14:46
SPEAKER_01: All in minute detail so you can follow the guide even if you've never made an herbal medicine in your life.
14:52
SPEAKER_01: And if you're someone who practices earth-based spirituality, herbal magic, or simply wants to reconnect with older ways of caring for yourself and your family, growing medicinal herbs can become part of your seasonal rituals.
15:05
SPEAKER_01: Planting seeds becomes intention, harvesting becomes gratitude, and every cup of tea carries a story from the soil to your hands.
15:13
SPEAKER_01: If you're interested in starting your own medicinal herb garden, check out the affiliate link in the show notes.
15:18
SPEAKER_01: Supporting the link also helps support the podcast and keeps episodes like this growing.
15:23
SPEAKER_01: Because sometimes the most powerful medicine is the kind you grow yourself.
15:31
SPEAKER_01: Anyway, so shrubs provide tremendous harvest in relatively small spaces.
15:37
SPEAKER_01: Many also support pollinators and wildlife.
15:39
SPEAKER_01: And can you imagine like a full if you you get all this together and all the flowers?
15:44
SPEAKER_01: Just how because not everything blooms all at once.
15:48
SPEAKER_01: Right.
15:48
SPEAKER_01: I mean granits like raspberry flowers are tend to be really tiny.
15:52
SPEAKER_01: My current bush is fully loaded with currants.
15:56
SPEAKER_01: I didn't see a single flower because they're so small.
16:02
SPEAKER_01: So layer four would be your herbaceous plants.
16:06
SPEAKER_01: These are herbs and perennial vegetables.
16:08
SPEAKER_01: These would include comfrey, yarrow, lemon balm, mint, chives, sorrel, bee balm, and echinacea.
16:15
SPEAKER_01: I will give a warning on comfrey.
16:18
SPEAKER_01: I didn't realize the birds were gonna eat the seeds and that it was going to end up in like ten different places in my yard.
16:26
SPEAKER_01: Comfrey is normally used um for uh creating um the tea, the dang it, nutrient tea.
16:38
SPEAKER_01: Compost tea.
16:39
SPEAKER_01: Brain is not working right now.
16:44
SPEAKER_00: What is that?
16:45
SPEAKER_00: I have no idea.
16:46
SPEAKER_00: Sorry, Nell is showing me something.
16:48
SPEAKER_00: I put in that and that's what showed up.
16:51
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
16:52
SPEAKER_01: Nell's showing something up there but weird.
16:55
SPEAKER_01: Alright, so these plants often attract many pollinators.
17:00
SPEAKER_01: They improve soil, and others provide medicinal uses alongside food production.
17:06
SPEAKER_01: Layer five would be your ground covers.
17:09
SPEAKER_01: Ground covers protect your soil.
17:11
SPEAKER_01: These would include strawberries, creeping thyme, and clover.
17:15
SPEAKER_01: So you always have time.
17:20
SPEAKER_01: See what she did there.
17:23
SPEAKER_01: Sorry, hear what she did there.
17:25
SPEAKER_01: These plants help suppress weeds and reduce moisture loss.
17:29
SPEAKER_01: Nature dislikes bare soil, these ground covers solve that problem beautifully.
17:34
SPEAKER_01: Layer six would be your root crops.
17:37
SPEAKER_01: Beneath the soil lies a whole nother harvest.
17:40
SPEAKER_01: This would be your garlic, walking onions, Jerusalem artichokes, skirit, and horseradish.
17:46
SPEAKER_01: These plants occupy underground space while supporting the overall system.
17:51
SPEAKER_01: And your layer seven would be your vertical climbers.
17:54
SPEAKER_01: So why waste all that space when you've got giant trees?
17:58
SPEAKER_01: You know, well, I mean you have to wait for their them to get giant.
18:02
SPEAKER_01: Right.
18:02
SPEAKER_01: But these would include grapes, hardy kiwi, hops, and pole beans.
18:06
SPEAKER_01: These plants climb fences, trellises, and of course trees.
18:10
SPEAKER_01: They increase productivity without requiring additional ground space.
18:14
SPEAKER_01: They also don't choke your plants.
18:16
SPEAKER_01: Right.
18:17
SPEAKER_01: Like some other vines.
18:18
SPEAKER_00: Because like take grapevines, for instance.
18:22
SPEAKER_00: If you have some of the vines that are dead, just take your shears and snip them and pull them off.
18:30
SPEAKER_01: Right?
18:31
SPEAKER_01: And then you can make your own Christmas wreath and decorate it with whatever you want.
18:35
SPEAKER_01: Right.
18:36
SPEAKER_01: By just winding the grapevine pieces together.
18:39
SPEAKER_01: It's actually kind of fun.
18:42
SPEAKER_00: So now one of the biggest mistakes beginners make is trying to build an entire food forest in a single season.
18:52
SPEAKER_00: Don't a food forest is a long term project.
18:58
SPEAKER_00: Start small.
18:59
SPEAKER_00: Choose one fruit tree.
19:01
SPEAKER_00: Add a few berry bushes.
19:04
SPEAKER_00: Plant herbs beneath them.
19:06
SPEAKER_00: Add strawberries as grown cover.
19:08
SPEAKER_00: That's already a miniature food forest.
19:11
SPEAKER_00: Remember, a food forest isn't built overnight.
19:15
SPEAKER_00: It's grown.
19:16
SPEAKER_00: Just like relationships, just like trust, just like healthy soil.
19:21
SPEAKER_00: Every season adds another layer.
19:25
SPEAKER_01: And while you're waiting for your fruit trees to grow large enough and old enough to start producing fruit, then you can put in the smaller bush you know bushes that will produce that fruit faster.
19:39
SPEAKER_01: And yes.
19:40
SPEAKER_01: So while you're waiting for one to grow, you can get fruit and already start harvesting from something else.
19:44
SPEAKER_01: So let's talk about some beginner-friendly perennial foods.
19:48
SPEAKER_01: Strawberries.
19:48
SPEAKER_01: They're easy, productive, beautiful.
19:51
SPEAKER_01: Especially they have really big white flowers.
19:54
SPEAKER_00: Mm-hmm.
19:55
SPEAKER_01: And they're make an excellent ground cover.
19:57
SPEAKER_00: Unless you have a lot of deer that like to eat them.
20:01
SPEAKER_01: Well, you gotta figure that one out.
20:03
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
20:04
SPEAKER_01: Uh asparagus.
20:05
SPEAKER_01: One planting can provide harvests for years.
20:08
SPEAKER_01: And I took a picture, I think I sent it to you this year.
20:13
SPEAKER_01: So I planted asparagus two years ago.
20:15
SPEAKER_00: And it's finally popping up.
20:17
SPEAKER_01: Well, no, it came up last year, but it was all bushy and flowery, and that's fine.
20:21
SPEAKER_01: You want it to do that.
20:22
SPEAKER_01: It takes you don't want to harvest it the first two years.
20:25
SPEAKER_01: I think it's the first five.
20:27
SPEAKER_01: First five.
20:28
SPEAKER_01: But I had my first actual stock this year.
20:30
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
20:31
SPEAKER_01: It was super tiny and it was too technically too cold for it because the weather was all over the place in April.
20:38
SPEAKER_01: And so I just let it go.
20:40
SPEAKER_01: And now I'm fighting with the squirrels because they're trying to dig up the asparagus roots.
20:45
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, leave them alone.
20:47
SPEAKER_00: Time to put fences on.
20:49
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
20:49
SPEAKER_01: Uh rhubarb.
20:50
SPEAKER_01: Rhubarb is reliable and resistant.
20:53
SPEAKER_01: Uh resilient.
20:55
SPEAKER_01: Well, it's also one of the earliest spring harvests.
20:58
SPEAKER_01: I like rhubarb.
21:00
SPEAKER_01: Uh chives are edible, they're medicinal, they're pollinator-friendly, and they return every year.
21:05
SPEAKER_01: They can also spread like mad if you get garlic chives.
21:09
SPEAKER_01: And trying to get rid of garlic chives is nearly impossible.
21:11
SPEAKER_01: It's almost as impossible as creeping Charlie.
21:16
SPEAKER_01: Uh, walking onions, these fascinating onions are pr practically plant themselves.
21:23
SPEAKER_01: I got an entire like gallon bag.
21:27
SPEAKER_01: Um, it was probably a gallon of walking onion bulbs.
21:31
SPEAKER_01: I didn't put all of them in the garden.
21:34
SPEAKER_01: And they are the first thing that comes up in the spring.
21:37
SPEAKER_01: Oh wow.
21:38
SPEAKER_01: Like there's still snow on the ground and they're already popping up.
21:41
SPEAKER_01: And then they grow they flower and they grow a new bulb on the top, which makes them heavy.
21:47
SPEAKER_01: So they lean over and then start growing up.
21:50
SPEAKER_01: And then start growing another one.
21:51
SPEAKER_01: So that's why they're called walking because they they bulb in the top.
21:55
SPEAKER_01: You can eat the bulbs on the top, you can also eat the bulbs in the ground, and you can eat the entire stock.
21:58
SPEAKER_01: You can eat the whole plant.
22:00
SPEAKER_01: Onions are fabulous.
22:01
SPEAKER_01: It's not the same kind of onion taste you're used to.
22:05
SPEAKER_01: Is it more of a sweet?
22:08
SPEAKER_01: Um, it's more of a more bitter.
22:12
SPEAKER_01: So it didn't dry a whole bunch last year.
22:15
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's a good thing.
22:15
SPEAKER_00: I don't like onion.
22:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
22:17
SPEAKER_01: Uh elderberries, a favorite among both herbalists and wildlife.
22:22
SPEAKER_01: And mine are fully in fruit, and I have to investigate on when I can pick the fruit.
22:29
SPEAKER_01: Because I don't know what how dark of a red they're supposed to be.
22:35
SPEAKER_01: Uh and of course, berry bushes, perhaps the greatest beginner investment.
22:39
SPEAKER_01: They produce quickly and require relatively little maintenance.
22:43
SPEAKER_01: Um and make sure you plant or put in uh some kind of restrictive under you know, runner with your raspberries because I know.
22:56
SPEAKER_00: Okay, they'll go everywhere.
22:57
SPEAKER_00: I want my raspberries to go everywhere.
22:59
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
22:59
SPEAKER_01: If that's what I mean, it would it's much better than your buckthorn.
23:02
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
23:04
SPEAKER_00: And I only have one raspberry stem that that's growing.
23:10
SPEAKER_00: Well, it'll be a thousand in like two years.
23:13
SPEAKER_00: That's fine.
23:16
SPEAKER_00: So now we're gonna dive into the magic of the guilds, as you would say.
23:22
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
23:23
SPEAKER_00: So in food forest design, you'll often hear the term guild.
23:28
SPEAKER_00: A guild is a group of plants that support one another.
23:32
SPEAKER_00: Think of it as a plant community.
23:35
SPEAKER_00: So, for example, a fruit tree might be surrounded by chives to deater pests, comfrey to mine nutrients, clover to improve soil, strawberries to cover bare ground, yarrow to attract beneficial insects.
23:52
SPEAKER_00: Each plant contributes something valuable.
23:55
SPEAKER_00: Together they become stronger.
23:57
SPEAKER_00: This concept mirrors many pagan beliefs about community.
24:01
SPEAKER_00: Nothing exists alone.
24:04
SPEAKER_00: Everything influences everything else.
24:06
SPEAKER_00: The tree supports the herbs, the herb supports the insects, the insects support pollination, the pollinators support fruit.
24:14
SPEAKER_00: The fruit supports people and wildlife.
24:17
SPEAKER_00: This cycle continues.
24:20
SPEAKER_01: So food force as a spiritual practice.
24:23
SPEAKER_01: For many of us, growing food isn't merely practical, it's spiritual.
24:27
SPEAKER_01: Food forests invite us into a slower relationship with time.
24:32
SPEAKER_01: Modern culture teaches intimacy.
24:35
SPEAKER_01: Food forests teach patience.
24:38
SPEAKER_01: Planting a tree becomes an act of faith, an offering up to the future, a declaration that life will continue beyond our immediate needs.
24:47
SPEAKER_01: Many ancestors understood this.
24:49
SPEAKER_01: Across cultures, sacred groves and orchard traditions connected people to the land.
24:54
SPEAKER_01: Fruit trees were planted to mark births.
24:57
SPEAKER_01: Nut trees symbolized prosperity.
25:00
SPEAKER_01: Apple orchards became community gathering places.
25:03
SPEAKER_01: The act of tending perennial plants can become its own ritual.
25:07
SPEAKER_01: A seasonal conversation between human and landscape.
25:11
SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna save you some frustration.
25:16
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna these are some beginner mistakes that I've probably done myself.
25:22
SPEAKER_00: Mistake number one, planting too closely together, especially with those large trees.
25:28
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
25:29
SPEAKER_00: So research mature sizes.
25:33
SPEAKER_00: Tiny plants eventually become large plants.
25:37
SPEAKER_00: Mistake number two, ignoring sunlight.
25:41
SPEAKER_00: Observe your yard before planting.
25:43
SPEAKER_00: Sun patterns matter.
25:46
SPEAKER_00: Mistake number three starting too large.
25:50
SPEAKER_00: Focus on manageable success.
25:54
SPEAKER_00: Mistake four, leaving soil bare.
25:58
SPEAKER_00: Mulch heavily, protect the soil, feed the soil life.
26:03
SPEAKER_00: Mistake number five.
26:05
SPEAKER_00: Expecting immediate abundance.
26:08
SPEAKER_00: Food forests are investments.
26:11
SPEAKER_00: The greatest harvests come later.
26:15
SPEAKER_01: So before we close, I'd like to offer a brief reflection.
26:19
SPEAKER_01: If it's safe to do so, close your eyes for a moment.
26:23
SPEAKER_01: Imagine a tree.
26:24
SPEAKER_01: Not the tree as it exists today, imagine it twenty years from now.
26:29
SPEAKER_01: Its branches spread wide, birds nest among its leaves, pollinators visit its flowers.
26:37
SPEAKER_01: Children gather fruit beneath its canopy.
26:40
SPEAKER_01: The roots run deep.
26:41
SPEAKER_01: The soil grows richer each season.
26:44
SPEAKER_01: Now imagine yourself planting that tree.
26:47
SPEAKER_01: Not for immediate reward, but for future abundance, for resilience, for beauty, for generations you may never meet.
26:55
SPEAKER_01: Take a breath, and remember, every forest begins with a single planting.
27:01
SPEAKER_00: So food forests remind us that abundance doesn't always come from working harder.
27:07
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it comes from working with nature's patterns.
27:11
SPEAKER_00: Whether you have acres of land, a suburban backyard, or a tiny urban space with room for a single fruit tree and a few herbs, you can begin building a food forest.
27:26
SPEAKER_00: One layer at a time, one season at a time, one planting at a time.
27:32
SPEAKER_00: The best time to plant a tree may have been years ago.
27:36
SPEAKER_00: The second best time is today.
27:39
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for joining us here at Old Ways New Days.
27:44
SPEAKER_01: If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, rate, and share the podcast with fellow homesteaders, gardeners, pagans, and lovers of sustainable living.
27:52
SPEAKER_01: For our supporting members, which hopefully we'll get some soon, we may be sharing a bonus guide featuring beginner food forest plant combinations, cold climate options, and simple backyard uh guild designs.
28:07
SPEAKER_01: You can start this season or next.
28:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, all right.
28:11
SPEAKER_00: Until next time.
28:12
SPEAKER_00: Keep your hands in the soil, your eyes on the seasons, and your spirit rooted in the old ways.