Today I'm trying a new idea to reduce the effect of drought on poor sandy soil, it won't make a difference this year, but will improve the CEC of the land long term and increase how much water, nutrients and biology can be held. The plan is to crush biochar in a cement mixer with a couple of bricks, then apply to the dry pasture with a seed /fertiliser spreader, and water in with pond water. We already know that pond water has high fertility from experiments in watering plants with just plain well water and pond water, trapping this fertility in the biochar will prolong it's efficacy. When working with micro powders, don't forget to wear a mask.

Not every part of a food forest is glamorous. Sometimes it’s just another tractor bucket full of wood chips. But this is one of the parts I’m most excited about. Every load adds more carbon, helps cover the soil, holds moisture, feeds biology, and slowly changes what this site is capable of supporting. The trees and plants are what you eventually see. The soil underneath them is what makes the whole system possible. One bucket at a time.

The Food Forest Is Starting to Feel Alive 🌱🌳 These pictures make me stop and appreciate how much this space has changed. The rows are starting to take shape, the trees are getting established, and the understory is beginning to fill in with flowers, biomass, and volunteer growth. The ironweed by the pond is buzzing with color, the calendula is still blooming, and the whole system is starting to look less like individual plantings and more like a living landscape. It’s still very young, but that’s what makes this stage so exciting. Every season adds another layer, another root system, another source of carbon, another habitat, and another lesson. The long-term vision is still years away, but I’m really enjoying watching the process unfold.

Fall is one of my favorite times to build soil. My low-CEC soil doesn’t hold nutrients particularly well, so I’m attacking the problem from both the short and long term. I pair fresh arborist wood chips from ChipDrop with humates and dried molasses. The humates provide stable carbon with lots of exchange sites now, while the molasses gives soil microbes an easily available carbon/energy source. The wood chips are the long game—slowly decomposing into organic matter and helping build a more stable, biologically active soil with greater nutrient and water-holding capacity. Molasses feeds today. Humates help bridge the gap. Wood chips build tomorrow. Fall leaves, wood chips, roots—carbon is the foundation.

Sometimes I look around and realize how much life has been added to this space. Young trees getting established. Wood chips building the soil. Squash climbing everywhere. Sunflowers reaching for the sky. Calendula blooming through the understory. None of it is finished—and that’s part of what makes it exciting. Every season adds another layer. Every plant teaches me something. Every success gives me something to build on. I have a long-term vision for this property, but I’m learning not to rush past the part I’m in now. The process is the project. And honestly, watching it all come together is one of the best parts.