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.

I added 12 new pawpaw cultivars to the orchard as the foundation of my premium breeding row: • KSU State Fair • KSU Chappell • Big Ben • Jim’s Nebulous • Lehman’s #5 • Corner Pocket • Lehman’s #11 • Grand Blanc • PPF 5-5 • Wabash • Allegheny • Bo Grease Biggins My goal wasn’t to collect the “most famous” cultivars—it was to build a genetically diverse collection. I wanted representation from several breeding programs and selection lines rather than a row full of closely related trees. There are still a few on my future wish list, especially Canopus and Pompers Choice, but I’m happy to let this row grow out and show me what each cultivar has to offer before adding more. For those of you with larger collections, what cultivar has impressed you the most in terms of fruit quality, productivity, or overall performance? Any hidden gems you think deserve more attention?

Yesterday I started preparing the way for a new pawpaw row this fall. I scalped the grass to form bed. Trees will be approximately 9’ spacing and will have aronia berries interplanted around them. This bed will be a nursery for next generation pawpaws. I working on a seedling and grafting project within pawpaw to hopefully offer many plants to the local pawpaw community. Along with future planting stock for my own food forest project

Today marks the transition from summer to fall planting. After a few days in the mid-90s, the spring peas are coming out and the fall garden is going in. I’m replacing them with beets, radishes, and another round of peas, along with adding fresh mulch to help conserve moisture and feed the soil. Over the next few weeks, once the garlic and potatoes are harvested, I’ll seed the beds with an oats and alfalfa cover crop to keep living roots in the ground and continue building soil for next season. Every harvest is another opportunity to improve the soil for the crop that follows. 🌱