The elders tell us that “the hill” (aka “the septic tank location”) is where they were sent to play back in the days. It’s the only area on the entire property that was never cultivated since it was deemed unuseable because farm machinery couldn’t navigate the terrain. That makes the hill the sole area on our farm without contaminated soil to allow us the opportunity to do in-ground planting. I knew immediately that this was going to be where I experiment with agroforestry.

I had tarped the hill last year to prepare the ground. When we pulled back the tarp a few months ago, I couldn’t believe the soil improvement that had taken place. The hill was ready to be cultivated.

I got to work expanding our farm tools to include a broadfork and imagining what this new growing space could be.

Over the past few months, I’ve taken countless sourcing trips for seeds, plants, and trees to fill in the layers of our future food forest. Our emergent/canopy layer includes various fruit trees such as cherry, peach, pear, apple, fig, pomegranate, plum, and nectarine. Our shrub layer is made up of an assortment of elderberry and mulberry varieties. And, finally, our groundcover/understory layer is currently filled with edible annuals including beets, arugula, fava beans, collard greens, radishes, turnips, and spinach.

There was already so much anticipation for next season. Now that the hill has been planted and sown, I can barely contain myself! I can’t wait to see the hill filled out and flourishing🤩.