Forest Gardner in Central Mass looking for help

Hello All,

I have been forest gardening for the last 5 years with many successes and failures. I also have goats, chickens and well fertilized annual beds that have become too weedy.  Realized that I can not do everything myself, especially with all the other projects I have going on. Open to any new ideas. So, if there is anyone out there in the area who has any advice, is willing to help out in any way, or would like to visit let me know. You can email me at warfare_music@hotmail.com, but I will be checking back here periodically.

Thanks,
Mike Leonard
Northborough MA

Hi Mike, I feel you on the multiple projects... one thing that seems to help is to figure out permanent or at least sustainable solutions. This way, you can eliminate or reduce “chores” that eat up time, such as weeding. Try for things that you can do ONCE and be done (at least for a while) so you can move on to the next thing.
At our place (just north of Boston) deep wood chip paths (8-10”deep, topsoil removed) work great for low-maintenance. The seed bank gets removed along with the soil, and the wood chips have few if any seeds. You can skip the digging and pile chips on top, if that works for you. A yearly topping up is about all I need to do.
Stone or brick are other options that are durable, but heavy!
There’s another Permie near you that I recently met.