caleb matheny

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since Nov 02, 2014
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Recent posts by caleb matheny

Peter Ellis wrote:Looking at your video (it was not working for me earlier today) I have to say that your forest looks to me like fairly young secondary growth. Mostly young trees, pretty open canopy or you would not have so much understory brush. My inclination would be to get in there and clear the understory, cut out any unhealthy looking trees of whatever size or variety, and then go through and very selectively choose the useful/productive/beneficial trees that I was going to keep. Once the keepers were identified, I would think about what I was going to do with the rest. Firewood? Mushroom culture? Construction projects? Take the time to figure out what to do with which before the cutting starts .

Then when I started cutting, I would work the plan, with the trees going to whatever their assigned purpose, trying to work as efficiently as possible. I might layout a grid pattern and work section by section, doing all of the felling and hauling out of one area at a time. Figure what progression through the layout would be most efficient in terms of overall effort. For example, you might not want to start by the creek and have to try and haul trees back through all the other trees. It might make more sense to start at the front, so each section further back you were dragging through more open terrain.

It might make sense to do all the way across the meadow side, plant some of your food forest trees in a couple of those sections to get them started and then keep working the back sections pulling them out through an open section at the front where you don't plant food forest yet.

I would think about productive understory trees, like hazelnuts and pawpaws that will benefit from your existing trees. I understand some serviceberries also like the understory and some say they are tastier than blueberries.

I would definitely consider running goats or pigs to clear much of the underbrush for me and convert it into useful products. Permaculture always seeks a yield.
Using electric fencing, as demonstrated by Polyface Farms, could make that more possible than you might expect.




I spent a lot of time back there today, and i have to say, I think your right. There are about 15 trees that are significantly older than everything else. then there are a lot of young trees. I think I will get a few pigs and run them back there to clean everything up. I need to electric fence it off, maybe in paddocks first. Also, there is a lot of dead trees that i can cut down and clear it out a bit. I think once i get this going there will be far less competition for everything, and my productive trees can thrive.


Also, does that leaf and tree look like a sugar maple, I have been researching it, and i think thats what it is, or at least i am really hoping because its huge and would be great for syrup!

Picked up about 50 black walnuts in 5 minutes today, and can not wait until to make some black walnut syrup this February (thanks to the suggestion of someone on this forum) i didn't even know that was possible.

I tell ya, once you get to learning about all this it really is addictive.

10 years ago
Can someone help me identify this tree, I will post a picture of a possible leaf.

I want to say it's some kind of maple, but I don't know.

http://youtu.be/x1eEXdnvRHc
10 years ago
I'm all for taking my time, etc; however, I am one of those that believes we really don't have a whole lot of time before we might need the things we are planning for (10 years or so). I wan't to put 90 trees i have picked out, varying from pecan, apple, plum, cherry, apricot, fig, english walnut, etc) and then they will have 10 years to grow, i'm buying fairly large trees (7 feet or so) and need to get them in the ground this season (this winter or next spring depending).

I am all about swales and hugelkulture, and will explore that for my berry bushes. As far as a regular garden goes, i'm putting in 1000 sqft of hugelkulture raised beds (brick raised beds dug out with 1.5 feet of wood then1.5ft of compost on top of that) I will augment the garden with manure when it starts to settle etc.

My problem as it stands is simply, would I be foolish to cut down a bunch 50+ or so trees in order to do new plantings. For instance, one guy here said I may could make syrup from sycamore trees- but i tried to find info on it, and its not favorable- so would sycamores be a good variety to take down? I'm hesitant to take any nut producing trees down (walnut, oaks, etc) because my future pigs will use this for food.

I appreciate all the info and hope it keeps coming, as this process is a little difficult due to the vast knowledge base required.
10 years ago
So here's the deal.

I'm relatively new to permaculture. I bought this farm recently after studying homesteading for a few years. It was the concept of the food forrest that brought me to permaculture, and I have now been studying that for only a few weeks- so I am most considerably a novice.

My pasture is gentle rolling hills, and my woodland is the same.
There are some low lying areas of the woodland that are very wet for extended periods of time.
The soil in my pasture looks to be very much clay, but the grasses do grow very well (we bailed 21 large bails of hay on the nearly 4 acres)

I have included a series of pictures and videos that i made on my iPhone with a short explanation of a few things, just so you could set eyes on the property and better figure it out a bit.

The video isn't ideal, because i'm not there now and didn't make them today, just using what i have on my phone currently.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4a8vje2CY30
10 years ago
i'm trying to understand what your saying, sounds good from what i think i understand.

So cut a series of wide paths (maybe 40 feet wide) and plant fruit and nut trees there?
10 years ago
Hey folks, I decided to join the forum because I have a bit of a situation. At the beginning of the year I bought a home stead. 10 Acres in zone 7 in East Tn. It has 6.5 acres of forrest (black walnut, sycamore, oak, etc) on it; however, I am wanting to go the route of a food forrest, so i have 2 choices. I can plant my 3.5 acre pasture with new trees (filbert, apple, and nearly every other tree i can grow that bears fruit) or I can clear cut a portion (3 acres or so) of my woodland and replant it with the food forrest. I have around 90 different trees I am wanting to plant so I may have to clear more than the 3 acres.
Problem is, some of those trees are pretty old and I am a bit hesitant to chop them down. I would have the lumber sawed and purposed for use in a house we will be building, as the little house on the property is what we are living in now, as we plan to build.

I do not want to use my pasture, as I am wanting to have some livestock (dairy cow- though i may have to subsidize with hay, and thats ok) but I just can't see myself having no pasture. All advice is appreciated.
10 years ago