Hey guys! I've been lurking for years, finally made an account because my partner Madi and I have bought 4 acres near the New River Gorge in West Virginia.
We have loved the subject for years but barely dipped our toes into traditional gardening, yet alone permaculture, due to a nomadic lifestyle. We are vegan, but do have pets and love animals, just trying to avoid the animal husbandry thing.
We do plan on building an earthbag/strawbale house onsite and maybe a few tiny house sites for guests but our main focus we need help with is the food forest.
The property has a year round creek that deposits plenty of sand, as well as several sloping terraces with heavy watershed on about 2.4 acres... (I'm thinking these areas I'll have to control the water the most so maybe a few ponds and meandering swales may be necessary) hoping for hydroelectric possibilities in the future as well...
With the remaining 1.6 acres of gently sloping woodland being mostly oaks, a few evergreens, some tulip poplars and maybe a type of maple? I've gotta identify my trees and plants better so I'm not positive. The ground is mostly all briers we are trying to take out.
There are a few trails in place and we are working to make more that surround our property and follow natural features like the creek.
We see alot of resources about starting a food forest in the suburbs, but not alot about starting one in a forest. We know we will have to remove some trees if we want any sun loving fruit trees but would appreciate any advice or resources on the topic.
Were not sure what we wanna plant yet, but we know it'll be mostly shade loving stuff.
Madis Mom is having parts of her land logged and almost had ours logged before selling it to us. We dodged a bullet there, but are now slightly overwhelmed with the task of clearing what we need ourselves.
With it being the end of summer, do you have any tips to get ready for the planting season next year?
Thanks for reading, have a great day!
