Fruit Hill Farm, LLC

How do we get children to LOVE eating healthy food?

Get the them out into the garden, helping grow their own food!

Not only are there health benefits to eating fresh fruits and vegetables, but it teaches our children where their food comes from and how it’s grown. Having children take an active role in growing and harvesting, teaches responsibility.  It also increases their environmental awareness…perhaps even sparking a love affair with the natural world!

At Fruit Hill Farm, we are excited to announce that coming in the Spring 2019, we will be hosting Saturday workshops the entire month of May.  These workshop will specifically designed to introduce children to the love of gardening.

The age old gardener debate to buy seeds and start your own plants, or buy seedlings?

The seed catalog season is just around the corner, and we anxiously for those first catalogs to arrive in the mail like children on Christmas morning. Certain plants like tomatoes need to be started well ahead of the last frost date, and a lot goes into sprouting those tiny seeds. Not only do you need seeds but also, potting soil, containers, nutrients, light, warmth, and regular care. Money, time, and space are some of the first things to consider when starting your seeds.

The correct answer is what fits your lifestyle and schedule!

Do you start your own seeds, why or why not?

This year Scott wanted to expand our chicken operation. Unfortunately, we are only allowed by code to have four adult female fowl in our city. His solution is we have become chicken concierges! {No, we don’t really call ourselves that}

There are people in our neighborhood who are interested in raising chickens but cautious about going it alone. For homeowners we set up the coop, provide the chickens, and even make daily visits to feed and water the chickens. Neighbors love getting farm fresh eggs that were harvested from their own backyard!

Why do we do it?

The more homes in our neighborhood that have gardens, orchards, chickens, bunnies, and beehives the more resilient our entire neighborhood becomes.  It also normalizes homesteading activities for not only the house we have the chickens at, but for all their neighbors too.  As we are out and about taking care of these chickens we have the opportunity to chat with neighbors and share our passion.  Next steps, we are developing a program to offer garden rabbits for our neighbors too.

In the last 3 years, my husband and I have planted 30 fruit bearing trees and experimenting with permaculture trios.

We first heard about permaculture trios by following biologist and educator Stefan Sobkowiak on YouTube.  According to Sobkowiak, the best way to start a food forest is to establish 2 trios and propagate your mature trio over time to establish new trios on your property.  He makes this recommendation because the initial investment is reasonable for average households.  Also, in establishing your first 2 trios you will learn everything you need to know about your skill set, what grows well in your region, and your land without risking loss of time and investment.

What is a Trio?

Each trio is made up of:

*  2 fruit or nut bearing trees

*  1 nitrogen fixing tree (a tree capable of sequestering nitrogen from the air into the soil)

*  9 fruit bearing shrubs (3 per tree)

*  30 perennial plants (10 per tree)

In a trio the trees will be planted per the nursery’s recommended spacing.  In between the trees, the shrubs and perennials are companion planted around the tree’s base.  This creates a biodiverse ‘forest’ that is capable of retaining water due to the living mulch of the perennial plant layer.  The nitrogen fixing tree ensures natural fertilization of the the soil, without the use of chemicals or soil amendments.

The result is a self-promoting living system that produces food year-after-year, with minimal inputs.  And as the trios matures you can propagate the trees and plants to establish more trios for your property!

Fruits and nut trees that I recommend for my region (Millwood- zone 6a)

*  Hazelnuts (filberts)

*  Pecans

*  Walnuts

*  Apples

*  Apricots

*  Cherries

* Nectarines

*  Peaches

*  Pears

*  Plums

Nitrogen fixer trees that I recommend for my region (Millwood- zone 6a)

*  Bladder Senna

*  Silk tree mimosa

Fruit bearing shrubs that I recommend for my region (Millwood- zone 6a)

*  Blackberry

*  Blueberry

*  Boysenberry

*  Currants

*  Elderberry

*  Goji Berry

*  Gooseberry

*  Gumi Berry

*  Mulberry

*  Raspberry

Edible/Medicinal perennial plants that I recommend for my region (Millwood- zone 6a)

*  Basil

*  Chives

*  Claytonia (Miners Lettuce)

*  Egyptian walking onions

*  Garlic Chive

*  Ginger

*  Good King Henry

*  Lavender

*  Lemon Balm

*  Mint

*  Oregano

*  Parsley

*  Ramps (Wild Leeks)

*  Rosemary

*  Rhubarb

*  Sylvetta Arugula

*  Sage

*  Shallots

*  Sorrel

* Sunchokes (Jerusalem Artichokes)

* Sweet Potato

* Tree Collards

* Thyme

*  Yams

Everything seems to slow down this time of year.  The darkness outside beckons me inside to nest and prepare for a winter’s rest.

Yet there is still so much to do!

This is the time of year all the efforts of spring and summer come to bear and abundance abounds.

This year we have been oven-drying tomatoes in mass to use for recipes for the next two years to come.  Next year we plan on canning tomato sauces and pastes for the next two years after that.

Alternating focuses every other year allows for better planning of which varieties of tomatoes to grow in a given year, in addition to not burdening the food preserver with too many items to prepare every year.

The amount of effort to save 2 years worth (as opposed to 1 year worth) of an item is negligible, the amount of effort to save 1 years worth of 2 items every year is significant.

The first fall frosts tell us it is time to harvest the remainder of winter squashes and pumpkins.  Cutting pumpkins and squash from the vine with 2 inch stems left on their heads will allow us to store these fall treats easily for up to 4 months.

My family also deep mulches (with straw) cold hardy greens to extend the season as long as possible.  The straw beds also add carbon to the garden to be broken down over the winter into the soil for the next growing season.

Last, we are up against time to winterize the five hives of our apiary and harvest the honey before it is too cold.

We triple strain our honey by gravity, so the honey harvest can take a couple of weeks to complete.  It can take months to complete making all the products we make with the leftover honeycomb and beeswax.