Wolfscratch WWOOFs, Permaculture in Action, and CSA Friday!!
How gorgeous are these radishes? We assure you, as pretty as they look, they taste even better! Come see us and bring home some yummy produce Saturday mornings at the South Appalachia Farmers’ Market, in the parking lot of Home Retaurant, 3909 Steve Tate Road!
Next order of business: meet the newest member of our team: WWOOFer Colleen Mestayer!
Colleen is a doctoral student at the University of Southern Mississippi. She has a very strong background working with nonprofits, and she is excited to be spending the next month at Wolfscratch, learning from and with our crew of skilled and learning farmers. Welcome!
Today, we’re taking a look at one of our permacultural systems: our fruit tree guild! This is a guild of herbs that we planted specifically to nurture our apple and Asian pear trees.
We started with sheet mulch at the bottom, which is made of cardboard, dead leaves (for carbon), and wood chips, topped with decomposing logs. These serve to hold down the sheet mulch (to keep it in place), as well as to provide a habitat for beneficial organisms, who help nourish the soil!
The guild is comprised of comfrey, yarrow, bronze fennel, St. John’s wort, and chocolate mint. Comfrey and yarrow are our dynamic accumulators, which means they are responsible for many of the trees’ favorite nutrients and minerals from deep below the surface of the soil. Bronze fennel, St. John’s wort, and chocolate mint are excellent pollinators, and have therefore earned their spot in the guild!
Just a reminder, our CSA starts on Friday! If you’ve already signed up, come on by between 3 and 6!
