What Happened to Our 1-Year-Old Food Forest?
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- čas přidán 4. 06. 2024
- In this episode, we uncover the fascinating journey of our 1-year-old food forest. Witness the growth, challenges, and unexpected surprises that come with nurturing an ecosystem.
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Hey everyone! Just a quick pointer before I get a million and one comment about Eucalypt trees. I know they're quite a controversial tree to use with a bad reputation. They're allelopathic, drain soil, non-native, potentially invasive, etc.
In our context, we ONLY use these trees for the first couple of years to quickly establish a windbreak, groundcover, biomass, and shade for our productive species that are planted next to them. While the Eucalypts take over the space quickly, they give the slower-growing long-term support species the time to establish. In the upcoming weeks, we'll be planting lots of Paulownia, Black locust, Alnus, Sea buckthorn, Elaeagnus, and more native trees. Once these are established, all eucalypt trees will be completely cut down and composted back into the soil.
Anyway, thanks for all the support and feedback!
Thanks for explaining that. Now I understand your plans I don't need to pen the queries I had 😊.
I love following you progress and truly admire what you sre achieving on such an unpromising landscape.
What species of eucalyptus? That’s beautiful!
I’m an Aussie who is very familiar with the positives and negatives of eucalyptus trees, and I was honestly surprised by how many existed in Portugal when I visited there in 2019.
They are obviously hardy in dry conditions and fast growing, and provide a lot of beneficial habitat for fauna - especially here for the Koalas.
It’s great to see how you are using them for their short term benefits while you establish the shade, wind breaks and biodiversity for your food forest. However I also agree that they should be trimmed and dismantled as nice hot burning firewood at a BBQ gathering or compost when these benefits are no longer required to help reduce risk of bushfires and other negative impacts they can have on your crops.
Keep up the great work and looking forward to continuing to learn about what works and what doesn’t for the milestones during your journey.
Eucalypts have beneficial uses for bee-keeping though. I love to see the food forest. Mine is very small and I've packed in the fruit trees and still it looks empty! I think I have 54 types of fruit trees and berries etc. It make me so happy to walk in there and yes, it is still young too. All the best. Your climate seems fairly harsh!
Eucalypts can be invasive if left uncontrolled, but if you compare the desert and Eucalypts, especially as a supporting species, the benefits are obvious to many. It’s just that some “environmental hypocrites” are desperately trying to come up with fairy tales and an image of their benefit to society, while they are not able to change the real processes in degenerative agriculture and climate change, but very aggressively attack people who grow eucalyptus and paulownia, invent and inflate problems invasive species. That is why I very much support your approach - which is reflected both in syntropic farming in Brazil and in the general concept of permaculture. I am also in the process of buying land in Spain, your family is a very good practical example for me!
I admire your ability to be so honest about things that went wrong. It is such a big contrast to all people on social media who always paint the perfect picture. This is really very informative!
the fact that he's honest to us and to himself is an indicator that he'll likely succeed at what he's building now
Generally that is just how Dutch people are.. as a Dutchie myself we just tell people how it is or as we say: ''vork in de steel'' which translates to ''fork in the stem'' whether we made a mistake or we succeeded we're usually an open book in that regard and to us that is perfectly fine as we're all human and we just make mistakes.. no way to avoid that.. of course like every other country we do have people who do not admit to their mistakes and wrong doing but that's life
In South Africa we also have a lot of eucalyptus trees, they use an enormous amount of water. They even have programs around the Western Cape to eradicate them around rivers and streams. Many streams that have been dry for years will start running again when the eucalyptus are removed. Building swales and then planting eucalyptus really is counter productive.
I’m from Australia,and number rule is don’t plant fruit trees next to eucalyptus tree. The eucalyptus trees 1.they will drink twice as much the water and take away from the fruit tree 2 . The eucalyptus tree will grow 10 time what it is now and as possible kill your fruit tree.3 chop down the eucalyptus trees know and allow you free trees to grow .
I’m also from Australia, and I agree with this.
I’ll also add, from experience, do NOT use eucalyptus cuttings as mulch or biomass. The soil will not like it, and you will find that instead of offering nutrients, anything beneath those trees will die.
Yeah. I'm near in the area, NE of Castelo Branco and agree on the mulch. It has antibacterial properties or similar. That's why eucalyptus forest are like green deserts. (Plus it drains water that evaporates through its stem making for real deserts one day) Nothing else really grows in those forests. It also repels insects and even bacteria/fungi need a long time to break it down.
Completely agree on the mulch qualities you mentioned, just doesn't work with eucalyptus. I understand the need for organic material. Otherwise, doing a great job! I planted over 300 trees last year, it's a lot of work watering just to have them survive their first summer!
@@Nell3810Oh no! My husband did just that. He cut the small trees, mulch and covered our newly planted coconuts. He only cut some small trees. There are still many more "for shades". He said.
Yes I was going to say a similar thing. Eucalyptus trees purposefully poison the soil under them to prevent competition. Definitely not a companion tree.
Yep. I am from Australia too. Most people don't realise what an impact eucalyptus trees have on the soil. He would be far better off, with wattles, or some other leguminous trees.
I thought everyone knew, that citrus, hate competition, in the soil..😂
As a portuguese native, I recommend in the future to get a rainwater retainer tank, it will help you during the dry season since we get a lot of rain during the winter enough to help the land for almost the interity of the summer months.
During your hot dry summer, your plants were putting down their roots and establishing a good root system as they searched for water. This is good. It makes the plants hardier. You may not of noticed any external growth, but deep down they were establishing them selves. Over planting your swales means the limited water needs to be shared between more plants. Less for each plant
In areas of abundant rain, there is enough resources to go around. Not in a dry climate.
In the dryer months, the eucalyptus is gonna suck up the last bit of water available. Don't know if this was such a good idea. I may be wrong.
What I worry about is if there is a fire eucalyptus trees have oil that make the fire worse. Also the mimosa trees you planted are the same way. Mimosas are invasive to Portugal. Please check into these concerns. Thank you
@Disabled.Megatron- You are missing the point.
An “invasive species” definition: “an introduced species to an environment that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Invasive species adversely affect habitats and bioregions, causing ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage.”
So there are strong reasons for understanding if we are encountering or bringing in an invasive species to an area that will see negative effects in that area.
@@sfstucco yeah but if you keep invasive trees just for biomass and dont let them go wild that should be fine? i mean you can always cut them down i guess.
Eucalyptus trees have strong oils that suppress other plants from growing under them. In Southern California it's a big problem. Just something to think about. Always love your videos!
I agree, also eucalyptus trees are taking over from native trees in Portugal and they are highly flammable!
I loathe gum trees and I am surrounded by them. One extremely close is weeping black oil all over the ground, rocks and plants under this huge multi branched tree the leaves are shrivelling and our body corporate cannot afford for it to be removed by an arborist around AU$10,000.00 plus. then who wants to mulch from a sick tree? Someone the arborist won’t tell where it came from. This year we have spent over AU$10,000.00 on removing trees and huge branches of huge trees. If only they had planted hazelnut trees with truffle spores we could have afforded to have these sick gum trees treated.
By the way even try removing one branch your arm with and length you will be crucified by the council and the tree huggers. You must ask permission and pay a fee for that and pay an arborist who will say it looks OK and in two weeks time that branch has fallen on a kid riding his bike RIP 🪦 but tree still stands minus that limb. They’re not called widow makers for nothing. They are not deciduous but drop leaves and bark 365 days a year.
Give me silver birches, elms, lindens anything but these fire 🔥 furies their leaves slip under doors and under tiles burning away as the heat off the fire robs you of oxygen you may go into your pool or dam but there won’t be oxygen left for you to breath. California hates the cursed gums and I don’t blame them.
Only the indigenous peoples know how to control burn 🔥 but white man refused to even have them recognised in the recent referendum so they are still not included as having been here for 65,000 years. Always Was Always Will Be! I voted YES 👍🏻
@@FrancienDanielsWebb You can decrease growth / stop growth / or kill trees (vegetation) by using a strong acid like concentrated sulphuric acid.
I successfully killed a very stubborn Giant Hogweed (heracleum mantegazzianum) by using concentrated sulphuric acid, which are phototoxic and causes phytophotodermatitis in humans.
Warning:
If you get concentrated sulphuric acid on your skin:
It want hydrogen atoms, so it will take hydrogen atoms from your skin cell's molecules, creating black carbon in it's place!!!
It's like a chemical burn, which don't create heat, so no fires are started.
I know eucalyptus are supposed to suppress other plant but right here there is video evidence that this way of thinking is incorrect or at least more nuanced. Eucalyptus are basically a pioneer species except they can live a very long time. The way they improve the soil is by burning again and again over decades until they die and something else has taken its place. With intensive management it will die like any other tree. They are saving environments all over the world from desertification. At least there is something growing in the soil instead of nothing right?
You might consider triune planting as you establish your food forest. With triune planting you are putting an early, mid, and late season variety of the same fruit in the same hole, so that they're not competing for water at the same time because they are fruiting differently throughout the year. you extend your harvest season by two months this way. The roots help each other because three trees are working to aerate the soil instead of one, three trees are dropping their biomass, three trees are spreading and providing wind break etc. Also, duckweed, its an invasive aquatic species that will pull that nutrient load (from the ducks) out of the pond. Its 70% nitrogen by volume and it turns all browns black within six months. (I mention it to help you lighten the load on the composting front.) you mentioned the need for trees that grow quickly and produce lots of biomass-- i have no idea if they will grow in your area but the two fastest fruit trees i ever saw grow in Texas were dates and mulberries. you're still getting fruit, but you're getting a whole lot of tree. the ones we planted grew like your eucalyptus. I love your videos. I'm binge watching them now. God bless your family and the work of your hands!
I am doing the same thing, here in Texas............your place is amazing. Thank you, and keep making wonderful content to help others!!!! You are appreciated!!
Wonderful, just wonderful!! I really appreciate your family's courage and faith to pursue this lifestyle! Your illumination is much needed as humanity attempts to navigate dark times. Blessings on all your efforts!
Exactly.Geoff Lawton said you must not start with productive species because you'll work hard by putting lots of input . Starting with support species will help alot
I live in a similar climate and the popular thing to grow here for cover are Mulberry trees. Maybe check them out. Thanks for the update.
Those Eucalyptus trees are quite invasive guys, they've taken over much of the native forests in Quito, Ecuador because they grow so well there (lived there for many years).
They're beautiful, but before you know it, they'll spread all over the property and beyond! Also, keep in mind that their leaves are quite acidic and they're water and nutrient hogs.
No matter what tree or shrub is planted, it is always difficult to plant very close to the main trunk of a eucalyptus. All the underlying plants suffer as they compete for nutrients with the tight mass of eucalyptus roots.
They've invaded Portugal since 30 years
Hi. Great job you been doing . You are doing the right thing by trying things out. A lot of people will give a ton of advice but the best teacher is to test things out ourselves. The sad part is that most of those people that give advice are not having a food forest and they all give their opinion on the end we suffer of analizis paralizis instead . Anyways we are from Norway and we moved 3 years ago in central Portugal. We already planted 300 trees on our property and we are propagating and having many mature trees for planting. It will be nice to get in contact not to advice but maybe to exchange organic products , trees , seedlings that grow well on our farm. For example we have ton fruits from figs lemons and oranges, trees grapes. We have chickens too. We could give you some trees for free since we grow so many for ourselves. I have lots of willow , loquat , chestnuts, fig, date palm trees avocados grown from seeds. . We have 17.000 sqm land and we already filled it up. In about 3 years your farm will show great results , hang on inthere . This is the best thing you could have done for your beautiful kids. We live in the Santarem area , people that are around middle portugal that are into food forests , gardening feel free to get in touch. Good luck in everything you do.
Amazing project. I cant wait for the next video. All the best for you, your family, your animals and your trees!
I didn't put fruit trees in for the first 3 years on my latest garden project. Take your time, remember mistakes are going to be made, plants and trees sometimes die or have to dug out, transplanted elsewhere or even composted. But WOW! You're off to a great start!
I did a similar thing I planted my fruit and nut trees randomly on my property. We also get strong winds. I soon realised to concentrate on one spot and grow out from there. By doing this the soil has improved and plants seem healthier. I plant shade lovers under the shrubs and vines climbing up some appropriate trees. 😊
When transplanting trees always remember the three year rule nature goes by............
The first year they sleep..
The second year they creep
The third year they leap
The best way to learn is through your observation of your land over time. You've done really well so far, and will no doubt continue to do so.
Hi Moreno, in France I had some difficultés To get ride of Polonia as it was rooting a long the root system and giving droits were I didn't want it to be. Maybe be carefull in planning to many of these. Thanks for charing your experiences! Regards, Erwin.
Thank you for sharing your progress and the lessons learned. ❤
Moreno, thanks for the update on the food forest and for honestly sharing your insights of things you have learned along the way. It's great to see the soil/land responding to everything you've planted and hopefully you will see an even bigger difference next spring after the rains. You're doing a great job of working with the land and providing for your family.
You are amazing at what you do! Congratulations!
A little tip for trees that are having a little trouble growing is to make a small hole next to the trunk and fill it with pebbles. This will allow water to pass through the soil better and start feeding the tree. I love the videos have only just discovered this one and have watched 10 of them by now. This is a future dream to make this a reality too. Groeten uit België!
Can't wait for the news :) Seing the rain fill up the swales and the pond, seing all the vegetation progressing. You're really an inspiration for so many ...
Thanks for the updates Friend Your place is starting to look awesome ... every area so meticulously set up 👍 Always enjoy your vlogs!
Just found your channel. And it is pretty amazing. Good job all of you!
I hope these guys are just wintering, and haven't disappeared.
New video online in 2 hours ;)
Beyond inspiring, thank you.
Nice to see the evolution of your piece of land. And there is always something to learn from your videos. Thanks a lot!
All technical info, strategy and plan shared in this video is highly appreciated
I absolutely love your approach, and so cool to see all the birds and insects that are moving in now you have provided habitat for them. But how anybody can survive 48 degrees C is beyond me. I'm looking forward to following your journey forward.
My favourite YT channel right now! ❤❤❤ lots of love from brazil!
Have you tried with mulberry as a support species? In my property mulberry is the rockstar! Delicious fruits, tons of mulch, shadow... with no irrigation at all.
This is amazing. Thank you so much for sharing your story
Beautiful!! Thanks so much for sharing with us all. Amazing amount of positive information if one wants to absorb it. Cheers🎉
Precious! Another great and previous video from you.
I learn a lot from it!
Thank you.
Amazing job on building the place. It really looks great.
Great information. My favorite video since you've moved. Thank you!
I'm also a famer in the west of Portugal and this summer was brutal. Glad we're now having a lot of good overcast days in a row after all the rain that helped so much with the soil!
Curious to see the update!
How wonderful to learn with you from your mistakes and understand first hand how this process works. Well done with all the work you've done so far.
It's been a pleasure to watch things evolve over the last year but the inspiration I will take from this video is how well you adjust your plans to the realities of the land and how cleverly you integrate the things you learn into your next steps. This is incredibly interesting and I hope you keep making these videos.
You will have such a paradise one day. Thanks for the high-quality video. This is how the lifestyle can catch on.
Real challenge with the hotter, drier and longer Portuguese summers! Valuable lessons that you share!
Nature is strong. Well done with your food forest. Hopefully next summer in Eurpoe won't be as severe. Love your videos.
Suggestion. Large plastic water tanks placed on high ground. During rainy season pump water into them. Some farmers have 3 or 4 big tanks. Then gravity can drip down to irrigate with hoses. Imagine year round water.
Love your philosophy. Nurturing nature to make sure that the natural eco environment is established and sustained. through the introduction of water and food. Not really normal for a commercial farmer. Amazing. You are Fab.
Thanks for sharing!
Looking good thank you for sharing your mistakes and suggestions of how to do things differently Very refreshing Many blessings to your Food Forest Homestead 😊 🙏
I just started watching your videos two hours ago, I must say I'm already loving them. The ecosystem you are creating is wonderful.
Thanks to algorithm for popping up your video on my feed.
🌹🌹
Ive not even watched this but ive jumped to the conclusion that this will make me happy. Thank you!
What a wonderful project! I wish I had the possibility to create something similar! Love what you do and am looking forward to the development of your paradise garden! Thank you for sharing!
Your videos give me hope! Actually make me feel proud of being a human
Hi I was wondering about the 'dead' trees. Maybe they could start again if left. It seems, if they grow again, they would be more strong against drought
Be careful with eucalyptus. Your project is amazing. 🇵🇹
Such valuable insights, thank you!
Super useful. Thanks for the honesty and knowledge
Amazing! So excited tof see the development next year same time.
Very honest in-depth video. thank you
You are a part of Nature. Thank you . I like green trees, it's wonderful ❤❤❤
Está quedando espectacular el bosque de alimentos... saludos desde el sur de Chile.
Here in Italy I have the same issue trying to establish a food forest with terraces. The summers have been very dry an there was just not enough protection for the young fruit trees. Even though I planted some rows very close together. Some local farmers tell me that I should leave more space. Not sure. Will see next year as I also have a renovation to finish.
Amazing what you have done.
Very informative vlog. Thank you for sharing your experiences. Take care and keep up the good work.
How interesting. Thanks for explaining your successes and failures. Good luck.
We are all learning through the mistakes made here. Thank you for sharing
Mooi dat je weer bent begonnen met vloggen! Ikzelf heb dit jaar een oude wijnboerderij in Portugal gekocht met mijn vrouw en kind om naast toerisme ook met dezelfde ideeën het land op te zetten/bewerken. Jouw content is zeer inspirerend en informatief! ik ben fan!
Thank you for shearing your expirience, Im working on my food forest in eastern Europe, with different climat, but it is still helpfull. Wish all your family all good
Thank you for the efforts to explain what went wrong or right i find it a good teaching method.
Awesome to see another dutchie setting roots somewhere south. We're in Greece and I am 4 days away from digging our swales.
Well done. looking like a labour of love.
This is a huge project and I love what you are duing. I hope you do well this year and waiting for the nex video.💖🇮🇸
Thank you ❤
Such great people.
Heerlijk. Ik kijk altijd uit naar een nieuwe post van jullie!
Wish you the best of lucks! Looking forward to see the system in a couple of years :)
Very nice work. Thank you for sharing.
Amazing results in such a short time, and the mistakes sound relatively minor. I'm really looking forward to the five year report.
Thank you for your wonderful videos. I just wanna say to you to not keep going you’re on a grade path. I admire your dedication and persistence and as a farmer persistence is the thing that keeps us going.
I envy your lifestyle and enjoy your content. Thanks for sharing all of your secrets
I really love this channel and always excited to see a new episode. In a world where gardeners are getting dragged by the perpetually online for planting non native and/or invasive species in their suburban backyards, it really would be nice if you incorporated more natives. I'm realizing I know next to nothing about native plants and trees in Portugal.
Keep up the good work. Well done. Best Wishes Pete (Manchester UK)
Love it all. And it's a lesson I have to learn here too - more density, more biomass, not just fruit trees.
Thank you for the upload, I realy enjoy your content and advice, it helps us to learn and grow, without making mistakes. We just addapt your input to our enviroment, and grow
Very happy to see your progress! I planted my food forest in mallorca last spring, but much like you only invested in fruit trees in the beginning. I added ground cover (melons, pumpkins and herbs) in summer and green manure in autumn. Now I'll add the "rest". I sowed Moringa, poplar and Schinus molle for biomass/windbreak. Might be a good alternative/addition to the eucaliptus.
Keep up the good work and greetings from Mallorca!
Hey man, love your work. Hope you're able to keep the vids coming. It's a vastly different climate to where we currently live in the Highlands but still very enjoyable content
Thanks for the update
Well done with the vegetation that have survived. ❤
I see you've been looking into syntropic agriculture. I've also been thinking of Paulownia as fast growing tree for biomass, wood and shade, I'm surprised not more syntropic agriculture projects are making use of these trees. I'm definitely curious to see how these will work out for you.
Me too and how you made more ..from simple cuttings?
Really interesting to have this feedback. The place is looking nice!
Thanks.
Great inspirational video.
Welcome to the mediterranean climate! I've had the exact same problems and have come to the exact same conclusions. Pioneer species for shade and mulch and also biomass for the stove and some extra water to get things established. The food forest looks great to my eyes though. I just subscribed to see your the progress and learn. I envy your swales also, I'm sure they'll help immensely.
Looking great actually in a year. We live in the high desert in California for 3 years now and it's a very slow process. Unfortunately, our land in the beginning is degraded, no running water and all. Slowly but surely it's getting better 😌 I wish you and your endeavors lots of success
thanks for the honest walk thru! and also great work, keep it up! really hope you will manage to reach your goal for your place. Also big thanks for the little bit slower pace of talking, makes it more enjoyable! even thou earlier videos have been great to! best of luck from Sweden!
Amazing to see you embracing syntropy.
really good to see the mistakes that we can all learn from
Very impressive!
Thank you :)