These photos were mostly taken during July and August 2015. It is the 10th Anniversary since Clear Sky retreat center was founded, and we have been celebrating! The food forest is doing well, planted in 2013, it is now in its third season.
Food Forest notes and observations
- There was an outbreak of tent caterpillars in the spring, which required pruning, bagging and organic spraying.
- The asparagus suffered from mice chewing their roots in the early spring. We cleared as much debris as possible to allow for visibility for the hawks, eagles and other prey. The asparagus beds recovered and were standing many feet high by July.
- We spent time this year strengthening/raising the irrigation sprinklers to reduce the number hit by the tractor mower.
- It has been a very dry season with little rain. We irrigated for shorter but more regular intervals this year (half an hour per zone every two days) – this may not be enough time- we are going to try 2 hours once a week for the rest of the season.
Click on an image to open up the slideshow: (Photos courtesy of Felix Rheume-Gonzalez, Cara Conroy-Low & Catherine Pawasarat)
-
- Our new food forest sign…formal tours began too!
-
- Don Quixote and Sancho Panza give a tour to guests at the tenth anniversary. Photo by Catherine Pawasarat
-
- Apple tree.
-
- Tent caterpillar outbreak in June
-
- Bagging of branches infested with tent caterpillars
-
- wide view of the food forest – cherry in the foreground
-
- Cherry plum.
-
- Edible European Mountain Ash, fruiting for the first time.
-
- Evan’s Cherries (these are in an older section, planted in 2009)
-
- Felix, our food forest karma yogi caretaker with harvests of haskaps and other veges.
-
- The food forest from the hill above.
-
- The central herbaceous nursery.
-
- Wild mushrooms in the food forest.
-
- Harvesting peppermint
-
- Purple choke cherry
-
- Pussy willows and filberts in the outer rings.
-
- A wasp nest in the ground.
Lovely synopsis of one of the wonders of the Kootenays! Look forward to more learnings, growth adventures and yumminess from Clear Sky’s fabulous Food Forest.