How many food producing areas do you see here? From left to right:

Silvoculture — animals & nut trees: silvoculture is the practice of grazing animals in a lightly-forested area. The African savannas are one example, as are the Spanish dehesa ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dehesa ). In ancient times, the Irish famously kept their cattle under trees.

Friendly tip: If you try this at home, remember to take your animals off this pasture before the nuts fall. Otherwise you may find they have all been eaten, shell and all!

Vegetables: some of our favourite foods need a lot of sun to grow! This area is protected from the wind, catches the sun, and has water. Here is where we experiment with recreating no-chemical ancient methods of growing.

Labyrinth / mazes / jogging: did you know that recreation and food can go together? The clay soil in this area is not the best for grapes, so this space has been repurposed to a multi-purpose area. In addition to grapes, fruit tree seeds and some flowers have been planted. Fingers crossed that they come up next year; these should appreciate the clay soil.

Check out the Fun page for more on recreation.

Row trees — elder / hazel / lingonberry: First Nations practiced an interesting form of agriculture. Rather than keep animals in pens, they planted to increase the amount of wildlife. Humans and animals both lived off the plants, and in the winter, thanks to the forest feed they had planted, First Nations had large quantities of stock to hunt. Deer like to visit this area, just as they did hundreds of years ago.

Silvoculture — foraging trees: we know that deer like to eat tree leaves, but did you know that sheep, goats, horses and reindeer also can live off of forest leaves? Trees cultivated here are specifically to be eaten by our hoofed friends!

Straight from the horse’s mouth: grazing means eating grass, while browsing means eating trees. Poplars, willows and locust are favourites, but some horses prefer young beech leaves.