farming

Saturday SAFF Work Day

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Deerberry, Vaccinium stamineum, about 7 feet tall along SAFF Northern Trail overlooking Blueberry Hill Trail.
We stopped on our way to the farm and got strawberries and farm fresh eggs at Dickie Bros. Orchard in Afton, Virginia. We are still enjoying them and the eggs were not only way more delicious, they were less expensive than the grocery store. Just saying. $5
Lespedeza repens, creeping Lespedeza or creeping bush clover, is a native low growing perennial. The small pea like pink and purple flowers attract pollinators and it thrives in dry sunny conditions making it a good ground cover. We will interplant this for erosion control and nitrogen fixing near our Asimina triloba and other fruit and nuts trees. It is similar in appearance to invasive and more aggressive plants.
Tiny house leveled up nicely. Chris has been working hard using jacks and cinder blocks and wood.
The back of the tiny house on wheels with the paulownia logs and sticks on the ground. We will use the logs to make terraces along the slopes.
Wheels off the ground!
A nice pic Chris took of the old clonal colony pawpaw patch with lots of new leaves coming out. The ground is covered with ferns over a vernal pool that is almost always wet. The ancient colony has grown around this wet area with roots going five feet deep. It’s anchored itself firmly to where it can access moisture.

We mowed the main clearing for the first time this season. Spring is always a ticky time at SAFF. We have especially been seeing the lone star ticks. Mowing helps. It’s been very dry this season yet the lone stars are looking for a meal so be careful out there on the trails. We decided not to mow the slopes in the clearing and will leave it to the butterflies and critters. Leaving it long will help with erosion control. We mowed wide paths to our trails and around the slope to keep our tick experience low. We also spray permethrin on our shoes and legs this time of year and tuck our socks into our pants. Any other tips, please feel free to comment below.

Last night, we ordered 41 Scion wood cuttings from various Peterson and other Asimina triloba cultivars and also including 2 persimmon cultivars. We plan to graft about half of the pawpaw Scion onto the old colony pawpaw patch. This will be a more permanent solution to getting novel dna into the colony much faster and more easily. We can make branches or trees with the Scion wood and our existing clonal colony. Grafting produces fruit quicker usually in 4 years. We have begun studying grafting techniques and are collecting the supplies for our continued Pawpaw Project at SAFF. We will keep you updated.

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