Tag Archives: food forest

farming

Tuesday afternoon at SAFF

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Asimina triloba: New leaf growth observed on a recently planted Rockfish River native pawpaw in the orchard at bottom of North Trail. This was beautiful to see. Hopefully it will be able to harden off before the first frost which typically occurs between October 21st to 31st in Buckingham.

We went over to St Andrews Forest Farm to water the pawpaws and take a walk.

Common puffball. Lycoperdon perlatum.

We watered each recently planted pawpaw and made sure they were looking good. We came around the waterway and approached the orchard from south.

We heard a blue jay calling and following us around the forest. We found this feather. We thought it looked more like an Eastern Blue bird feather than a Blue Jay.
Lactarius indigo is a milk cap with blue milky latex that oozes from the tissue when it is cut or broken. It’s edible and tasty. We find it near pines usually. This one is old and bug eaten.
Royal Crown bottle found along Three Pine Gully on the north side. Looks to be from the 1930s.
farming

79 Pawpaws in the Ground

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Just 21 more to plant after going out every day and planting 9 or so at a time. The orchard has really turned out nicely at the bottom of North Trail. The earth is red silty loam which is pawpaws (Asimina triloba) preferred soil.

Our wheel barrow full of the supplies we used to clear spaces and plant our pawpaw seedlings.
Red silty loam near the wet weather gully at the bottom of North Trail.
Tasty persimmon to snack on finally.
A branch of Oxydendrum arboreum, Sourwood tree.
Micrathena mitrata, White micrathena, is a species of orb weaver. They build their webs across the trails.
farming

Rain and more Pawpaw planting at SAFF

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Finally got a good soaking rain at the farm. The ground has softened making planting much easier.

So far, we have planted 42 pawpaw trees. Yesterday we planted two more seedlings from Rockfish River natives in the main orchard and seven from select Edible Landscaping fruit. We are a bit less than halfway done but we are happy to get more in the ground later today while the earth is still soft from the recent rain. We checked on all of the previously planted seedlings —and a couple had been dug up a bit but the roots appeared intact so we replaced the dirt and watered them back in and hope for the best.

Nine seedlings we planted yesterday in the orchard at the bottom of North Trail.
Persimmons getting closer to ripeness at the top near the driveway.
Taken from the Pawpaw Peninsula looking towards the main Pawpaw patch of SAFF wild native trees. They are going dormant for the winter.
One of our seedlings. They look so pleased to be in the ground finally. Because of the draught, we were going to wait until spring to plant them but are glad we opted to get them in the ground now. They look awesome.
Argiope aurantia, Yellow garden spider, found up top next to shed.
farming

St Andrews Forest Farm A Bear Runs Through It

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A third year female black bear runs up to the clearing from North Trail on May 20, 2025.

We had seen bear scat multiple times all around the farm and last May it was confirmed when she ran in front of our farm cam.

We had just moved the camera to a new position and were able to capture a three year female black bear on video as she ran pretty fast through the main clearing up top.

We continue to see evidence of bear activity and we imagine it is she. This past month we began noticing old tree stumps destroyed and large pieces of quartz turned over. We immediately suspected our bear was looking for insects to eat. The first we noted was in the spring along the back line on Chanterelle Hill Trail. A huge ant hill was dug up and excavated. Then about a month and a half ago, we saw all along the north property line she had dug up old stumps. At one we saw yellow jackets looking disturbed.

Vespula maculifrons, Eastern yellow jackets. This creature is not to be messed with. I wonder if this was what our bear was running from through the top clearing.
A stump disturbed by a young bear looking for termites or ants to eat along Amanita Way.
Stump excavation along Northmost Trail. It was a hungry bear who worked hard to find everything she could to eat this summer in the forest.
Just last week we found these honey mushrooms along Armillaria Way. Either the bear, deer or one of our Eastern box turtles, Terrapene carolina carolina, came along and ate it before we got back to collect them.
Caught in the act! Our Eastern box turtle eating some mushrooms along the bottom creek on a stump that the bear had ransacked looking for bugs to eat.
farming

Pawpaw Planting at St Andrews Forest Farm

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Pawpaws we foraged under Edible Landscaping’s Sunflower and Mango cultivars in Nelson County Virginia on Sunday.

We went out to the farm on Friday and Sunday to get as many pawpaws planted before the rain comes. Thunderstorms and rain are forecasted to get started late tonight and continue until Wednesday afternoon. We planted 17 on Friday: Five in the orchard (a Kentucky State University Chappell and 4 seedlings) and another five alongside the Shenandoah and select seedlings that we planted last year. We put a Mango cultivar and four seedlings we started from foraging. Then we planted 2 on the Pawpaw Peninsula (an Allegheny cultivar and Wild native seedling from a Rockfish River foraged pawpaw). After that we put two by the pawpaw patch at the bottom of Ridge Trail and another two on the left side of the large pawpaw grove. We walked up Ridge Trail and put another wild pawpaw seedling from Rockfish River foraging near the small colony of native pawpaws growing along the south wet weather gully.

Wild native seedling planted up top.

We were exhausted after this. We had to carry water for the trees after planting in our packs, carry our equipment and the trees themselves all around the farm. It was hot and the ground was hard and dry for digging. Chris was battling each hole. (We are looking into finding a lightweight device to dig our holes, as in an auger.)

Allegheny pawpaw cultivar on the Pawpaw Peninsula with our SAFF native wild pawpaws. The wild ones are yellowing leaves and going dormant for winter since it has been so dry.

Then we went back out on Sunday to water what we’d planted Friday and put a few more in the ground. We planted 5 up top in the main clearing along the driveway and put two along the South Gully on Dan’s Folly. We put one more across next to a lone wild SAFF native pawpaw on Fern Trail. From there, we walked down the Gully and watered our select seedling planted a few days before. We were happy to see they all were still in the ground (last year, the deer ate them and pulled them out of the ground a day after we planted so we almost expected the same.) They were glowing in fact. They all appeared to be very happy in their new locations. We watered them some more.

We have another 80 or so to plant and hope to get out to the farm again soon to get a few more in the ground.

We found this lone flower along Mary Banning Trail. We aren’t certain but are leaning towards a type of Spurge. We will continue to observe it in order to further identify.
farming

Fall 2025 Update at SAFF

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Orchard Trail taken in September in the lowlands at St Andrews Forest Farm

It’s been far too long since we have reported on events at the farm. Cooler temperatures and a few trees with bright yellow and red leaves remind us fall is here and also that we could use a good soaking rain to soften the crisp dryness of the ground and plants. Our pawpaw seedlings are waiting, with a few cultivars we collected from Edible Landscaping in Nelson County Virginia, to be planted out at the farm when a rain is expected next, we will plant them just before.

Over 100 pawpaw seedlings and a few grafts of Mango, Allegheny, KSU Chappell cultivars. We also have quite a few select seedlings from Edible Landscaping.

We hope to plant some around the existent wild native pawpaw patches that we have. These trees are responding well to increased light as we cut back understory trees competing for sunlight under the giant oaks maples and beech. They have greened this year and produced more branches and leaves. We only had a few flowers and one tree that set fruit. This dropped after the second week even though we had good rains in the spring. We are feeding the native trees compost from our home bin. With the addition of the new dna from the seedlings and grafted cultivars we hope to plant within the next few weeks, we hope to see increased growth and fruiting.

We have been busy planning our orchard and structures, collecting seeds from native and select varieties, trailblazing to give us more access to SAFF. And we have also been mushroom hunting of course! We have added a lean-to on to our shed for the tractor.

American Persimmon trees up top fruiting nicely in the forest.
farming

October 4, 2024 – Preparing the Boundaries for Hunting Season

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Amanita persicina found in groups throughout the farm near pines and oaks.

We went over to put up boundary markers and no hunting or trespassing signs as well as forage for mushrooms. Hunting season begins Saturday October 5th (early archery season starts). We took down trees growing too closely together and used the trunks as a natural fencing inside the tree line along the road frontage to discourage hunters from chasing deer onto our property. We’ve also been told hunters run dogs through properties to scare up deer. We are trying to create a hunt free zone, except for mushrooms, and to keep anyone chasing animals off our land. We also will put up several more cameras later this weekend. We had technical issues yesterday but worked it out this morning.

Coral fungus
A family of Amanita jacksonii, American slender Caesar, we brought home and processed for eating.
Top of A jacksonii
Younger A jacksonii
An A. jacksonii just emerging from its volva. These are the most delicious.
Eastern fence lizard, Sceloporous undulatus, we found hanging out on a black cherry stump up top in the clearing.
Amanita spreta, commonly called the Hated Caesar, is an inedible variety. They were large and showy found in the north side near pines.
We continue to find these blue staining boletes and have narrowed down their identification to four different species. For now, they remain unknown.
Unknown blue staining bolete.
Inocybe lilacina, Lilac fibercap, is a poisonous mushroom found on the north side of SAFF.
Suillus salmonicolor, Slippery Jill, found everywhere on SAFF near pine.
Suillus, slippery jacks, associated with pines.
farming

October 1, 2024 – After hurricane Helene at SAFF.

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Chicken of the woods, Laetiporus sulphuric, found on the way to the farm. We took this older specimen over and left it to spore on some of our dead and dying hardwoods: Mostly black cherry trees and tulip poplar.

Today was a mushroom hunter’s dream. It’s an understatement to say they were everywhere. We’ve had an enormous amount of rain in Central Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley. We’ve had flooding at the house but finally, after all of this rain, the water table is restored at SAFF from our prolonged summer drought. All of the springs are flowing and the waterways are moving. We saw water flowing in the wet weather gullies in the north and south. It’s a beautiful sight.

Amanita persicina, Peach colored fly agaric, were found all around the farm where pines are growing. These were large and brilliantly decorated with vibrant orange. The larger of the specimen were 8 inches in height and 4 inches across. They are showstoppers.
More A. persicina along south trail. We found them mostly in big groupings up top and along the trails. These are my new favorites.
Leccinum longicurvipes found on the north side in the pine forest. The scabers (rigid projections) along the stalk identify them as Leccinum within the genus Boletus.
Genus suillus, slippery jacks or sticky bun, found anywhere we saw pines. They were all over the farm today. We hadn’t seen them before so it’s a wonderful surprise. It forms symbiotic ectomycorrhizal associations with pine trees by enveloping the underground roots of the tree with sheaths of fungal tissue. Rather than gills, it has tubes extending downward from the underside of the cap.
Ramaria stricta, Upright Coral fungus, found near southern waterway along Ridge Trail.
farming

September 18, 2024– Shrimp of the woods and Honey Mushrooms

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Entoloma abortivum, shrimp of the woods, found along the stream at the bottom of the slope. A choice edible for us.
Dacrymyces chrysospermus, orange jelly spot, grows on dead conifers. It is edible but flavorless.
Armillaria mellea, Honey mushroom, an edible mushroom found growing in groups up top in the pines.
More Honey mushrooms

We took a walk in the rain around Saint Andrews Forest Farm yesterday and saw plenty of fungi to our delight. The animals had eaten some of the Honey mushrooms. These are highly nutritious. We were fascinated by the fairy ring of Honey mushrooms up top which showed this Armillaria to be maybe 15 or 20 feet in diameter. Most of it is underground mycelium.

We’d been waiting for these to emerge along with the Entoloma abortivum which are actually honey mushrooms parasitized by Entoloma. Each year they show up together and it is a helpful identification factor. They are delicious and we are having them for breakfast this morning with our eggs.

They are best when browned well. 😋

We also found a few more patches of pawpaws growing along the southern wet weather gully! They are easily spotted right now as they are beginning to go dormant for winter as evidenced by their yellowing leaves.

These shrimp of the woods are growing on roots and dead wood along the sides of the waterway. They are decomposers.
farming

September 5, 2024 – Continuing to clear the road and Shrimp of the Woods

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Cutting back trees that have grown up through the roadway on the north side of SAFF.

We couldn’t wait to get back out to clear some more trees from the roadway. We used the chainsaw, loppers and the string trimmer to clear out another chunk of the road. This time we made it just past the culvert with the shoe lasts. We were pleased and exhausted. The road is covered with leaves, pine needles and other forest debris so we keep pushing the debris aside with our foot to find stones underneath. It’s a compacted dark gray stone just like our driveway up top. The roadway goes along the northern boundary from the top clearing to the back line near another road. It stretches for acres and gives us truck access to the whole farm. A man stopped by a few weeks ago and said he was a member of the family that owned the property. He said the road ran all around the farm and also mentioned tobacco was grown on SAFF. It’s almost all forest now. We hope to figure out where the tobacco was grown. We’ve been bringing our homemade compost out to the farm to nestle in our new plantings and nourish the soil.

Ferns and trees have grown up through the roadway for more than a decade or two.
Our newly planted fig snuggled in with our fresh compost from our wormery at the house garden.

We also checked our lion’s mane experiment right off the clearing. Last fall we inoculated beech logs with lion’s mane mushrooms and yesterday we saw the mycelium creating something that looks like it may be what we hoped for.

Inoculated logs with lions mane spawn. We will keep a close eye on these logs after every rain.

Then we took a walk around and found Shrimp of the woods, Entoloma abortivum, a choice edible mushroom down by the waterway at the bottom in the pawpaw patch. We found it last year in the same spot. These are early and we expect much more with the next rains. The temperature is perfect for mushrooms. We are waiting on rain.

These are delicious treats we sautéed for 25 minutes in a pan with olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper and we had them on our salad for dinner.
The texture and appearance is like shrimp and the taste was scrumptious.

We also continue to forage for pawpaws on public land to and from the farm. We found three more fruits yesterday. Each one has been a tropical delight tasting of mango, banana with hints of caramel and vanilla. Even better, they are full of seeds we are going to plant to further our pawpaw grove and increase production by adding more dna and, in the long run light, to the area.

Pawpaw seeds