Broody Thursday skies in Buckingham, Virginia as we drove to the county offices.
We drove over to meet the delivery driver for our roof insulation yesterday. After we got that stored, we ran to the county offices to drop off paperwork for permits. We came back and decided to go for a walk. We were glad to see all of the Asimina triloba that had been damaged in the freeze have begun to leaf back out, even the Tallahatchie. Although it had sprouted some below the graft leaf shoots that we plucked off. The late cold really stressed it. We were glad to see it made it. We are still waiting to begin grafting the pawpaws and persimmon trees when it’s up into to the 50s at night and there’s no rain for 3 days before or after. It’s been chilly here in Virginia this week overnight into the low 40s still. It’s been lovely.
We are seeing a lot of Amphicarpaea bracteata, American hog peanut, all over SAFF. It feeds many creatures, including people, as well as fixes nitrogen in the soil. We feel lucky to have it growing to feed our plants and trees. The leaf with the purple center and green edges is Salvia lyrata, lyreleaf sage. It is edible and in the mint family. Native Americans made tea with the leaves. It is an adaptable native herbaceous perennial. It withstands foot traffic well. The flowers support multiple bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. We will try to get a photo of it flowering. Nigronia fasciata, Banded dark fish fly, found along the main waterway at the bottom. This is an interesting find as an adult since it has a brief lifespan of only one or two weeks. They mate and lay eggs at the edge of the water right where we found it. They don’t even have a mouth in this part of their lifecycle since they don’t live long enough to eat. The larval stage can last three years. Their presence at the waterway is a sign of very clean water and a balanced, healthy aquatic ecosystem. They are predators in the larval stage and more intimidating. The best of five blurry pics of this lone star tick, Amblyomma americanum, on Fern Trail hanging off the edge of the plant on the trail waiting to grab on to the next creature that comes along. These ticks are aggressive and out looking for food when other types of ticks are hiding under leaf litter. We recently realized they can cause Alpha gal syndrome from a brief exposure whereas most ticks need hours attached to their hosts to transmit diseases. Be careful out there! Yuck! The three sisters on Ridge Trail overlooking the old colony Pawpaw Patch.Across the main waterway to the old colony pawpaw patch. All of the understory trees are Asimina triloba.Asimina triloba sprouting from the roots of elder trees even. Crimson clover, Trifolium incarnatum, a cool season fast growing annual legume we planted as a cover crop in the clearing to suppress weeds and fix nitrogen in the soil.The new access road connecting our driveway to the Old Farm Road.
Rocky clearing up top near the shed. Cladrastis kentukea, Kentucky yellow wood, growing near the access road to the old farm road which as of yesterday is now open for use.
Yesterday was 74 degrees and sunny out at SAFF. We finally finished our road connecting the driveway to the old farm road. This gives us tractor and trailer access to the new pawpaw seedling orchard and the cultivars. We are very relieved. The trees we planted are all looking great—except our Tallahatchie Asimina triloba Peterson cultivar that got zapped by the cold. It hasn’t leafed back out but it still has time to recover. More water will be the best way for it to heal and leaf back out. Now we can get water, compost and mulch down the hill with ease. This will be beyond great to have when we begin planting this year.
North of the driveway. Trees are too close together. We work on thinning them out by choosing the healthiest and rarest trees. We’re taking down dead and diseased trees and laying them down across the sides of the roadway. Cornus florida, flowering dogwood, grows in the understory all over SAFF. The flowers provide nectar for pollinators and the leaves and wood support biodiversity by hosting moth and butterfly larvae. The fruit (drupes) are eaten by 93 species of birds (such as robins, cardinals and cedar waxwings) and more than 16 species of mammals (including black bears, squirrels and foxes). Tulip tree, Liriodendron tulipifera, a fast growing, tall tree that can live between 200-400 years. It attracts bees and hummingbirds and seeds are eaten by birds and small mammals. It is the primary host plant for the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail caterpillar (Papilio glaucus) and the Tulip tree silk moth (Callosamia anguilifera). Squirrels, cardinals and finches eat the samaras seeds during fall and winter.
The new view down SAFF’s lower south set back line without the bridge. This is most pleasing.Yesterday during our work at SAFF we began building a new Hugelkultur terrace along the southern slope. We took down 3 tulip poplars which were overcrowded, unhealthy and lanky scrunched in between the pines and oaks. The tulip tree Liriodendron tulipifera is a fast growing tall hardwood tree native to eastern North America. The flowers attract hummingbirds and butterflies while the seeds feed birds and squirrels. It is likely our most common tree in the disturbed areas of SAFF. When a forest is clear cut, these trees move in fast and establish their canopy. They are valuable to our forest ecosystem but not as tightly populated as they are currently. They are great for establishing the Hugelkultur terrace here along the southern slope. All of them will be useful for the development of terracing and the base structures at SAFF.
When building Hugelkultur terraces, tulip poplar is considered one of the best woods for the structural base for the terrace because it is soft and decomposes quickly which creates the nutrient rich water retaining base. We built the terraces we planted the Asimina triloba into out of tulip trees in the new seedling orchard at the bottom of North Trail for the past few years.
We will cover these branches and logs pictured above with soil, our homemade compost and other organic material such as mulch, pine needles and forest floor leaves. We will plant into these beds. The plants and trees in this bed will benefit from the gradual nutrient release of decaying material and increase in water retention. SAFF will benefit from reduced soil erosion.
Image depiction Hugelkultur principles in design by Rose Shelton.
We’re excited to begin planting on SAFF’s south slope as soon as we finish the terrace project and create a fence to protect our plants from becoming wildlife buffets.
Also to share with you our joyful news. We got engaged and have been making exciting plans for our future and celebrations with friends and family.
The stalk arising from the dead striped leaf continues to open up the flower buds. We are surprised by how yellow the flower is after looking deep purple for some time. This is it! The flower unfurled finally. The final flowering stage of Antennaria plantaginifolia, plantain leaved pussytoes. The flower heads have transformed into fluffy seed heads that can take flight in the wind. Diospyros virginiana, American persimmon, up top near the road. We found another group of 10 or more trees. These are young and healthy. They are a major source of food for birds, raccoons and the possum. The American persimmon also serves as host for multiple moth larvae and pollinators. They are low maintenance, drought tolerant and pest resistant. We are delighted to find them. Diospyros virginiana sprout coming up near the other cluster. Another American persimmon seedling coming up in the front. Achillea millefolium, common yarrow, is highly regarded in wound healing as a styptic with antiseptic properties. Teas from yarrow are made to induce sweating, reduce bloating and reduce inflammation. It offers cold and fever relief. It attracts a wide variety of beneficial insects and over 20 species of native bees. It is lovely, drought tolerant and thrives in poor soil conditions. Amphicarpaea bracteata, American hog peanut, is an annual to perennial vine in the legume family native to moist slopes in the eastern US. They produce above ground and underground pods. It fixes nitrogen and grows in the old clonal colony pawpaw patch. We found it today coming up around our Asimina triloba cultivar seedlings which is where we planned to move them. Yay! 😀 It feeds birds, deer and mice. Native Americans ate the pods and underground peanut tubers which are nutritious. A good source of protein, fiber and carbs.Asimina triloba KSU Benson cultivar seedling with American hog peanut spontaneously growing around it offering a low maintenance partnership with the hog peanut feeding the pawpaw tree. Fern trail near the Rappahanock cultivar which is recovering nicely from the frost that bit it. Hypericum stragulum, low St John’s wort, which is toxic to grazing animals. Native Americans used the plant for the treatment of sores, fever, gastrointestinal issues, nosebleeds and snakebites.
We had a nice Sunday with lovely weather in the 60s as we got chores done and took a stroll around the trails.
Pollinated mayapple, Podophyllum peltatum, with initial fruit set in the SAFF old colony pawpaw patch. We are noticing more flowers this year on the Mayapples. Southern adder’s -tongue, Ophioglossum pycnostichum, was found in the newly planted Pawpaw Orchard very near our Mango cultivar and a select seedling we planted last year. Found in moist shaded bottomland forests during late spring, Southern adder’s-tongue is considered rare in many regions but common here in Virginia. It is a fern that spends most of its time underground. Although edible and medicinal, it’s a plant that stores energy for years to send up a single leaf. Members of this family of plants have extraordinary high numbers of chromosomes. Over 1200. This occurs because of extreme polyploidy. It has astringent and anti inflammatory properties.Vaccinium stamineum, deerberry, a native deciduous shrub in the blueberry family found on Blackrock Trail near the wet weather gully at SAFF. These are eaten by birds and mammals.Erigeron philadelphicus, Philadelphia fleabane, is a widespread native wildflower in the daisy family. It is a valuable food source for bees, butterflies and moths. Found on our Northmost Trail at SAFF these Vaccinum stamineum, Deerberry, sit atop a hill near many pines.Sensitive fern, Onoclea sensiblis, known for being sensitive to frost and dying back if touched by it. Thrives in moist shady areas. Historically used by Iroquois for medicinal purposes and food. A native bush clover, Genus Lespedeza, found throughout SAFF. Today we noticed it near the Asimina triloba seedlings we planted last Fall. It is a nitrogen fixer and is valued for soil improvement and provides food for quail and other wildlife. Monochamus scutellatus, White spotted sawyer, a native wood-boring beetle that eats dead pines mainly. This appears to be female by the shorter antennae. Asimina triloba in old colony pawpaw patch with initial fruit set. Mayapples in the background.
It was dry at Saint Andrews Forest Farm on Friday afternoon. The ground crunched as we walked around the trails. There’s a chance of storms and cooler weather expected Sunday. If no rain by then, we will need to water the newly planted Asimina triloba seedlings at the bottom of North Trail. All of them look great with leaves filling out. We weeded and worked on clearing spaces around each of them. Even the ones that had tops chewed off by a passing deer or rabbit have new growth sprouting.
Houstonia caerulea, azure bluet, found all over SAFF has now passed its peak blooming and is beginning to to die back.
Old snag we check every time we go to Saint Andrews Forest Farm to see if it has fallen. It has holes all the way up from woodpeckers.
We’ve seen many pollinators this year. One of our favorite is the zebra swallowtail butterfly. Asimina triloba is the sole host plant for the zebra swallowtail butterfly, Eurytides marcellus. The zebra swallowtail caterpillars feed exclusively on pawpaw leaves. Toxins in the leaves make the caterpillars and butterflies distasteful to their predators. The butterfly lays a single pale green egg on the underside of the leaves. It is a mandatory host relationship and planting pawpaws are essential to supporting zebra swallowtail butterflies.
An energetic zebra swallowtail butterfly flitting about the old clonal colony pawpaw patch and landing on young Asimina triloba leaves. We will check them for an egg later.Lowbush blueberry by the main waterway.Initial fruit set on Asimina triloba.
This Red Fox, Vulpes vulpes, was caught on the FarmCam on February 9th and we just remembered to share. Beautiful red foxes live in their den on Chanterelle Trail and went out to hunt for food. It’s rare to catch them on the camera. They avoid being spotted.
We started our walk down Red Hawk Rd and made a new trail from the bottom at the roundabout to down to Fern Trail.
The drive over to SAFF was beautiful with fall color. We travel from the Shenandoah Valley over Afton Mountain through Rockfish Gap and Howardsville to Buckingham. We oohed and ahhhed the whole way. Here’s a quick video of Howardsville Rd.
31 seconds of trees putting on a colorful show. Sound on for beautiful jazz as well.
We unloaded the lumber we found at the Restore and checked out the pawpaw and fig trees planted up top. They have yellow leaves and are losing most of them. Then we headed down Red Hawk Road to get down to Fern Trail. We checked out the Rappahanock cultivar and the seedlings planted as well as the cluster of natives. Most have gone fully dormant for the winter, especially the native SAFF trees. A few of the cultivars and seedlings look great; fully leafed and deep green still. Gleaming. It’s more typical for them with the temperature and season to be dormant. We have not yet had a hard freeze in Buckingham, or in Staunton in the Valley—which usually frosts first. Once dormant, their watering needs will drop. Phew! 😅
Leucobryum albidum, white moss or white pincushion moss, is common here in the eastern US. It creates a habitat for amphibians, reptiles and insects, stabilizes the soil, retains water, cycles nutrients and contributes to carbon sequestration.
Along our walk we found white moss and strawberry euonymus (Euonymus americanus). We also went down to the waterway to check on this oak snag in the picture below. SAFF had high winds for several days and the last time we saw it, there was a bend and crack starting.
White moss beginning to grow.
SAFF old oak snag we check on regularly. It looks as though it will fall to the west towards the Pawpaw Peninsula.
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.
Sourwood, Genus Oxydendrum, sometimes called sorrel tree is native to Eastern North America. The honey that bees produce from its nectar is sought after for its health benefits and taste. The leaves are edible and have a laxative effect. The Cherokee people used it for seasoning soup and meat, as well as a medicinal tea from its leaves. They also used the shoots to make arrowshafts.Sourwood leaves
Yesterday was a lovely day at SAFF. It’s gotten cooler and feels much like fall all of the sudden. On the way over, we stopped at the pawpaw patches and found about eight more ripe fruit. Each one has 10 to 14 seeds inside in two rows. We probably have several hundred seeds. Some we have already planted in pots to overwinter outside and cold stratify in nature. Others we have cleaned and placed in a container in the refrigerator to cold stratify for 70-100 days and then we will plant. We will determine best practices from our experience but we hope to add many more trees next year. We are excited to use these to sprout new trees for our pawpaw grove that hasn’t been productive for us yet. While down in the pawpaw patch, we noticed the Sourwood tree. We have quite a few of these down by the main waterway at the bottom of the slope growing, in some cases, right next to the pawpaws. We are still thinning out the forest in every location to allow more light in and room for our trees. We are especially doing this around our older pawpaw trees to encourage production of fruit.
The roadway we found on the north side of SAFF.
We went out to the northern edge and found where the road began and we cut back small trees growing up through the rocks of the road. We cut back grassy areas. We cleared everything we could easily. We got a third of it cleaned up except for the largest pines we will have to use the chainsaw to remove. We imagined this would take us much longer to clear. We were beyond thrilled to get that much accomplished in one swoop.
The roadway will make it a whole lot easier to farm on the north side.Turkey tail, Trametes versicolor, on the north side. A common polypore found throughout the world. It’s a medicinal mushroom that’s full of antioxidants and other compounds which fortify our immune system, maintain healthy gut bacteria and support the treatment of certain cancers.
Saint Andrews Forest Farm 