Sunday, September 28th turned out to be a beautiful day for the 2025 Fall Farm Fest. I had the pleasure of closing out the line up of cool workshops with a presentation filled with tips to ensure happier, more resilient trees that bear more nutrient dense and sweeter fruit.
I have been growing food-bearing trees and shrubs on very challenging sites, and working on improving difficult soil conditions to have happier, more resilient trees for many years. I started Nanabush Food Forests to grow food in a different more restorative way, and out of that, I co-founded Forêt Capitale Forest I teach people how they can successfully plant and care for food-bearing trees.
Thanks to folks who attended for all of the good discussion during and after the workshop. We looked at the root ball of one of the hardy peach trees which have been growing out in an air pruning pot. We felt the root flare, the first root coming off of the trunk, and how it is best practice to plant a tree so that root flare is level with the surface of the soil. Timely tree care was covered, compost and holistic foliar food in spring and early summer, no feeding in fall, as trees are preparing to sleep. Dormant pruning to promote growth, summer pruning if you need to slow growth. Build and care for soil as though it was a precious and scarce resource, which is true in urban and suburban settings. The benefits derived from the symbiotic relationship between soil microbes and trees can not be over-stated. Application of mycoryzzal inoculant is one of the easiest actions you can take, with such a positive impact on trees.
Finally we talked about the concerning decline in the nutrients in the foods we grow over the past decades, due in large part to our agricultural practices that leave the soil depleted and devoid of microbial life and diversity. This is not a doom and gloom story though, we have it in our power to quickly change our practices and as we do so, many positive changes occur, including more resilient trees, and an extraordinary capacity of our soils to hold water, sequester carbon, and provide nutrients to our crops and more nutrient dense food to our communities. This is not a hope, this is reality each time a food producer makes small changes in the way they grow food. How great is that?!
As many asked if they could have a copy of the slides, I share them here as a helpful resource.