Successional Food Forest

On the 20-year Plan

We moved to the house we live in in 2009. There was a large lawn on the three-acre property. I yearned to do something more in line with my ecological values, but I had several frustrating challenges. The deer ate everything I planted, and the yard was too large for me to handle and convert successfully. I actually have been through several iterations, and I enjoy sharing what’s worked and what hasn’t with others who intend to do similar things. You can read more here.

Here’s the beginning of a gallery showing various iterations over the years.

Pre-2016. Tried various meadows

Vast lawn

First year after the bare-root seedlings

In 2016 we had a deer fence put up and 700 bare-root seedlings of early successional tree and shrubs planted. I loved these paths through the fescue. However, it doesn’t stay like this for long–vines and woody invasives move in to the open habitat quickly once you aren’t mowing. Why does that matter?

Here’s why:

Two acres of prickly lettuce … nothing wrong with prickly lettuce, but I don’t want two acres of it. That’s the case with many weeds and invasives (prickly lettuce isn’t an invasive, just a weed in my yard that year); you turn your back and you’ll have that species, wall-to-wall, a monoculture.