Miracle Farms is a 12-acre property located in Quebec’s western Monteregie region, in USDA hardiness zone 4. The farm was originally developed as a commercial monoculture apple orchard, making the transition to organic upon purchase in 1993, and was certified organic in 1996.
Miracle Farms was featured in a 2 hour documentary film by Olivier Asselin entitled ‘The Permaculture Orchard: Beyond Organic’. Details of the film at: www.permacultureorchard.com. LES FERMES Miracle est le berceau du film documentaire d’Olivier Asselin ‘Le Verger Permaculturel: au delà du Bio’. Détails à www.vergerpermaculture.com
The farm was originally developed as a commercial monoculture apple orchard, transitioned to organic upon purchase in 1993, and certified organic in 1996. Starting in 2007, five acres have been converted to a permaculture-inspired “u-pick” orchard. Plants, fruits and vegetables grown here include over 100 cultivars of apples, 18 cultivars of pears, asian pears, plums, cherries, peaches, paw-paws, hardy kiwi, grapes, mulberries, gooseberries, redcurrant, blackcurrant, saskatoon berries, raspberries, strawberries, and a whole range of herbs and perennial vegetables.
The orchard is designed to promote maximum diversity of plant, insect and animal species, with a special focus on creating habitat. This results in a high population of pollinators and other beneficial insects, as well as birds. Together they help control pests. Not only does this increase fruit yield, but it also greatly reduces the amount of maintenance work necessary, since a lot of it is being done by the eco-system itself.
Despite a large diversity of species, harvest is simplified by the “grocery aisle” layout of the farm, where all fruits in any given row will be ripe within a 10-day window. It is then unnecessary to go from one row to the next looking for trees that are ready to harvest.
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Videos
DANDELIONS – do you HATE / LOVE them? Or you just don’t care. If you hate it you may have spent a lot of time and money trying to eliminate it. Here’s my understanding of what this plant is doing and how you can save a lot of time dealing with this plant.
4 Reasons Why Your Fruit Tree is Not Producing Fruit. Filmed Spring 2019.
This week we go buggy with Aphids. They are great indicators of unbalanced fertility and most commonly an excess of nitrogen. We also look at two stories that illustrate that imbalance. I’ll take you on a hunt for aphids and explain the presence and absence of aphids in the permaculture orchard or your garden.
his week we check out my Top 10 edible perennial vegetables, herbs and flowers in the Permaculture Orchard. Your top 10 will likely vary from this list based on your climate and taste. We are in AgCan Hardiness zone 5 (USDA zone 4). My top 10 are as follows: 10 – Arugula 9 – Daylily 8 – Oregano 7 – Thyme 6 – Mint 5 – Perennial Shallots 4 – Egyptian Onion 3 – Chives 2 – Sorrel: Profusion Sorrel from Richters: https://www.richters.com/Web_store/we… #1 – Garlic Chives
THE KEY to YOUR Permaculture Orchard or Fruit Planting is… “JUST START”. In this weeks video we show you how to start in the easiest way with just two trios of trees and the number of associated plants. How quickly you can multiply your planting. Go 10X every 2 years.
10 DESIGN MISTAKES I’ve made in the Permaculture Orchard. Please don’t make THESE same mistakes, errors, fails (Part 1 of 4 MISTAKES Series) YOU WILL MAKE MISTAKES. Learn from mine, make some of your own. Make adjustments Principle # 12 in Permaculture : ‘Creatively use and respond to change’ with the feedback loop. There comes a point when you just need to start, everything will not be perfect, you will never know absolutely everything you need to know. Mistakes are a part of life. Make mistakes and learn from them.
Fall 2020 Walkabout. What a YEAR!!!
Winter is here, now winter’s routine in the permaculture orchard. Have you ever been frustrated opening a seed, feed or grain bag? I show you a way that you will never have to cut the bag or the string again.
