Debby Luquette
Adams County Master Gardener
(2/3) Imagine walking through the forest that covered Adams County before William Penn set foot in Pennsylvania. It was different then the one we see today in several respects. First, most of the trees were large, standing tall with wide girths, and there was not much understory. You might think there would be chestnuts. There were lots of them!
And as you wandered, nearing a large creek near an Indian settlement, you would walk into a partial clearing, an area with a sparse canopy, and more understory and ground cover.
Are you puzzled? Why is this open area in the middle of a forest of dense canopy? Since your walk is in the late summer and you are observant, you notice trees and shrubs with ripening fruit, including persimmons and pawpaws. Other trees, like serviceberry, seem to have fruited earlier in the season. There are still elderberries and a few
blackberries on their brambles, growing in clusters, away from the well traveled foot paths. You notice vines of ground nuts climbing into the trees along the edge where the old growth forest gives way to this, can we say, garden? You realize that most of the plants here produce food, fiber and herbal medicines. You might wonder if the area was purposely maintained to
grow these plants.
Native Americans managed the forests for food in 1491 and for a couple of millennia previous to this date. Even the old growth forests may have been cleared of brush to allow the efficient collecting of chestnuts and white oak acorns (sweeter than red and black oak acorns), as well as hunting the deer and turkey that also enjoyed these nuts. All
these plants added a lot of delicious variety and nutrition to their corn, beans and pumpkins — the three sisters. Even today, in many less developed tropical areas where indigenous people still live relatively undisturbed, the maintenance of food forests persists to supply good quality produce for the people.
Since the naturally occurring vegetation in Pennsylvania on undeveloped land is deciduous forest, it seems reasonable that we might try to grow a forest food on our own plots of land. A food forest may seem a bit out of reach for most of us, especially those of us who are past our middle years. Trees take time to mature, after all. And most of us
don’t have the expanse it would take to maintain even a small wood lot. But we can establish a fruit tree guild in a backyard in a reasonable amount of time. A guild is a centerpiece tree or pair of trees surrounded by plants that work together to support the entire guild. A guild acts like a bit of natural woodland in our backyards. How? To answer that we have to realize
how an old growth forest develops naturally in Adams County, and then try to stop it and maintain it as a guild at the point where a developing forest is most productive.
If open farm land grows back naturally, and assuming invasive plants don’t get a foothold, there is a progression of similar plant types that eventually become the mature forest. Annual grasses and weeds immediately cover the open space the first year. This is followed by perennial wildflowers and grasses for a couple of years. Shrubs start to
appear among the perennials as soon as seeds can make their way to the field. As the shrubs begin to take up room, they crowd out the perennials. Fast growing, sun loving trees begin to take hold and start to crowd the shrubs and remaining perennials, while shade tolerant forest trees slowly begin to get established in the shade of the fast growing, early trees. This is a
process ecologists call succession. Stopping succession and maintaining it at the point where food-producing shrubs and perennials persist alongside sun-loving, fruit trees is the basis of a food forest, or for our purposes, a guild.
Plants we encourage as natives — serviceberry, pawpaws, persimmons, elderberries, cane fruits — and perennial vegetables and vines, were the ones Native Americans cultivated by periodically burning the area. Slow growing trees could be eliminated and the useful plants maintained, while at the same time browse became available for deer and rabbits,
the meat supply. With some modification, like eliminating fire and discouraging deer and rabbits, we build small versions of this design in our yards as edible landscape. It is also a way to implement some permaculture principles, and the variations are limited only by your imagination and the physical features of your piece of land.
A small plot of ground is all that is necessary to get reasonable results. The centerpieces can be one or two dwarf cultivars or small native fruit trees. If you choose cultivars, remember you need two different cultivars to get good fruit. If you want to have a slightly larger area, semi dwarf fruit trees could be used. Always consider the size of
the trees you choose since they will need pruning and care.
Here’s where the food forest comes together and permaculture takes root. When we build a guild, the area surrounding a central tree or two is planted with a collection of plants, mostly perennials, for a variety of purposes — food, attracting beneficial insects, building soil, discouraging unwanted pests, etc. Pick plants that have more than one
purpose when possible. Commonly used perennial herbs (thyme, oregano, lavender, etc.) are also good for attracting beneficial insects. Peas are annuals, but small groupings of supported sugar snap peas are good eats for us, and since they are legumes, they feed the soil at the same time. Daffodils planted in a circle around the trunk of the trees offer early pollen and
discourage vole damage to the trees. The plants you choose should suit your needs and enjoyment. Don’t forget compost to maintain soil fertility. Keeping the area mulched for the first years decreases the amount of weeding, and with early control and as the plants fill out, weeding should become less work than a vegetable garden.
My attempt at a food forest is coming along. I’m on year 3, anxiously watching the pawpaws, but harvesting herbs and a few elderberries.
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