Very recently I had an opportunity to drop in on an old friend that I’ve known for about 25 years, but haven’t had the chance to see in person for some time due to the busyness of everyday life.

I knew that he had been doing some farming activities on his rural, 25 acre property, but I must confess I was quite surprised at the amount of work that he has completed.  He was gracious enough to give me the tour; showing me the pond filled with Koi, turtles, ducks, and two visiting Canada Geese; the large fenced in veggie garden area; the cows (two grown and one baby); the rabbits, chickens,pigs, and bee hive.

While all of this was going on, there was a rambunctious tangle of children (four of which are his own), running about, falling down, getting up, getting dirty and loving it.

His youngest daughter came up to me at one point and deposited a baby rabbit into my hands, which was an absolute treat, as I had only seen baby rabbits on television and in photos.  I wanted to take this cute, tiny little black and white bundle of fur home with me; somehow, I think the Better Half would give me “that look”, and said bunny would be back at it’s original home “toot sweet”.

We strolled his property where he showed off his many grafted fruit trees, and even grafted a few while I was there.  We had a look at his bee hive, which had a goodly quantity of bees, actively working away, getting things ready for the upcoming season.  We spoke of Permaculture principles, Food Forestry, Organic Gardening, and many other things.  It was an absolute pleasure to see someone that I have known since teenhood so at home and completely happy.

Having seen my friend’s Permaculture Food Forest allowed me to look at my own property with fresh eyes.  While I don’t have 25 acres, nor the desire to own such a large piece of land, there is much that can be done on a city sized lot.  I am now on the hunt for columnar or colonnade apple trees to plant down the middle of my raised garden beds, fruiting dwarf-sized shrubs, vines, a couple of dwarf cherry trees…..and the list goes on.

I have a feeling that there will be quite a few trips to nurseries to acquire various and sundry plants and trees in the near future, as well as much trading of plant cuttings and the like.  Spring is definitely in the air!