In my previous post Why I'm a Wannabe Farmer I talked about my dream of farming. In a nutshell; I'm to inherit 40 acres of land that's been left to go wild over three decades. The challenge? To move there and start a new, farming life. There are a few hurdles in the way that prevent any immediate move so over the coming two to three years, I'll be working the land and 'preparing', if you will, for our arrival.

So far, I've begun planting a 3.5 acre wildflower meadow, have young saplings growing at home for later transplant, have installed owl boxes, sown the beginnings of a brand new English bluebell grove, started to clear bramble thickets and undertaken a new project restoring and revitalizing a couple of old ponds.

The challenge and goal? Nurture the land back into life, both in terms of biodiversity and land fertility, so that when I'm given the green light to move and build a home, I can hit the ground running when it comes to launching the small farming business.

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A Thought to Trees

One HUGE step anyone can take when it comes to living off the land is a great deal of forward-planning. And when it comes to trees, they need to have been planted yesterday!

For foraging, there's a vast amount on offer already - sloes, blackberries, bullices, rosehips and crab apples are everywhere during the late summer and early autumn. However, my grandparents never had any real orchard and the few cultivated apple specimens were in the farmhouse garden which was sold. With that in mind, it's the perfect time for me to start planting trees so that when I eventually make the move, they'll already have a couple of years growth.

These two oaks are well over 100 years old. What sights they must have seen.

They won't be anything like these trees, which are over a century old, but getting the nut trees in now gives me a head start.

The Nuttery

I'm not sure 'nuttery' is actually a word but it conveys the right picture, so I'm sticking with it. Though I DO intend on have fruit trees, I've already planned to cordon these against Gabian walls which will make up the driveway - hence, they have to wait for a later date. The nut trees, however....that's where I'm good to go!

Now, the UK is temperate - we have warm, wet summers and cold, wet winters. On the USDA Hardiness Scale we're Zone 8 - 9ish where I am. Alas, that instantly makes growing many nut trees, Pecans, for example, an impossibility. But, not to be outdone by my friends in warmer climates, I AM going to grow SOME nuts, including:

• Walnuts
• Sweet Chestnuts
• Hazelnuts
• Almonds
  • Though hardy, to produce nuts almonds actually need a frost free winter; a hard thing to come by in Britain, especially in rural Suffolk. Still, given the correct aspect and right protection, it's not totally out of this world to hope for a harvest.

Inspired by the Olympic Park in Stratford, I'm also going to be planting a willow dome to act not only as an entrance point to the nuttery, but a place to sit in and shell nuts after harvesting.

A willow walkway at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. I want mine to be a dome structure instead, with excess willow used for fencing and firewood.

Act Now!

Time marches on at an astonishing speed, and I wish I'd planted these trees two years ago when I first began going up to the farmland. But if I've learned anything, it's not to rest on my laurels and as winter approaches, I'll be steadily clearing the area intended to become the nuttery of brambles and nettles. I've planted a fig already, and will pop another in (and hopefully the first nut trees) in the coming months. It's A LOT of work but I'm sure, in 20 years time when I'm sat shelling bountiful harvests, I'll sit back and thank myself for doing the hard graft.

In the meantime, are there any nut trees I might have forgotten? What have you planted on your homestead to supply yourself with fruit and nuts? Any tips or pointers you'd like to share? Please do so below!

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