Eatwell Farm

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Chestnuts

Last fall I was given some chestnut seed that I planted in our shade house. We are using special trays for trees which are planted with a tree planting tool called a Potti putki from Finland. This allows us to plant small trees fast without bending down and using a shovel. Chestnuts need a period of cold to stimulate their germination which is called stratification. I decided the seeds would get that overwinter. Fortunately I was right and most of them germinated. The chestnuts will be planted every 60 feet in the permaculture rows. Eventually they will form the over story and produce lots of nutritious nuts that we can harvest or leave for pigs or other grazing animals to eat. In between the chestnuts there will be many different fruit trees.