Nut Grove
We cleared an area of forest on the edge of the big pasture and planted Chinese Heart nut, crosses of Heart Nut, Butternut and Black Walnut, straight Black Walnut and hazelnuts. We're experimenting with several varieties of hazelnuts to see which work best in our gardens. The wild blackberries immediately overran everything in the nut grove area but the hazelnuts finally got above the level of the blackberry canes last year and are putting on a growth spurt.
Our management plan is to cut to the ground all the wild blackberries and then coat the nut trees and bushes with bone salve (look up Sepp Holzer and bone salve to learn more) so that we can let the sheep and goats keep the blackberries down by browsing that entire area several times a year.