Just wanted to show the differences between the orchard with swales, and my neighbor's land without. I've grazed the cows through a half dozen times or so for 6-8 hours each time. The difference is pretty great.
Now only 9 more acres to dig in... :-)
So today I dug 35 holes as the weather looks to be breaking this week. These trees (black locust, honey locust, seedlings from a local thorny locust, and mimosas) will serve as a windscreen, privacy screen, nitrogen fixers, bee fodder, and future fence posts.
The rest of the seedlings will go in as nitrogen fixers in the orchard. Within a couple of years they'll be coppiced and supporting the fruit trees.
So we had several peach trees, nectarine trees, and one cherry tree in bloom when Mother Nature decided to break my heart and freeze those early blossoms. I was planning on heavily thinning each tree this first year to encourage maximum growth, but it still just killed me. The trees will be fine, and thankfully there's always next year.
On the positive side, all the mint, thyme, and rosemary seemed to make it through covered just fine. The Swiss Chard and strawberries though uncovered seemed none the worse for wear. Only time will tell. :-)
