by david fried
Editor’s note: this author prefers to use lower case type font.
standing today in our local apothecary shop, "grain herbs" in montpelier, vermont, we were talking about birds. "what do you put out for them to get so many wonderful birds on your farm?" iris, the master herbalist, asked me. "i am definitely coming to visit this spring and i will bring my mom. we love birds," she told me.
here is our story of how we have made a farm that birds love to call home. forty-five years ago, i was hiking the long trail in vermont, which runs the entire length of our state. living mostly on fruits and berries along the way in august and september, i told myself that if i ever had my own place, i would surround myself with fruit trees and berry bushes. i liked the idea of feeding myself and my friends while staying in one place (all who are hungry, let them come and eat).
shortly after coming down from the trail, i was invited to live on a piece of land in elmore, vermont. i began ordering fruit trees from catalogs, which would arrive dried out and stapled to a bag. i thought - i could do better than this and began learning how to propagate fruit trees and berry plants and started hanging out with older experienced growers. lewis hill, norman pellet, greg williams and ken parr in northern vermont, bill mackentley in northern new york state and elwyn meader in new hampshire all taught me so much. i learned growing techniques and how to have a sense of humor when things don't go the way you were figuring they would.
where others were making five or ten-year permaculture design plans, i got to work planting orchards and berry patches wherever there was open land. i learned the earth could not be too wet and the winds could not be too fierce. we planted windbreaks where needed and set out mounds of earth to plant into where the roots needed some elevation above the moisture.
the local extension agent told us the only fruit we could grow in elmore were a couple of the hardiest apples. being a bit of a rebel, we were leading tours for this agent’s associates six years later, demonstrating the successful growing and harvesting of pears, plums, grapes and pie cherries here. we won best of show at the vermont farm show for the jam we made from our fruit. we pressed cider and made cider vinegar and we dried apples into apple crisps and made umeboshi plums. we continued to cut back forest and new understory growth and plant new trees and shrubs never seen around here or even attempted before. russian quince, seaberries, medlar, northern kiwiberry can all be found growing successfully here.
i remember when i walked to vermont in 1979 and decided to stay, my father said to me:
"vermont is beautiful but you can't eat the scenery!" well, now we were beginning to be able to eat the scenery and it was very good. soon, there were pathways leading to benches, to picnic tables, and pathways connecting the blueberry patch with the black raspberry patch. another path went from the sloping orchard to the kiwi berry arbor. it was a lot of fun to walk from here to there, tasting the fruit as it ripened and going all around the mulberry bush (or tree, in this case).
around this time, the winged ones and the four-legged ones began discovering how good it was up here, too. there were ambystomas, bats, deer, porcupines (we call them the sloth of the north), hawks, barred owls and meadow voles. one day, a friend saw me walking up one of these pathways with a skunk walking behind me, as if i was giving her a tour. when sitting for a moment on a bench, the songs of birds would be so strong and so brilliantly clear. the birds were in paradise.
last year, the local nature center director came up with his wife in the springtime with their binoculars. he told me that in twenty minutes, they had seen and heard more birds than when they went to a place specifically for bird watching for two days looking for them. when i asked him why he thinks they are all here, he said: "you have put together everything they like here. the trees are not too tall yet and there are plenty of bugs and seeds for them to eat. there is water to drink and places of refuge for them in the thicker, brushier areas. Amazing".
did i know i was making a place for the birds? i didn't. i wanted a place where whoever came would have a good feeling about the world. they would go home with more hope and love their wife, husband or children more. they would see the potential for growing fruits, nuts and berries at their place and bring some plants home with them from our nursery. i didn't realize that in doing what was nurturing for me and my friends and family would also be attractive to bees, birds and butterflies.
it does not happen overnight. a lot of wonderfully dedicated crew has helped with the plantings and the care. these days, we mostly mow certain areas and occasionally feed a few trees and shrubs. the rain comes down and gives the plants the deep watering they need to sink their roots down deep. the birds in the treetops and tall grasses watch all of this and they know they are part of this place, too. i was told that some of the birds catch many, many insects for their young each day and this is why we have such good quality fruit without spraying anything. some years are better than others.
when all the birds that went south return in the spring, they build their nests and care for their young. a new generation will catch bugs and sing their songs amongst the trees and the walking paths. one autumn, we found what looked like eggs in one of the bird nests but looking closely, we saw crabapples and kiwis in the nest. either a squirrel put them there or they rolled in there on a gust of wind. either way, it is an excellent image for all of us organic growers dedicated to improving the world. we nurture the land and the land nurtures us.
you can't force wild beings to come live with you on your farm. they will come when they notice that what you are doing is what they have hoped we two-legged ones would always do - see the gifts we have been given and work hard to make the land fruitful and blessed.
the birds are like the angels singing to us when we have a small part of it right.
david fried is a garden writer and poet who grows fruit trees and nut trees and berry plants and runs elmore roots fruit tree, berry and natives nursery in elmore, vermont.
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