Planting an Orchard

One of the first projects we undertook on our new property was to hire a neighbor with a skid steer to dig swales in the sunny east-facing hillside below our septic field along our driveway. In the berms below the swales, we planted a variety of fruit-bearing plants that another neighbor gave us. This neighbor and his partner have been tending an extensive garden and orchard on a similar east-facing slope not far away for decades, and have identified some varieties that do well here. They were happy to set us up with some starts from their abundance.

Since we are in a zone with many days below freezing each winter, appropriate crops include apples, raspberries, tart cherries, currants, and rhubarb -- fortunately, some of our favorites! Our neighbor even found a pecan tree variety that grows here.

On the berms between the larger plants, we planted bulb onions. We were pleased by the quality and quantity we produced our first year. The soil is well-drained and surprisingly fertile for a mountain hillside. We have had to water the plants quite a bit as they establish roots, but are planning water management ditches and swales to direct runoff along the driveway to the orchard so that it will require less direct watering in the future.

An orchard is definitely a long-term project. I've started orchards several times in the past, and then had life circumstances take me away before I got to enjoy the fruits of my labor. But we have also benefited from the trees left behind by previous owners of properties where we've lived. We hope to live here the rest of our lives, but planting an orchard is paying forward in any case.

Planting an orchard has several climate benefits. By eating seasonal organically-grown fruit and nuts from our own property, we will reduce the carbon footprint of our diet. Enriching the orchard with compost helps sequester carbon in the soil. And the trees pull carbon out of the air as they grow, even before we are able to harvest fruit.

Reducing Food Waste by Vermicomposting (Worm Bin)

The methane emissions from food waste breaking down in landfills is one of the top priorities for reducing greenhouse gasses, according to the research from Project Drawdown. When we lived in a mild climate, we had a backyard compost pile, and in the city we had municipal green waste pickup. Here in a rural area in a cold climate, though, with lots of wild animals roaming our land, a compost pile for kitchen scraps is less practical, and we don't have a curbside service. (Heck, we don't even have a curb.)

For vegetable scraps, our solution is vermi-composting. We bought a quality fabric bin online, and worms from a local supplier. We provide the worms with shredded cardboard and paper bedding, and vegetable scraps, which we cut into chunks, and freeze until the worms are hungry (to prevent any mold from growing on them). After experimenting for a few months, we've figured out how much bedding the worms require and how much food they can consume and turn into the worm castings that are such good fertilizer for our garden beds. We keep our bin in the garage, because our house is super-airtight and any slight smells do become problematic. Since the garage is cool, we've installed an electric heater that keeps the worms warm enough to be active in the winter.

Meat scraps don't go in the worm bin, but we do make sure that we generate as little waste as possible. We turn beef and chicken bones into rich homemade bone broth, which becomes the base for hearty stews. We give fish skins and any extra organ meat scraps to the cat, who appreciates them very much!

Clothes Drying

A clothesline is a classic way to dry clothing. Ours is right by the house, strung between trees, and in our climate clothes hung outside dry within an hour or two. But it is not always convenient to hang clothes outdoors -- when it is windy, smoky, raining, or snowing.

Since we live in a dry climate and have a high-efficiency washer that spins the clothes to nearly dry, my favorite trick is to install a closet rod in the laundry room and hang the damp clothes spaced apart on it on hangers. In our cabin, the laundry room is too small for a drying rack, so we replaced the closet doors with a metal rod and curtain and hang clothes in front of the closet to dry. If you don't have space to add a rod for this purpose, you can hang the hangers on doorknobs, closet door tracks, cabinet knobs, or curtain rods. This method saves at least one step because family members just move the hangers straight to closets when the clothes are dry. No starting the dryer, folding, ironing, or transferring from the folded pile to the hangers later! And in our climate the humidity added to the air by the drying clothes saves the energy we would otherwise use for a humidifier.