Plant Spotlight – Native Wild Plums

By |2026-03-13T02:58:50-04:00January 31st, 2026|Flora|

By Jean Cavanaugh(A Wild Plum from this past August) Another of the native shrubs we have planted at Crossing Hedgerows is the Wild Plum. At one time, native plums were one of the most established wild food crops of Native Americans. According to the book, Native Plant Agriculture, by Indigenous Plants, Native Plums are more energy dense than any domesticated fruit you'd find in the grocery store and is only rivaled by other wild fruits such as serviceberries, ...

Hazelnuts

By |2026-03-18T18:41:48-04:00January 31st, 2026|Flora|

Look carefully for the nuts inside the "wrappers"   The photos I'm sharing today are from a hazelnut harvest we did last February. This is the time of year when they're ready, but in our experience you can collect them anytime you get around to it, as long as the squirrels don't beat you to it.         Our hazelnuts are the wild, native variety which are smaller than cultivars, but their taste ...

Hoophouse Tour

By |2026-03-18T18:04:14-04:00January 31st, 2026|Events & Celebrations, Flora, Musings|

In our May gathering, one of the areas we walked through on our tour was the hoophouse.   Cabbage and Leeks   When we look at growing crops through the lens of healthy ecosystems, it requires that we think of all the elements involved and what they want and need to be healthy.   Chard, Leeks, Onions, and Milkweed   Some of the things I touched on during the tour, is how we ...

Shagbark Hickory

By |2026-03-12T23:31:27-04:00January 31st, 2026|Fauna, Flora, Musings|

I'd like to highlight in my coming posts some of the many forest crops we have at the Sanctuary. Many we have planted around the Cavanaugh homestead. Others have been planted by birds, wind, and the ways of Mother Nature and we have allowed them to flourish. And some were on the land already when we arrived. The Shagbark Hickory is one in the last category. Hickory trees do not produce nuts every year, so one has to ...

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