Feralwood Nursery

wapato
duck potato
katniss
broadleaf arrowhead
Sagittaria latifolia

this year i will be experimenting with container cultivation of wapato by planting tubers in half-totes.

this is a similar method to how i propagate tubers of Apios americana (groundnut/hopniss/potato bean). here the voles dine heavily on groundnut tubers if they are planted directly in the ground.

the difference is that there are no drainage holes in the half-totes that will be growing wapato. and so the soil will stay saturated, or shallow water will be maintained after a rain.

i have yet to decide if i want to maintain soil saturation or shallow water. shallow water creates more complexity, more niche spaces for ecological expression.

this translates as a potential for mosquitoes to breed. and so i can introduce the native Eastern mosquito fish. introducing fish translates as a commitment to maintaining shallow water.

and in this shallow water i could pursue other native aquatic plant beings, such as Azolla caroliniana (Eastern mosquito fern), or one of the regional species of duckweed.

i do have a long-term vision of creating sunny bog habitat here on this land. these sorts of experiments help to create that vision. perhaps i will say more about this vision in a future post

and for those that do not know, wapato creates edible tubers. it is one of the most widely gathered root-foods of indigenous peoples in its range.

i am grateful for the Knowing held by the original inhabitants of this land. i have buried these tubers in honor of You.

my clenched fist enters the fertile mud with a foolish capacity.

and returns empty, confused, a part of itself still in the mire.

who will emerge from the wound?

what messy gestures do you share with the sensuous?

❤️‍🔥 finally: i have sourced seed of Ipomoea macrorhiza.❤️‍🔥

i have been (mostly passively) looking for seed of large-root morning glory since 2016 (at least).

it is also called pink moonvine. it blooms at night.

moments like this help shape the crossroads which stimulate most authentically the work i do.

large-root morning glory is an incredibly rare morning glory species native to coastal and near-coastal areas of the Southeastern US.

it boasts a large edible root.

FYI: sweet potato is in the same genus, Ipomoea. there are also a few other edible morning glory species.

once cultivated by indigenous peoples, it seems that among the story of its rarity in modern times we might brush up against colonization: the tragedies of indigenous peoples being violently and forcibly dispossessed of land and life-way.

certainly we will see habitat destruction.

or perhaps it is a plant meant to be rare by its nature, by its coming-to-be.

regardless, i look forward to getting to know this plant, to learn something of its personal story through tending it.

and as i do i will find threads to mend. threads of human desire and curiosity, settlement patterns paved in genocide, a changing climate...

and somewhere in the incomprehensible undulations of deep time, the truth may live.

or something very dear to it.

bless y'all.

American bladdernut, Staphylea trifolia

i have been growing out several shrubs of American bladdernut. i was hoping to plant them in a permanent location this past Winter.

however, i was not quite sure where to site them.

so i built a large nursery bed for them to live in this year, allowing me to get them out of pots.

they share this bed with other species, such as dwarf chestnut oak, Allegheny chinkapin, bristly locust, purple flowering raspberry, running serviceberry, sweetfern, Kentucky coffeetree, and many others.

as it goes, i was planting one of the larger bladdernuts into the soil of the nursery bed when i noticed an awkward chunk of root, about 5 inches long, jutting out from the central root mass.

American bladdernut is a suckering and colony-forming species, so i considered that this could be what i was seeing: the root mass seeking out a fresh place to emerge.

one thing i have learned in my time with plants is that most of the colony-forming species will send up suckers from an injured root, often directly from the wound.

this is where the propagation method of root cuttings of woody plants comes in.

so i broke the awkward chunk of root off and planted it among its kin.

and forgot about it.

a week or so ago i noticed several shoots emerging from the base of one of the bladdernuts. i thought that maybe it had suckered.

i am an ever-curious being, so i gently reached my hand into the soil to see what was going on. i wound up deciding to pull up what i had a grip on.

it was that awkward root chunk, with 7 shoots emerging from it.

consistent awareness and observation of self-other, attention to nuance, and intimate interactions are great teachers.

particularly across time. and in the same place.

not just in our plant relations. in all our relations.

y'all take care of each other.

after working with plants for two decades, it is a rare thing for me to discover new-to-me plants.

if you were there when i found out there exists a native-to-NC serviceberry (Amelanchier) species that is only 3 to 5 feet tall and noted for forming thicket-colonies via stolons, you would have seen me drooling.

aka Amelanchier x spicata, running serviceberry, low juneberry, thicket shadbush, dwarf serviceberry, and more.

this is a natural occurring hybrid of A. alnifolia and A. humilis.

recently i tucked a few of them into a propagation bed and i am thrilled to get a colony established here in the coming years.

bless y'all.

(pictures borrowed from Wikipedia Commons)

ah, a complex hybrid oak, flowering at 7 years old. at least two of the six i have planted are flowering this year.

seven years is very short for oak (Quercus) species. it seems to be a fairly common ecological event that hybrid oaks happen, and that they produce at a young age.

the trees pictured were purchased as bare root seedlings, carrying the name Concordia oak. however, they were grown from seed, so they are not genetically true to the original Concordia oaks.

though they are still hybrids, of course, and perhaps more complex than they once were.

for those that do not know, the original Concordia oaks were found in a hybrid swarm of oaks in Concordia, Missouri in 1977. see 👇 for more on this.

i await the unveiling of these acorns with a child-like curiosity and devotion.

a view from the loft.

this area is where a lot of the nursery growing is taking place this year.

as well as a good deal of what will eventually be planted on the land here.

you can see rows of air pruning beds, top-center, behind the hazelnut hedge.

this is where i spend most of my time right now, steadily tucking the seeds into the soil, organizing the space as i create it, and preparing to plant tubers of groundnut and sunroot.

speaking of seed and tubers, i still have seed of pawpaw and American persimmon on offer, as well as tubers of sunroot and groundnut.

more on this 👇

bless y'all.

y'all slammed me with end-of-season orders.

thank you.

it was almost too much, so i laid low for a spell.

lately, of course: planting seed is my devotion.

the likes of chestnut (American, Chinese, hybrid), hazelnut (American, hybrid) wild plum (American, Mexican, beach), oak (Bebb's, bur), southern crabapple, to name a few.

that seed which is sprouting in stratification is that seed which is luring my tired, rain-soaked body this evening.

i was considering yellow buckeye, northern spicebush, and more hazelnut or chestnut when the sky cracked open again.

shelter summoned me, and here i am.

y'all take care of each other.

whew.

busy, busy.

end-of-season-sale is happening.

lots of cheap bare root trees that need homes.

see 👇 for that.

look for an end-of-season newsletter soon.

and have you ever given notice to how erotic ecology is?

if you've never, it is worth your dwelling on.

be well.

i've come to drop my annual winter-time PSA on rooting hardwood cuttings of American elderberry.

attached are images of an American elderberry, York variety, rooted from a dormant hardwood stem cutting.

what you will notice is that the roots that have formed have done so all along the wound. that is, the bottom of the cutting, where an angle was cut for ease in plugging it into the soil, and for quickly determining top from bottom.

what you will not be able to discern in this image is that there was no bottom node (leaf bud) present.

it is often said that this is a requirement of rooting elderberry: that the roots emerge from the bottom node that is below the soil.

and this is what i want you to know and share with others: you do *not* need bottom growth nodes for elderberry to root successfully.

i have grown hundreds of elderberry shrubs this way.

this is good information to have because, since elderberry has opposite leaves, it can nearly double the amount of available cuttings you have access to for propagation.

if you want to root elderberry yourself and need some advice, feel free to reach out. i am happy to help out.

and if you want to get your hands on some American elderberry i can help with that too.

i still have several plants of York and Nova available, as well as cuttings of Nova (limited), York, Adams, and a wild selection.

in closing i will add that i am expanding my American elderberry offerings and should have Ranch available by next year. maybe some others.

that is all for now.

see comments for elderberry links.

bless y'all.

do you have favorite plants that are not human-centric?

what do you plant solely to support other creature-persons?

and/or ecological processes and river-beings?

one of mine is Pycnanthemum incanum, aka hoary mountain mint, a native perennial of the eastern US.

the mountain mints (the many plants that create the genus Pycnanthemum) are among the best at supporting a diversity of pollinators.

i have been propagating and tending a patch of hoary mountain mint for a few years now, and it has become a well-established and adored presence.

today i decided that i want to include it in the nursery inventory for the rest of this bare root season.

you can find it listed there now, along with other native pollinator plants, such as clustered mountain mint, scarlet bee balm, wild bergamot, tall goldenrod, and wild plum.

so, yes, the question was something like: what is it that you plant for the world?

💚🧚‍♀️💚

it has been a good pinch of time since i posted here.

it was not an intentional break, but an incidental one, summoned by a need to position myself a certain way in the world.

for the first time this season i do not consider myself behind on orders.

woo!

and to those that have ordered, thank you for your patience.

it is a great time to feel that release, as we can feel Spring getting near in my region, and it is due time for a lot of assessment and gathering of what i do not already have.

i will be spending a lot of time over the next couple weeks gathering hardwood cuttings (American elderberry, Nova and York cultivars, pictured) and looking over my seed inventory.

as i take stock, some things arise.

this morning i added new selections and mixes of pawpaw and American persimmon seed. fully stratified.

both species have available what i am calling Breeders Mix.

and i am offering some single cultivar seed of Barbara's Blush American persimmon.

check out the website (or links in comments) for more details on these new seed offerings.

also, i will be getting a newsletter out soon. it will have some seed offerings that i will only be making available to those that receive the newsletter.

other newsletter specific offerings will be arising as the bare root season comes to a close.

so if you don't get the newsletter, this is a good time to sign up.

that is all i have for now.

y'all take care of each other.

talk with your ancestors.

ask them for something.

and leave offerings of all sorts
to spirits of all sorts.💚

black walnuts, de-husked.

Big Sylva selection.

some will be cured for eating, some will be selected as seed nut, and some will be left as offerings.

black walnuts have been one of my favorite native trees to establish a relationship with across time.

they are also one of the most misunderstood and underappreciated.

a humble provider, incredibly worthy of our devotion, yet often ridiculed, shunned, and denigrated.

perhaps this is what draws me so close to them. i want them to know they are loved and inspire awe.

black walnuts are not simple trees for me to move through the nursery. not like pawpaw or chestnut or hazelnut.

however, this year i will continue to diversify the black walnut selections i offer, including a selection for timber.

and for those not convinced that Black Walnut is a great mentor, i carry a lot of other wise teachers.

who wants to live in the soil that you tread? grow into that dwelling place with you? weave memories, grow bodies?

thank you for being here.

psssst...

there's a bandwagon i am totally hopping on.

👇 for details associated with this image.

spread the word if it feels good.

bless y'all.

ASHEVILLE, NC: Feralwood Nursery is delivering orders to you!

Sunday, December 3, 1pm to 2pm @ Dr. George Washington Carver Edible Park

more info on local deliveries:
https://ardealandproject.com/local-deliveries
newsletter signup & nursery info:
https://ardealandproject.com/feralwood-nursery
nursery offerings:
https://ardealandproject.com/feralwood-shop

this is a great opportunity for those that are local to the area and would prefer to pick up their order in person and chat a bit...

all while visiting what is arguably the oldest edible park with a forest garden orientation in the States.

if it feels good, please share this post and image with those local to Asheville.

and as always, feel free to reach out with any questions.

thank you.

bless you.

Feralwood Nursery — ARDEA LAND PROJECT Feralwood nursery is a bare-root nursery specializing in wild foods, perennial vegetables, permaculture plants, wildlife plants, and native plants of the eastern US.

in case you have yet to get the word, USDA hardiness zones were updated a few days ago. (see comments)

it is challenging to hold and feel, to articulate.

so i won't say a whole lot for now. we can explore instead.

changes have been felt in my body, particularly over the last few years.

now they are documented, which in a culture as confused as the one i live in, makes it more real. somehow.

something to approach with curiosity might be: what happens in a culture that allows for reality to be filtered through unmet municipal entities rather than physical bodies? communities? ecologies? how did it come to this?

we are not looking for answers to these questions. we want to explore these questions as openings into new ways of thinking. what branches do they have? where do they take us?

i recall when the hardiness zones were last updated in 2012.

the area where i dwell was moved from zone 7a to zone 7b.

and with this new update the land i call home is now considered zone 8a.

that is 1 whole climate zone. a very huge deal in terms of place and ecology.

and for those that deal in plants like i do, there is a very tangible threshold that can be felt between zones 7 and 8.

zone 8 begins to mingle with some tropical vibes and new realms of plants carry with them more than the experimental.

avacado, loquat, and calamandine. olive and pomegranate will appreciate the drier weather that seems to be coupled with warmer average temperatures.

they are quite different, and so across time we will witness a rapidly changing ecology.

by the time i am permanently hunched over and aged with rooted feet and tendrils of gray wispy antennae, will i live in zone 9?

i recall my father-in-law (bless you dear Edwin) telling me about how much colder the winters were when he was a child. big snows were typical.

this shift - or i should say, the documentation of this shift - is going to bring some changes to the way that i function in terms of my relationship to plants and place. no way around that.

and of course, these changes will be reflected in the nursery's efforts and offerings.

one aspect of this work that i will be giving more attention to is the assisted migration of more warm weather adapted species and genetics into my area.

i also hope to renew my work in locating populations of endangered native plant species.

my motivation would be to propagate and breed plant species/populations that are already stressed and may further succumb to drier/warmer seasonalities.

over the next few decades the oak-hickory forests we have here where i live will likely replace the mixed-mesophytic forests that you see in the high mountains west of here.

it would not surprise me to see the northern red oak go extinct in this area, in my lifetime.

one of the ways i am dealing with the grief of a changing climate is by finding ways to be creative and address these changes within a framework i have already created: my love of plants.

so tell me, has your zone changed? how does the changing of your zone change you and how you work with plants? if you have grief, how are you articulating it? what do you have to share?

image: marbled orb weaver, sunning itself in the grass by the pond, Nov. 5, 2023.

for some, i offer this as a reminder.

for others, a suggestion.

and others... an instigation, perhaps?

i hope to aid you in weaving an ecology that holds you well. your land-space should feel like a cared-for basket.

if you are local-ish, you may be able to meet me at your nearest sprawling urban compulsion.

i will be delivering orders of plants, cuttings, and seed to three locations before Winter Solstice.

these are, in order of appearance:

Asheville, North Carolina
Sunday, December 3, 1pm to 2pm
Dr. George Washington Carver Edible Park

Greenville, South Carolina
Sunday, December 10, 1pm to 2pm
Conastee Nature Preserve

Charlotte, North Carolina
Saturday, December 16, 1pm to 2pm
Reedy Creek Nature Center

see image and comments for more details.

bless y'all. 🌳

hey, it's a promotional image i created one year ago.

i just added black walnut seed (Big Sylva) and red buckeye seed to the online inventory.

also, melonberry!

working on a newsletter with some announcements.

it should hit yall's inbox in a couple days.

blessed Samhain. 💚 💫 💚

not very long ago Meissa and i made some hickory nut broth.

you may have heard it called hickory nut milk.

or if you are lucky, kanuchi.

cracking nuts, stone and stump.

i now offer seed of southern crabapple, Dolgo crabapple, black gum, northern spice bush.

and there are new-to-the-nursery seed selections for Chinese chestnut and American persimmon.

lastly, there are bare root tea Camellia and Heritage red raspberry, though not many remain.

bless y'all.

(see comments for more details on this post)

greetings y'all.

a little over a week ago i created a post to gauge interest and receive feedback about the creation of more structured engagement with me and the work that i do.

long sentence, that one.

anyway, as it goes, probably due to some language i used, that post was very limited in how much it was actually seen.

so, i want to try something else.

(see comments for a previous post that detailed this structured engagement)

i would really appreciate any feedback.

picture: for the calming effect.

thank you for being here.

hello and good day.

a quick update for y'all.

last week i visited the local bur oak grove. pictured here are the acorns i call 'Mega" bur oak.

for those that do not know, these come from a single tree, and it is not rare for these acorns to hit 40 grams.

with the recent rain and windy weather here, there has been a good deal of acorn drop, and so i recently gathered a good deal more "Mega" bur oak acorns.

my daughter Meissa and i offered our acknowledgements and prayers of gratitude for Mother bur oak's gifts.

we buried a bunch of my beard hair beneath the canopy.

what i offer as seed of this bur oak moves quickly, and these went AWOL for awhile. this is no longer the case.

also, i have recently been working on getting more seed offerings online, as well as some bare root items that have yet to be added to the inventory.

computer work takes me a lot of time because i generally have to work it out in chunks.

once i get this flush of items listed online i intend to send out a newsletter, which will cover all new additions as well as dates for upcoming deliveries to the Asheville, NC and Greenville, SC areas.

whew.

soon: expect to see seed of southern crabapple, Dolgo crabapple, black gum, northern spicebush, and more. bare root plants you can expect to see are tea Camellia (cold hardy) and "Heritage" red raspberry.

thank you for reading.

stay tuned.

bless y'all.

gathering the last of the butternut seed today.

these will be grown out as trees to offer a year from now.

planting nut trees can be an act of giving to future generations, and it can be a move of ecological integrity.

hundreds of years worth of reliable, abundant, nutrient-dense food.

many of us talk about how challenging it is to get to the nutmeat of, for example, black walnut.

there is a good chance that the challenge is not in actually getting the nutmeat out. that part is not that difficult for most of us.

the challenge is multi-faceted and, in my opinion, a great deal of it is based in psyche and neurology.

it is more likely to be about crafting your patience, altering your relationship to time, and making decisions that better support your ecology.

there are those of us in the world today who are participating in these practices, cultivating something that is being driven out.

i experience the planting of trees in the present as a tethering to the past, as well as a connection to the future.

see, i am a fulcrum.

and this future will be better prepared to live in the value of a shellbark hickory, to have a conversation with a black walnut.

if you want to plant some nut trees the nursery has the following bare root seedlings available.

black walnut (East Road and Big Sylva selections)
butternut/white walnut
American hazelnut (Feralwood selection)
kingnut/shellbark hickory
shagbark hickory (seedlings of cultivars)
Japanese walnut/heartnut (seedlings of cultivars)
American chestnut (Rocky Hill #5 selection)
Chinese chestnut (Red Feather and Feralwood selections)
hybrid chestnut (American x Chinese timber form, Chinese chinkapin hybrid timber form)
pecan hickory (Northern hardy cultivar seedlings)
bur oak (mega acorn selection)
overcup oak

i am here for any questions.

thank you for your support.

and thank you for being here.

greetings everyone.

and bless y'all.

i come seeking feedback concerning the potential creation of new ways to engage me and the work that i do.

let's begin by looking back a bit.

prior to Covid i did quite a bit of in-person teaching and facilitating. most of my offerings were held at Ardea, the place where i dwell.

workshops and events i led were primarily centered around gathering and processing wild foods, ecology and nature awareness, plant and mushroom identification, permaculture, plant propagation, indigenous food plants, and so on.

the few years leading up to Covid, i was increasingly branching out, offering my services as a teacher in differing locations, including conferences.

then Covid came and all that was set down to rest.

among other challenges my family and i were immersed in at the time, there rose a great new one. we suddenly had to greatly change our business model.

and so the shapeshifting began.

from a financial perspective, the nursery became a much greater focus of my energies.

and here we are.

at this time we are not yet prepared here at Ardea to begin hosting people for in-person workshops and events, though that day will come.

having said that, i get a lot of questions from people. and i long for engaging about what i know and have learned in this work over the past two decades.

at the same time, it is very challenging for me to engage the scattered facebook comments and emails, and so fulfilling engagement and a genuine sense of community cannot be fostered well.

said another way: facebook doesn't want to foster that, and so it is up to us.

when Covid hit and most formats for engaging people moved online, i scoffed and wandered off into a smaller world.

well, that world feels a bit too small lately. i need more connections. and i think our ecologies do too.

i have been mulling over how to offer myself online through some means, while creating a sense of community with like-minded people across time.

right now some ideas that i have are a discord group where we can chat and share information. i could offer some mentoring in this space. seasonal lifeway stuff.

a group off of facebook would be my direction, and discord is a great space for that.

i could establish more in-depth mentoring over Zoom and have regular Zoom sessions, Q and A style.

these offerings could be organized and established through a Patreon subscription, with offerings of some sort beginning in the range of 5 to 10 bucks a month.

engagement in this community could include sharing of seed and plant material, as well as mentoring in the process of plant propagation, foraging, and other homesteading and lifeway skills.

is this something that would interest you? would you want to engage in something like this regularly?

it is important to note that the lens with which my knowledge would be shared is one that includes spiritual ecology, animism, inclusivity, and the development of and devotion to self-awareness.

no tolerance for fascists.

on that note: the attached image is of a flower that my daughter Meissa handed to me recently.

she has a striking ability to remind me of all the beauty there is to behold here in this life.

thank y'all for being here.

knee-deep in the season of seed.

gathering ecologies of memory.

tending them in preparation for being sung into the world.

some seed offerings have been made available to y'all.

such as bear's foot, pawpaw, American persimmon, Chinese chestnut, wild plum, common milkweed, bur oak.

(see comments for more details)

bless y'all.

here they come!

last year i stumbled across a planting of 18~ bur oak.

it was an intense moment.

as someone intimately curious, well-navigated, and 45 years old, i do not get many unexpected moments of ecstatic discovery these days.

this incidental stumbling became a moment encapsulated in my body. me and this patch of bur oak, we got some somatic sh*t going on.

and for the rest of my mobile days, i expect to make an annual pilgrimage here to gather acorns.

i will leave offerings.

one bur oak in this planting is particularly generous: acorns weighing between 30 and 40 grams each.

this is her.

this is the mother of the bur oak trees i offer through the nursery.

and she is at it again.

she takes my breath away.

i have been wooed, you see.

so very, very wooed.

doing a little promo work the other day. 😉

Feralwood Nursery — ARDEA LAND PROJECT Feralwood nursery is a bare-root nursery specializing in wild foods, perennial vegetables, permaculture plants, wildlife plants, and native plants of the eastern US.