A Bit of Background

I live in a working class community in northern Vermont. Back in June 2021, I was able to secure a mortgage for a small house on 0.34 acres. The front yard has a beautiful silver maple, the namesake of this farmstead, which keeps the front yard cool and green. However, the rest of the yard was sun-baked, sandy grass. This project began as a few strips of garden, growing a few bush beans, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, and assorted greens. With large additions of compost and hardy perennials, no-till/no-dig practices, and time, that condition has changed.

My initial motivation came from watching market gardeners on YouTube, but the rabbit hole quickly took me to the world of Permaculture. I became enamored and decided that was my future. Fortunately, after living in New Mexico and then New Zealand, for a time, I was introduced to agrecology, the true revolutionary system with deep historical roots. I suspect that anyone who does their homework will realize that Permaculture is a knock-off that has monetized traditional practices. With that said, I am grateful to Permaculture for opening my eyes to practices beyond monocropping and market gardening. For those that find themselves on a similar journey, I strongly suggest that you check out La Via Campesina and familiarize yourself with food sovereignty.

Since the days of my initial garden, I have slowly turned the quarter-acre backyard into a diverse landscape that contains fruit trees, berry bushes, nut trees, nut bushes, and an assortment of annuals from which I collect seeds. Entering my fifth growing season, some of these plants will be reaching an exciting level of maturity. While I am still learning, and suspect that will never stop, I envision this Substack as a place to pay it forward. I am the grower I am today because of all the free content out there and so this is my chance to share the agroecological practices I have utilized for the cold northern climate of Vermont. The old USDA maps designate this location as Zone 3b (we had five days of -34 F a couple years back), but the updated maps now say Zone 4b. Either way, it gets cold. But many things survive and thrive here. I will post successes and failures along the way in the hopes that you find helpful nuggets along the way. Thanks for joining me on this journey!