I love planting my Fellowship Forest and one of the things Romain and I are doing this week is planting all the trees we have been growing and accumulating over the summer. My favourite Fellowship Forest is right down the back. It is too far for a hose to reach and young trees need lots of water so we fill the bucket of the tractor with water from the hose by the house and sometimes add a measure of fish fertiliser, then drive it down the back (very slowly so as not to spill the water) and then one person drives along the trees while the other walks, bucketing the water out for the trees. 
They also need to be mulched and have protection from the rabbits in preparation for the winter.
This Autumn we are planting Hedge Apples, Maples, Oaks and Mulberries.
Here is a collection of oaks and mulberries heeled into a bucket of potting mix awaiting their planting day. Many will go into the Fellowship Forest and into the three or four jungle areas that I am planting closer to the house. I love my jungles – I want them to eventually be impenetrable, dark and mysterious. The next generation of visitors or dwellers here should have a good source of shade and wood and wild native fruits. And the birds and butterflies and wildlife have a source of food as well. The secret to a jungle is to plant natives – or at least trees that want to grow in your area.
They are called the Fellowship Forests because many of you do not have enough land to plant trees in so I am planting them for you. 
Last year I planted piles of black walnuts – they love to grow around here and the pigs LOVE the nuts, shell and all.
Also I fly a lot during the winter so planting trees every year is my way of helping to compensate for my flying carbon footprint.
Sheila. See that white chicken in the background – she is frequently seen sitting on or standing on Sheila’s back. Sheila is unperturbed by her bird. They share her meals through out the day. I have yet to get a photo of the chook riding the pig but it makes me smile every time. 
I have a smoker cat.
And Devil cattle.
Oh and one buyer has put his name on all 10 of the piglets. He comes well recommended. So that is a relief. They will be leaving in a few weeks. So fingers still crossed that the sale goes through but it is a good beginning.
I still think Poppy is quite small for this stage of her gestation so she may not have many piglets at all which would be a relief. Her piglets are very active. She is still so busy, her jumping up and down terrifies me – I hope she settles. She did well last time.
I hope you have a lovely day.
Love celi
All 10 piglets are sold though it will take a few weeks for the man to come down and collect them. He has good references so fingers crossed.
The Kitchen's Garden 
56 responses to “The next generation”
Kim’s mulberry! If it isn’t claimed already. Yay for the sale of the piglets!
I love fresh wet walnuts – my farmer has some in season and for sale right now 🙂
Awesome, or as my grandson says, AweThome!!!! I wish I could visit and help out. You are doing wonderful :))) Jen
So glad to hear of the piglet sale! Black walnuts are the best. Shells are great for natural dyeing!
Some relief coming. Odd to water when you have nothing but water all summer – but so it goes. Love the big bucket to little bucket imagery. I absolutely love mulberry trees and black walnut ice cream or black walnut pie are my fathers favorite deserts. The wood also makes beautiful furniture if one falls.
Smoker Cat – He/she needs a nice velvet jacket! And Sheila and her hen! That would make a great Tee if you can get a photo.
Fresh walnutSpanish, yum…we missed ours in Spain by leaving before they were ready! What a very elegant smoker cat, I agree it needs a silk dressing gown and some velvet slippers!
Looks of total innocence under those budding horns 🙂 Your underground water table level must be pretty close to the surface after all the rain you have had this summer. Laura
We used to live at the top of a hill in one of our previous towns. The street went about 5 blocks down toward the river. Our walnut trees were prolific. Our young son and I enjoyed gathering them in his wagon, then rolling them down the street.
In Kentucky where I’m from, black walnuts are treasures. People run over them in their driveways to hull them, then dry them in baskets a few weeks & crack them in November in time for a Thanksgiving favorite, boiled sweet potatoes whipped with cream, butter, bourbon or sherry & black walnuts. Other treats are black walnut pound cake & Kentucky Colonels, a pulled brown sugar cream candy topped with the best half piece of a black walnut you can pick out of its hard hard shell. Edna Lewis’ cookbook The Pursuit of Flavor has the pound cake recipe. That & black walnut ice cream (mentioned by Pat) are just the very best sweet tastes of autumn.
Super news about the 10 piglets sold! And love that the Fellowship Forest is growing and expanding. I didn’t know that pigs love black walnuts. Do they just chew right through the green husks and then through the very hard shells? We have so many here I must rake them up each fall. Now, for sure, I’ll be throwing them to the pigs! 🙂
Throw in the lot – husk, shell and walnut, it gives them something to do – I can hear them cracking through the shells from up here! great source of protein too..
Walnut flavoured pigs. How is that for a selling idea?? You could start a fashion>
Very Spanish – they have the best ham with animals fed on walnuts and chestnuts and acorns.. c
I have the regular walnuts in my garden. Do black ones taste any different or is it just the colour?
I love the regular ones much more – black ones are a very different taste – c
Black walnuts need to ripen before you eat them or they will bring up sores in your mouth. They are very different, just as Celi said, a strong earthy taste and generally you would not eat them to snack on, as you would English Walnuts. My mother used them in baked goods because they added so much flavour.
Very interesting. I had no idea. Thanks.
So happy about piglets! And I know you planted a bush for my Arthur.
Yes, Arthur has a weeping mulberry right by my bedroom window actually.
crossed fingers and congrats on the piglet sale, and its always wonderful to plant more trees and bushes
Yes – I will actually believe it when I see it but they say this man is dependable – just not quite ready for his big winter crew yet. c
How wonderful that all the piggies are spoken for! And your tree planting and watering is brilliant! Have a lovely day!