Planting Our Dream: The Beginning of Our Food Forest.
After months of earthworks, building terraces, and transforming walls into art, the front part of our property was finally ready for planting.
We wanted to bring beauty and nature to Casa Alegria, dreaming of our own Eden filled with fruits, vegetables, and honey.
Our first fruit trees were ceremoniously planted: 2 mangas, 2 sweet cherries, 2 sour cherries, 3 different kaki trees, a pomegranate, a guava, and a few other varieties.
Dozens of lavender plants were also planted closer to the terrace edges, ready to welcome the bees we planned to have.
Back then, we followed the conventional orchard pattern, leaving large distances between the trees and using anti-weed mats – choices we now laugh at, given our current permaculture wisdom.
The soil was so hard that we had to call in Damián from the village.
Armed with his trusty mini digger, he created the perfect spots for our trees. I’d marked the locations the day before, and he efficiently dug big holes at each marker.
However, not all went smoothly.
While digging, we discovered that Drew’s crew had buried some building debris.
We had to clear out the rubbish to ensure our trees had healthy soil to grow in.
David, our organic gardener, and I worked side by side, filling the holes with good soil and compost (and crystals, for good energy) before planting and watering the trees.
I remember watering them for the first time, wishing them good luck with all my heart.
The planting was completed on June 18, 2016.
Two days later, we captured aerial shots with a drone to commemorate the birth of our food forest, though at that time, we knew nothing about permaculture or food forests.
We were simply planting our dream, one tree at a time.
