Late Fall - Tree Seed Bed and Second Pond

I took a few days in early November to head-up to the farm to get the seedbed installed. I have 100 hazelnuts seeds from a variety found in Saskatchewan, 100 burr oak seeds (acorns) from a selected variety first found in the US in the early 20th Century, 100 red oak seeds from High Park, and a few hundred butternuts, and black walnuts that I had collected throughout the GTA. For the last few months, I've had scrap material solarizing the grass.  This worked very well, and the soil was bare and would have been easy to work, were it not pure mud.

In the pictures I've covered the seedbeds with fine mesh, to hopefully keep away the voles and rodents (who want to eat the seeds).  It doesn't look like much, but hopefully next spring we will see some life.

I also ended up digging a second pond and some drainage ditches, to hopefully relieve water-build up in an area of the food forest just before the pond.

 

I also dug and spread gravel and stones, on top of roughly laid construction paper (as sheet mulch -- but did a shoddy job), so effect will be questionable to acts as the main outflow for the fond. This should hopefully slow down the water, and prevent erosion in the spring. I have also planted three species of willow at the base of the outflow to stabilize the slope and be useful in the myriad ways willow is.

 
It is curious to see plants still flowering in early November, while the rest of the ecosystem prepares for the deep sleep of winter.