Food Forests

are magical. They are systems that take on a life of their own and require minimal maintenance after planting. Before we ever started at The Shire, I started a permaculture design company called Regenerative Landscaping. Our house was the first and only Illinois house to be featured in the St. Louis Sustainable Backyard Tour. In our small Fairview Heights backyard, we raised ducks, chicken, and bees. We also planted about 40 feet of blackberries and 20+ fruit trees. When we had a chance to move closer to The Shire, we were so sorry to leave our yard behind.

This year, we have big plans to start planting an even larger food forest at the Shire. We are planting a 1/5 acre food forest to act as a nursery for filling the rest of The Shire. We are putting in 8 apple trees (Liberty, Golden Delicious, and Granny Smith), 4 pears (Elberta and Early Elberta), and 3 cherry trees(Montmorency, Bing, and Rainier). In addition to that, we are planting 120 blackberry plants that will stretch for 350 feet.

We are excited to see them grow and start producing food for our community!