With the hogs out of their little pasture and a freezer full of meat, that area will be in retirement for at least a year, possibly more. I've got another area that is overgrown and could use some work done on it... good job for pigs, goats, sheep.... we'll see.
The paddock the hogs worked over this summer is ready for some attention and I've put together a plan to plant it out for future foraging once it gets established. The idea is adding two rows of plants, on the contour where it is steeper and along the fencerow where flatter and with less canopy coverage.
Nut producing trees will be in one row (oak, hickory, pecan, chestnut when I can get them) 12 ft. apart, currants planted in between 2' apart, and one grape trelised to each nut tree.
The other row will be fruit trees (apple, pear, plum) 24' apart, hazelnuts in between 4' apart, and a grape vine trelised to each fruit tree. Rasperries will be planted 2 ft. apart outside of this row. I might swing the row of fruit trees to align with the contour if I can find time to open the canopy there and assess what trees already exist beneficially (for forage or for fire). I like having the bigger alley in between, sort of triangle shaped, to string a moveable hot wire in between to manage foraging. It's such a small paddock, though, I don't know if it matters.
Any thoughts?
"Knowledge is power. Arm yourself."