Tour of a Small Backyard Food Forest 

This was helpful. Here in NE Indiana, I'm connecting 3 young fruit guilds into a food forest strip. Been trying to figure out how close to plant our herbs and veggies to fruit trees and bushes. Thank you.

Great topic, tour and explanations! Thank you!

Saw one gardener who loves squash so on his small property he placed fencing panels up one side of his shed so the squashes could climb and sit and ripen on the shed roof to save space.

My backyard is 20’x30’ (1/3 in shade) and I grow a ton of food. Oh, and I’m in zone 3.

We just moved out on 40acres with a creek we are trying to start our own eden. Thank you for your inspiration

You are so correct! Anyone can get lots of food out of a small area. Potatoes, tomatoes,peppers, green beans, peas, carrots and so much more!!! You should look up David the Good's book ---Grocery row gardening. You can scale your food forest in to small spaces and have fruit trees and your annuals in one space. Listen and learn, there are ways to do it!! Just try now and get your food forest growing. I'm 70 years old and learn something new every day. Just get out and listen, learn and give it a try. For the first time ever there are chickens in our back yard. Nine lovely ladies that provide about 7 eggs a day. We are giving eggs away and they are eating the cucumbers I didn't have time to pickle and making compost. God bless y'all and get growing!!!

This is a great video and reminded me of growing up, well as in that we were renters and my mama always grew her tomatoes in 5 gal paint buckets and whatever else she wanted. We took those buckets with us every time we moved. 😊 Thanks for taking the time to share and God bless!

It’s amazing what you can grow in a small area. I’m expanding my food forest to double the size this fall

Keep up the good work not only what you are doing for yourself but what yoh do for others we appreciate you brother

Looks awesome! Our food forest is growing all the time, and we wouldn't have it if we hadn't found you as a teacher.

You are wearing some baggy clothes there Billy👏👏👏👏

Awesome! Thanks for the encouragement. I have about 800 sq ft to work with.

This year i decided to start my own food forest/ nursery type thing, two days later, i got notice that i had to leave my country property because the landlord wanted to move back into the house I had been renting... Now im on a postage stamp in a small town. Had a good container garden still until winter hit, now im praying that I can successfully overwinter my dozens of trees, bushes, strawberries, etc. all in containers still. Got some raspberries and gooseberries planted in ground, hoping they make it. Come spring Im either doing what i can to get things in ground and get established, or figuring something else out...

most people do not want to go through this, they rather go to the supermarket and get their pretty genetic fruit and veggies.

I AM running sweet potatoes in my postage stamp front yard food forest - peanuts, too (but those aren't even the biggest calorie producer there)

Food Forest looking spectacular Billy😊

In my old yard, I had a garden that was 10x6 feet, 60 square feet. In that 60 square feet, I grew multiple peppers, tomatoes, spinich, lettuce, cantalope, strawberries, pease, beans, and a few various other non food plants. Size is not a limitation when growing food.

We started out just planting trees & a set garden area. Now we've got comfrey everywhere & supportive smaller plants growing under those trees & realized it doesn't have to be a perfect row or set area just grow what you can where you can. Blessed to have found you & many other homestead channels. Thanks, Billy, Michelle, & William

You can also add the mushrooms that are not eatable to your compost pile I add at least 5 5 gal. buckets to my compost every year. every time it rains they pop up in a wooded area I have that I covered with wood chips.

If anyone is feeling like their backyard isnt big enough or that where they live is "too city" check out the book"Paradise Lot" about the permaculture project of the same name run by Eric Toensmeier and Jonathan Bates They took 1/10th of an acre of crappy soil in an impoverished and socially unwell urban shithole in Massachusetts, and turned it into a ridiculously productive permaculture paradise, including 4 season passive solar greenhouses and aquaponics. The get several hundred pounds of produce out of what was a scraggly sandy postage stamp lot. Their work is awe inspiring, and I highly recommend checking them out.

I moved from a small backyard to 4 acres. This is all great advice. My land was heavily farmed and then planted in pines. When we got here it was thick briars. Clearing it all by hand and planting. Getting rid of the briars and weeds is tough. Any advice? Love your channel and your podcast, never miss an episode! Tip a PIMP!

I'm on half acre myself I'm making it work out for me . I might have over did it on tomatoes this year 😅

great video topic series for elderly, disabled, small space, children's garden, too many hrs not home cause working full time, options are so versatile.

So cool! Thank you for that! Just so you know in some cases the HOA doesn't let you plant whatever you want which sucks. I don't like hoa to tell me what I can plant or not on my property.❤🤗❤️

Blessings! Very good video.

Thank you!!

Love the 18 day compost. I do pretty small ones compared to yalls. I have extra now. How do I store it? Just in a pile covered up? Garbage can wiyj or without whole? Thank y'all for instructions. Blessings, julie

"HEAVENS TO MURGER TROID"!!!!!!! I'm sitting here watching you with my best friend who is Lumbee....she said " My my!!!! I haven't heard that in a while!" He must be Lumbee! Lol "or know my people"

Black Locust flowers are edible. They are the most sublime of springtime edibles.

I just wish the birds would leave something for me! 😂

As always you showed us that systems work when you look thru the proper lenses. I have never seen this in 20 X 50 lenses. Great job sir.

really great demonstration plot and love the honesty about yields. The expression on your face at the end says it all. contentment

Were you filming in my backyard? LOL

Great video, Billy! I've got acreage, but I've also got a few small wooded areas that I could convert into food forest "zones". Thanks for the inspiration and ideas!

Great video

I love it!! I hurt myself this spring and thought I’d have no garden but the potatoes and tomatoes volunteered all on their own, garlic I forgot I’d planted popped up!, the apples we planted last year are producing, the berries from last year are producing, a tree I kept trying to kill turned out to be a red mulberry😂, got some rhubarb…. It’s been really good. I just* planted my beets near the end of July and am praying for some heat and sun to bring them to an ok size here in Canada.

in small gardens you also have the option of training fruit trees and edible climbers (such as kiwi, squash, beans ) on walls and trellis , lot of tubers have climbing stems , apios , dioscorea yams , mashua , etc

What do you do with rabbits? They just ate every single strawberry that was forming on my strawberry ground cover. It is the 2nd flush of the everbearing variety. Dang it!

I love this! I'm doing this and you've given me even more ideas for our food forest! Thanks Billy!

Do you do anything to acidify the area for the blueberries.

Great awesome job keep up the great work thank you for sharing this knowlege more people need to be doing this!

how do you harvest stuff without stepping on your strawberries? Can I add a path through my food forest? lol

What about a 4 season harvest? Species which have harvest times in each of the four seasons.

My backyard is mostly shaded. Not sure what will grow back there. I have a hard time being allowed to plant things in our front yard.

Food not lawns

Have you ever thought about agrivoltaics? Solar and farming

@billy Can you recommend some books or programs to get more into food forests.

In tiny back yards, shade is often a big problem.

What is black locust good for?❤

How did you initially prepare that area or did you just start planting in native environment?

Opposite problem. I can't keep up by myself. 😭

not being sarcastic : what if the owners of the land don’t want me to plant trees in the ground?🙏👍🌻

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Plant exterior peremeter with 4 ft deep bed of things deer and insects don't like!

Food forest 🙄. Give me a break