pendragon orchard and vine

They understood that certain transformations only happen slowly, in the cold. That winter isn’t an obstacle but a collaborator. That time itself is a tool, if you know how to wield it. Most modern people try to fight winter. Japan fermented it.

Every olive carries history in its roots — Athens crowned with Athena’s gift, Noah reading the branch as landfall, empires rising and falling while the trees still bore fruit. To plant one here is to graft that long memory into Northwest soil, a wager that what endured for millennia might endure again.

Chestnuts aren’t just nut trees — they’re living inheritance. From ancient groves in Italy still feeding families after 500 years to young orchards rising in the Northwest, these trees promise shade, food, and continuity long after we’re gone. Plant a pair today and you’re building more than a food forest — you’re building generational wealth.

Hazelnut (filbert) is a top permaculture design species: storable calories, oil, mulch, fencing, habitat, and a living screen—all from one resilient shrub.

I love vegetables. I love to eat them. I’ve eaten them on porches and back steps, under summer light and winter cloud. I’ve pulled them from soil I amended by hand. I’ve bent to weed them in heat that wrung the salt from my skin. And still—I don’t grow annuals. Mix of annual and perennial vegetables in the OCS garden. Zone 8b. Pacific Northwest gardening at its best. As a permaculture designer, I’m often asked to build out classic vegetable beds for clients. And I do, becaus