pendragon orchard and vine

Before sunrise, I walk the wind-cut rows of my winter garden on Orcas, gathering lettuce, kale, and collards for breakfast. As frost clings to the leaves, I’m reminded of my grandfather’s wartime garden—how his acre kept neighbors alive when winter meant scarcity, not inconvenience. That memory becomes a doorway into older worlds where people survived the cold without refrigerators, grocery stores, or modern rescue.

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.

Why Aronia (Chokeberry) Is the Shrub That Crushes Blueberries in Nutrition, Resilience, and Design

Russian comfrey isn’t a crop you grow and forget — it’s a permanent fixture in the food forest. The sterile Bocking 14 hybrid won’t spread by seed, but once rooted it becomes a long-term nutrient engine, pulling minerals from deep in the soil and cycling them into leaves you can cut again and again. We plant it around fruit trees not only for its mulch and pollinator blooms, but also as a living barrier that keeps out runner grasses.