Our Nursery
Our nursery is probably not what you would expect. We live and work here. This is a small family run operation. The nursery is right next to our vegetable garden and below the chicken yard. We're growing almost all of our plants in deeply enriched beds, and a few in pots. There are piles of wood chips and compost, kids toys, a swing set, dog poop, and sheds in various stages of construction.
Organic, natural, funky, whatever you want to call it, our nursery beds are real. They are made of living soils, that we feed and feed. The soil is so deep and friable in our beds at this point that I can pull burdock roots out without a tool. The soil is nourished and protected, and built up constantly. There is no runoff or volatilization. We can fit high densities of trees in a small space because it is so taken care of. The roots of our trees are so fibrous and beautiful, that we often gasp and admire each one as we carefully dig them up for transplant or sale.
Sadly, our nursery, along with a handful of others, is strange. It does not fit in with the typical model of how edible and ornamental plants are raised.
Many people have woken up to the horrors of industrial agriculture and see it for what it is: a destructive and poisonous process. The nursery industry is often one of the most environmentally damaging. In almost all nurseries you can find rampant use of synthetic fertilizers, insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, and excessive use of plastic and peat moss. Plants are hopped up on high doses of nitrogen to make them look vigorous while their roots are often crammed into a circular pot filled with peat moss and chemicals. This is often ignored because we are not directly eating the plants grown in nurseries. However, our streams, aquifers, soils, and wildlife bear the burden of our disregard.
At Twisted Tree our trees and plants are grown from a place of reverence for nature. Our soils are fed rich compost made from rotting leaves, wood chips, manure, and food scraps. Our fertilizers are made from fish, compost tea, and manure. Weed control is achieved through a thick mulch of wood chips and hand pulling.
Because our trees are grown in a living, vibrant soil, their roots are often coated with mycellium when we dig them up for transplanting.
We are proud of the healthy, respected, naturally grown trees that we offer to the community and to the land around us.