Edible Forest Tour 9:30 AM

The first tours of the Edible Forest for the 2021 season will be available Saturday, June 12.  

• A morning tour, from 9:30 to about 11 am, will cover mostly fruit trees (outer loop).  
• An afternoon tour, from 1:30 until 2:30 or 3 pm, will cover mostly fruiting shrubs (berries) in the inner loop.  

We will walk through the orchard and discuss traits and care of the various kinds of plants.  

For ease of discussion, the groups will be limited to about 15 people.  To participate, contact Jim Walla at Northerntrees@outlook.com.

The Edible Forest is a demonstration orchard started in 2019 at Yunker Farm in north Fargo. It is a project of the Northern Plains Botanic Garden Society (NPBGS). Its intent is two-fold. 

First, it will show the range of potential kinds of fruits and nuts that can be grown in our region. That is much more than you might think (see descriptions at f427fb_73df2bdab4e04d9197af1cee937019b4.pdf (filesusr.com). 

Second, it will allow people to learn about the traits of each kind of plant and some of the specific care that will allow each to thrive and be most productive. 

The Edible Forest includes many of the usual types of fruit trees and shrubs, e.g., apples and raspberries. It also includes a number of fruit and nut trees that are much less commonly grown in our region, e.g., mulberries, shipova, hickory, seedless table grapes, and hazelnuts. After their first full growing season in the orchard in 2020, the plants are developing nicely.  There is no ripe fruit to sample yet – that’s still to come.

Tours will be held at least monthly from now into fall, depending on interest.  Some will be on Saturdays and some during the week.  Special tours for groups can be arranged.