guildfordcycads

This is probably a frequently asked question here. But… I need help. My parents recently bought a 10 acre farm for their retirement. They have expressed planting nut and fruit trees, having a garden, raising animals. Basically the whole farm life experience.They want to set up a sustainable piece of land for the generations to come. So I mentioned to them the concept of permaculture. But the thing is, I have a very limited understanding of it, and they have only what I’ve mentioned. So I want to set them on the right course and help make their dream come true.

The land definitely needs increased water retention. There is a pond and my dad is planning on redirecting the water off the barn to it (to keep water levels up). The house sits in the middle of the property and everything slopes away from it.

Which of the many books out there would help the most/ be a good to help them understand their land and how and where to plant their nut/ fruit trees?? Or how to work the land (terracing/swales??)

I’ve got some bananas that started to fruit, but it looks like only the first stage came out. The others look like they’re molding or rotting away. I’d be thankful for any and all thoughts on why this is happening.

I believe they’ve gotten ample water and nutrition, but could be wrong.

Here’s my context. I live in rural Haiti working on land restoration. It’s very hard to import anything. Right now it means bringing it in on a bus through the Dominican Republic then crossing some of Haiti on motorbikes and finally hiking half an hour. Nonetheless, given our project we want a fork that someone can bring in next time they’re coming in from US, which we actually do fairly often. To make transport easier we would plan to remove any wooden handle and replace that here.

What we need it for is loosening compacted soil, starting new beds, digging up root veggies, aerating soil, and turning compost. So far we’ve made do with shovels but the aerating is not so easy with a shovel which makes me lean toward a broad fork. That said, if we get a more general fork, I’m sure it will be used a lot.

Any suggestions? We could possibly have one welded out of rebar but I suspect that would suck and not hold up well. Our experience with welders here has been quite frustrating so far.