Fruit to Nuts: Raising Cane Ranch’s Food Forest
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Tucked towards the back of Raising Cane Ranch, beyond their farm stand and Highland cows, you’ll find a food forest filled with chestnut, walnut, and hazelnut trees, black currants, evergreen huckleberries, and aronia berries.
“It’s one of the most peaceful places on the property,” says farm owner, Nick Pate. “I just love working out there.”
Everything growing in the food forest brings something different to the table for Nick’s customers and his family.
“When the hazelnuts fall on the ground, harvesting is kind of like an Easter egg hunt,” says Nick. “They taste nutty and sweet and if you lightly roast them, they’re amazing. When you get a really good one, your senses just light up.”
The black currants are particularly beloved by people from the Slavic community who come to pick them each summer. While many Americans aren’t familiar with these tart, earthy-tasting berries, they are prized in Europe for their antioxidants and the unique flavor they bring to jams, pies, tea, cocktails, and even savory dishes.
Nick’s daughter is probably the biggest fan of his evergreen huckleberries which, though tiny, pack a lot of flavor. And his aronia berries reach a niche market of people who know about the health benefits of this superfood, and how to process them.
Since Nick planted the food forest in 2016, his chestnut trees have just started producing. His walnuts will need a little more time, but he is looking forward to harvesting those within the next couple of years.
Making an Agroforestry Development Plan
Before becoming a food forest, this one-acre section of Nick’s property was just a hayfield, and essentially a blank slate. Unlike forest farming, which uses existing forests to grow crops, a food forest is intentionally planned and grown to mimic a forest ecosystem.
Nick worked with Snohomish Conservation District’s Agroforester, Carrie Brausieck to come up with a plan and select varieties that would be marketable. Figuring out how to work around wet spots was a major consideration since the area is only about four to eight feet above sea level.
“I watched for about a year and started flagging puddles,” explained Nick. “I knew the chestnuts needed to be planted on higher ground since they don’t like to get their feet wet, and that the currant and hazelnut could handle the damp spots. I put the aronia in the really wet places since that’s where they’d grow naturally.”
Nick also grouped plants to make harvesting easier and planned ahead for mowing by spacing the rows based on the size of his equipment.
“I’ve done enough farming to know that the simpler you make maintenance, the better the long-term outcome,” he adds.
Gifts and Challenges of a Food Forest
Unlike a monoculture, food forests require farmers to be knowledgeable about more than one plant and to understand what each needs for moisture, sun, pH, nutrients, and pruning. But Nick considers this a healthy challenge, and sees one of the benefits.
“As a farmer, you can never count on specific weather conditions. A food forest can help you be more resilient. One set of environmental conditions one year might be bad for currants but wonderful for huckleberry or aronia berry. If one crop fails, you’re not screwed.”
Nick is also ready to continue learning and adapting as his food forest evolves over time.
“As my walnut trees grow, they're going to shade out the understory. Currants can handle a little bit less light but at some point it’s going to be a lot. We’re talking about decades but as that happens, I’ll have the opportunity to grow mushrooms or other plants that do better in shade conditions.”
Benefits to the Land and the Farmer
As someone with a degree in wildlife conservation and ecology, Nick has always prioritized stewardship in his farming and has worked with Snohomish Conservation District on other projects, including alley cropping and a native plant buffer that runs between the Snohomish River and his food forest. He realizes this work does not just benefit the environment, it also impacts his entire farm.
“When we came to this property, it was just grass from the yard to the river. Now there are 1,000 trees in the riparian area and about 600 trees and shrubs in the food forest. The amount of bird, bug, and animal life that’s come…it’s just tremendous. And with that comes the pollinators, pest control, and soil health that we value in farming, but often can’t quantify.”
Experiencing the Harvest
Raising Cane Ranch’s customers also benefit from the beauty and birdsong of the farm. Those who come for u-pick and walk the quarter mile along the pasture to the food forest don’t just end up harvesting nuts or berries, they harvest an experience. They also have a chance to connect with the land, which can be a rare opportunity, particularly for people coming from the city.
For those who grew up outside of the US, in countries where they were once able to gather foods that are unavailable here, harvesting something like black currant takes on an even greater significance.
“It’s not just about the berries alone,” says Nick. “You can feel that people are tapping into a tradition that they’ve had in the country where they came from and they’re proud of collecting their own food.”
How does it feel for a farmer to share these kinds of experiences with his customers?
“It’s a great thing,” says Nick. “It makes the body ache a little less.”
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