Paul Kruse and Heather Unger own Northern Grove which specializes in holistic tree services and permaculture design-consultation. But that barely scratches the surface of what this dynamic duo are all about. They are passionate about ecological restoration and regenerative agriculture as well as food production, soil health, and water management.
Unger is a human rights lawyer and Kruse is a mediator and conflict resolution trainer. They live on a 40-acre permaculture homestead near Birds Hill Park which I visited last week. “Permaculture has redefined our concept of stewardship and given us hope that people’s actions can actually help the earth,” says Unger. “That was the shift in our thinking and what led us to creating Northern Grove.”
Implementing water management systems is one of their main focuses so let’s begin there. “Right now, in both rural and urban areas, we have an interesting relationship with water,” says Kruse. “In springtime, all the snow melts, runs into our yards, and can cause flooding in basements. We have graded our urban yards so that the water flows off our streets as quickly as possible into storm drains and then into our lakes and rivers. But then in summer, we have drought conditions. How can we harvest water when it is plentiful so that it is available when we need it, and we don’t have to draw on the city’s water supply to water our lawns, trees, and gardens?”
Colleen Zacharias / Winnipeg Free Press Heather Unger and Paul Kruse, owners of Northern Grove Tree Service & Permaculture.
The same dynamic is at work in rural spaces, says Kruse. “In spring, we want to get water off fields as quickly as possible so that we can seed but then in summer, crops are stressed from lack of water.” Kruse and Unger have created two swales on their farm that capture water and slow down its movement so that it soaks into the subsoil, recharging it. This passive form of irrigation provides water all summer for the hundreds of fruit and nut trees and shrubs that Unger and Kruse have planted on berms along the swales. The first swale, which is 2000-feet long, extends into a field planted with a diverse hay crop as pasture. “This is a model that would be referred to as silvopasture where you have trees between paddocks for grazing different animals,” says Kruse. The second swale is even longer and catches excess water.
“Swales are an effective way to manage excess water on our rural property,” says Unger who recently supervised the installation of an irrigation swale at Awaken Herbs Farm, a farm-grown medicinal u-pick and CSA located near Thalberg.
Kruse and Unger also design water harvesting systems known as swale trails for urban properties. “A shallow trench is created on contour at the same elevation so that when water goes into the trench, it spreads evenly and then soaks into the ground and benefits your trees, lawn, and garden. A weeping tile is installed in the trench and covered with wood chips. Once it is installed, it is less maintenance for the homeowner, trees can thrive, there is less runoff going into our rivers during surge events, and the homeowner can save on their water bill.”
Recently, Kruse and Unger designed a swale trail for a client who lives in the Wolseley area and who is converting the entire front yard to a food forest. All the grass has been removed. “A swale trail, though, is a versatile technology,” says Unger, “and could just as well be used to edge a smaller portion of a yard such as a garden or flower bed if someone wanted to keep their lawn.”
Kruse and Unger also have a food forest but on a much bigger scale. They have planted 700 trees and shrubs including 500 hazelnuts (a large multi-stemmed shrub that will grow to 4.5 metres), 25 black walnut trees, 25 chestnut trees, 25 White Russian mulberry trees, 50 Sambucus canadensis elderberry shrubs, 50 Aronia melanocarpa shrubs, as well as some Pembina Plum trees. They sourced bare root stock from several different nurseries in Canada as well as the U.S.
Northern Grove Tree Service & Permaculture A 2000-ft swale at Northern Grove farm captures water that passively irrigates more than 700 recently planted trees and shrubs.
The hybrid hazelnuts were sourced from Forest Agriculture Nursery, an edible woody crops nursery in Wisconsin that offers cold climate seedlings.
“We have planted the hazelnuts densely, about 3 ft (0.1 m.) along the swale,” says Kruse. Eventually the hazelnuts will grow into a living fence. The hazelnuts have been planted in groups of 10 and interspersed with elderberry and mulberry. White Russian mulberry (Morus alba tatarica) is a Zone 4 plant which was first introduced to North America by Russian Mennonites in the late 1800s. It will be interesting to see how it grows in our cold climate. Unger says that so far, the mulberry plants are growing well.
“Hazelnuts are an exciting crop,” says Unger. “The hazelnuts we are growing are a hybrid of the European hazelnut for (larger) size, and beaked hazelnut and American hazelnut for hardiness and disease resistance. They will be delicious eaten fresh or roasted, but our plans also include making hazelnut oil and hazelnut flour. Hazelnuts are good for animals, too, such as pigs which love the protein and oil they contain.”
Although the nuts of Ohio Buckeye trees are not edible, they are a natural source of lathering substances called saponins. “We grind up the nuts and use them to make a zero-waste soap (hand soap, shampoo, laundry soap),” says Unger.
“We’re also experimenting with black walnut and chestnuts so that we are growing a diversity of species,” says Kruse. Increasing biodiversity is a key strategy in a changing climate but so is experimentation, say Kruse and Unger who grow very cold hardy plants that are Zone 2 but also plants that are Zone 4a or even Zone 4b. “We’re not afraid to push the limits of our hardiness zone so that whichever way things go, in terms of climate, we will have trees that survive,” says Unger.
Northern Grove Tree Service & Permaculture A weeping tile is installed into a shallow trench to create a swale trail on this urban property. It will be covered in mulch.
Kruse, a licensed arborist, is currently working toward certification through the International Society of Arboriculture. As an arborist he is busy with tree removals and tree plantings, but he is also growing tree seedlings at Northern Grove in air-prune beds. “Air-prune beds essentially are garden boxes that use air to prune the root systems of the tree seedlings,” says Kruse. This method results in a healthy tap root and makes it easy to transplant the seedlings. Hardware cloth on the bottom and wire cages on top prevent damage from critters such as squirrels. “In fall, when the seedlings are dormant, we will heel them into the soil and overwinter them,” says Kruse. Unger and Kruse hope to begin selling dormant bare root seedlings (trees, shrubs, and vines) next spring as well as a range of native perennials.
Soil health and the emerging field of working with soil biology in agriculture, arboriculture, and gardening is another area of interest for Unger and Kruse. Unger is currently pursuing certification in soil regeneration. Did I also mention that this busy couple are raising five children, ages 4 to 11? They raise bees and chickens, too, and are also interested in raising goats in the future.
Colleen Zacharias / Winnipeg Free Press Tree seedlings are started in air-prune beds at Northern Grove and will later be sold as dormant bare-root seedlings.
Pixabay Hazelnuts have huge potential as a food crop and can be used to make hazelnut oil, hazelnut flour, or provide feed for animals.
Colleen Zacharias
Gardening columnist
Colleen Zacharias writes about many aspects of gardening including trends, plant recommendations, and how-to information that is uniquely relevant to Prairie gardeners.
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