Here at ABC acres, we have fallen in love with the thornless honey locust tree. Its many uses and benefits to a landscape demand we acknowledge its value, and we are happy to do so. A brief list of some of its favorable attributes include fast growth rate, drought tolerance once established, quality timber, livestock feed, nitrogen fixation, nectar for pollinators, and a dappled shade under its canopy. It has so many potential uses and applications in a permaculture system, giving us visions of them planted throughout the farm along fence lines and garden edges, as well as in field and food forests.

I won’t be going into detail on these operational uses, but rather showcasing a way we are accessing local plant material to grow our own nursery stock of these trees. When one begins imagining hundred upon hundreds of trees, one must also account for the price tag associated with such lofty tree planting aspirations! While our excitement for this species caused our ordering of some bare root thornless honey locust trees to plant in a pasture this spring, we are planning are propagating our own from seed here on site. We employed a technique called wildcrafting, a more eloquent way of expressing the idea of going out and harvesting things for free from the local area, usually, “out in the wild.” It is a way to exchange a bit of time for potentially large yields, like the locals here in the Bitterroot Valley blessed enough to have found treasure troves of morel mushroom or huckleberry patches.

For us to save money wildcrafting the locust seed pods, we didn’t have to hike up into the mountains, although we wouldn’t have minded! Conveniently placed in our local K-Mart parking lot were thousands of thornless honey locust tree pods; hanging from the branches and scattered on the ground of these hardy trees commonly used along city streets or in parking lots for shade waiting for there potential abundance to be realized. In short order we filled a few 5 gallon bucket full of the pods which averaged 9 to 12 inches in length. My 21 month old son Sterling even got in on the action, toddling about to pick up and put the seed pods in the bucket. That is, until he got distracted by the landscaping rocks; oh well, baby steps!

After the “not so wildcrafting” was completed, we set about preparing them for planting in our greenhouse, with plans of growing them through the season in our protected new nursery yard before a fall planting. This quick trip to town and a little time in the greenhouse will save several hundred dollars in tree start costs for us, all while providing us with young trees that will offer several yields and benefits for decades to come. Now that sounds like a great “K-Mart Special” to me!

Blessings,

Grant