An Orchard Community

My tenth episode is called “An Orchard Community.” I interview a long time friend, Mario Kashou, who has taken the art of creating orchards to most awesome levels. I visited Mario Ka-shoe-a on the land he tends West of Ukiah where he has several hundred fruit trees growing on the sloped terrain where he lives.

As I arrived, a herd of wild ponies greeted me; I’ve had the pleasure of house sitting at this property before and have spent many afternoons with several generations of these ponies, enjoying their elegance and watching them wander the orchards. For a video to see the wild ponies at Wild Ponies Farm and Orchards, go to my channel on YouTube.

In this interview Mario and I discuss the journey to becoming a steward of the land, and cultivating the eyes that can see the web of connections that make nature’s community so rich, diverse, and vital. Tending to an orchard of several hundred fruit trees, Kashou has spent decades planting and cultivating healthy orchards here in Mendocino County.

For years I have been invited by Mario to come and harvest cherries at his orchard. There’s an a very idyllic and Utopian quality to being able to pluck delicious ripe fruits while wild ponies graze nearby. I’ve travelled the world and had epic adventures near and far, but this particular experience personally stands amongst my most cherished memories. The taste of sweet cherries bursting their fresh juices into my mouth amidst the backdrop of California’s golden hills awes me every time. And, perhaps even more astounding is the gentle presence of the wild ponies who are free to choose wherever they would like to be, and that they often, to my extreme delight, choose to be near to us. 

Listen in while we discuss the bounty of nature’s classroom, the serendipity of wild foraging ponies, and the journey to create a community of humans, animals, and plants in harmony. 

The PSA for this episode is about planting fruit trees. There’s nothing that says legacy to me quite like an orchard. In my own life, every time I plant a fruit tree, I believe that I am connecting with deep medicine that involves me, even uses me to accomplish the magic, but is so very much greater than my small part. A fruit tree nourishes biodiversity by creating shade for the soil, an eco-system for the mycelium to thrive, and fruit for the animals (including us). And where there may not have been a community before, suddenly there is an oasis of life for generations to come. Humans tend to the trees, and in turn the trees beckon forth all of nature to come join them in their offering of life. Bees suddenly have a place for their sweet and sexy adventures to unfold. Countless creatures benefit from the addition of a tree, and their presence. And we, humble stewards of the earth, we get to bask in the beauty, relax under the branches, and taste of the fresh bounty that the earth provides. Our children and our children’s children may enjoy these same trees. Perhaps we share scion and the tree grafts spread out into the world. To me, a tree is the epitome of abundance, gift giving, and celebration of life. 

• You can contact Mario for networking about community and farming and orchard arts at (415)407-8064
• You can also taste some of the fruits from the Wild Ponies Orchard and Farm at the Ukiah Farmer’s Market
• And you can find the fruits through the MendoLakefoodhub.org

I’m including a short Bibliography to accompany the 10th episode. If you’re interested in pursuing orchard tending, Mario mentioned the following books in the interview. 

• “The One Straw Revolution: An introduction to natural farming” by Masanobu Fukuoka; set on a Japanese permaculture farm, this book philosphically blew my mind when I first read it in college. It reframes everything you think you know about agriculture in a really satisfying way. 
• “The Holistic Orchard” by Michael Phillips covers a lot of the pragmatic foundations of tree care and is Mario’s go to reference book. 
• And we also want to recommend a book by local author and farmer Michael Foley called  “Farming for the Long Haul: resilience and the lost art of Agricultural inventiveness”