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Canopy Farm Management @canopyfm.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

🐝 Understory = strategic, not empty space. Pollinator habitat boosts yields even outside direct production. Smart groundcover suppresses weeds, cuts competition, and creates mulch for tree bases. Design it right, reap the rewards.

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Canopy Farm Management @canopyfm.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

🌳 Overstory = diversity by design. Multiple crop varieties build resilience against pests, disease & weather swings. Windbreaks, shelterbelts & riparian buffers moderate microclimates, fight erosion, and add habitat — all while supporting core production.

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Canopy Farm Management @canopyfm.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Ecological resilience and farm productivity aren't opposing goals. At Canopy, we design overstory and understory layers together from the start — so conservation and production reinforce each other, not compete. Stay tuned as we dig into each layer. 🌳🐝

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Canopy Farm Management @canopyfm.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

The trees and native plantings on your land are long-term investments requiring routine care. Weed pressure can set a windbreak back years; a missed pest outbreak can be devastating; planting failures leave permanent gaps. These are predictable, manageable events with a proactive management program.

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Canopy Farm Management @canopyfm.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Windbreaks protect our soils by preventing wind erosion above ground and anchoring the soil with roots below ground. Creating more favorable conditions for crops and livestock. Whether you're just beginning to explore the idea of adding windbreaks or ready to begin, we're here to help.

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Canopy Farm Management @canopyfm.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

When sourcing Chestnut trees: random seedlings = random results. Chinese Chestnuts vary widely in flavor, production, and storage—wait 5-7 years and you might get small, bitter nuts. At Canopy's Nursery, every tree comes from proven mother trees, selected by expert orchardists over decades.

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Canopy Farm Management @canopyfm.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Protect water quality with riparian buffers. We help design and install natural barriers of vegetation around waterways that filter pollutants, trap sediment, and absorb excess nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus from surface runoff.

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Canopy Farm Management @canopyfm.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Are you interested in farming with trees but aren’t sure where to begin? Join Carolyn on Tree Talk Tuesdays. Carolyn Pettit is an agroforestry educator with expertise in resources, services, and opportunities for perennial agriculture in the upper Midwest.

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Canopy Farm Management @canopyfm.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

We don't just plant trees—we establish them. Establishment means nurturing young trees for 2-3 years until they can thrive alone: protection from weeds, proper watering, pruning, and pest monitoring. We help get this critical phase right, building strong roots and vigorous growth from day one.

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Canopy Farm Management @canopyfm.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Before planting perennials, check what's hiding underground: a compacted "plow pan" from years of tillage that blocks water and roots. That's why we start with "Year 0"—a season of cover crops, amendments, subsoiling, and buffers to rehab the soil. One season of prep, a lifetime of better crops.

youtu.be

Farmland Soil Rehabilitation - Canopy's "Year 0"

Before we plant perennial crops, we need to talk about what's hidin...

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Canopy Farm Management @canopyfm.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

Wintertime in the nursery means cuttings season! We propagate elderberries, willow, poplar and black currants with hardwood cuttings taken when the plants are dormant. For Black Currants, we have a whole field devoted to producing cuttings that we call our ‘Mother Plants’.

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Canopy Farm Management @canopyfm.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

We still have persimmon seedlings available in the nursery for sales. We source seed only from specific grafted mother trees such as Prok, Yates/Juhl, H118, Dollywood, Geneva Long & Valenne Beauty. This gives the best chance for the seedlings to produce high quality fruit. We ship trees March-May.

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Canopy Farm Management @canopyfm.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

🌳 Planning a perennial system? You get one chance to plant it right. Unlike annual crops, perennial systems will shape your land for decades. Planting perennials is a major investment – let our experts help you get it right the first time! Contact us about your design through our link in the bio.

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Canopy Farm Management @canopyfm.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

While everyone's debating Pantone's choice of white for 2026, we're here for the real color—and flavor—of the year: Black Currant 🖤💜 McCormick named black currant as 2026's Flavor of the Year, and truthfully? It's giving everything Cloud Dancer isn't. Fresh. Vibrant. Distinct.

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Canopy Farm Management @canopyfm.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

Our PQ-F1 Chestnut seedlings come from a special block at Empire Chestnut Company in Ohio. The seedlings are from a block of full-sib seedlings of Peach and Qing Chestnuts. Qing is one of our top recommendations, Peach is another great cultivar known for consistent production of medium-large nuts.

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Canopy Farm Management @canopyfm.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

Ever wonder why we recommend Qing seedlings over other chestnut seedlings? For years, Qing has set the standard to which other promising Chestnut Varieties have been compared to. According to data from University of MO, Qing produces earlier than other cultivars and has consistently high production.

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Canopy Farm Management @canopyfm.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

Our fall digging and planting season kicked off a couple of weeks ago in WI! This fall we’re planting ~ 60,000 berry plants and fruit trees from our nursery at a farm nearby we long term lease. We’re feeling the days getting shorter but we’ve had some beautiful misty mornings and sunrises!

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Canopy Farm Management @canopyfm.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

We love Black Currants! Their ease of growth, high yields, and rich flavor make them a must have for both backyard berries and commercial operations. We offer bareroot bundles of 25 plants that have large robust root systems. Don’t be surprised if you get fruit the first season after planting!

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Canopy Farm Management @canopyfm.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

🦌UPGRADE YOUR FOOD PLOT🦌 Plant now & hunt better for years to come. Want to create the ultimate deer magnet? Skip the generic chestnut and persimmon seedlings and plant trees that actually deliver results. The best food plots start with the best genetics. Our trees come from the Midwest's best.

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Canopy Farm Management @canopyfm.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

We love getting updates from our customers! Have you ordered trees from us? We would love to hear how they are doing!

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Canopy Farm Management @canopyfm.bsky.social · 01/09/2025

Canopy Nursery Spring 2026 Nursery Orders Are Open! This year we have a wide selection! Asian Pears, Peaches, Heartnuts, Elderberries, Honeyberries, Gooseberries, Serviceberries, Jostaberries, Bush Cherries, Grafted and Seedling Persimmons, and Willow Cuttings. Use Code EARLYBIRD for free shipping.

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Canopy Farm Management @canopyfm.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

Tom Wahl and Kathy Dice of Red Fern Farm are pioneers of the chestnut industry. Canopy works closely with Red Fern to source the highest quality chestnut seed from their orchard to grow in our nursery. We will be launching sales for our Spring 2026 nursery sales in one week on September 1st!

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Canopy Farm Management @canopyfm.bsky.social · 23/08/2025

Afforestation is the process of establishing a forest where there wasn't one. As part of our mission to support biodiverse ecosystems, we work with gov agencies and conservation groups to rebuild forest on unproductive ag lands through afforestation. Seeing wildlife while we work is a bonus!

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Canopy Farm Management @canopyfm.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

Two under-appreciated groups of pollinators are beetles + flies. These insects are the primary pollinators for chestnuts and pawpaws. Beetles+flies have shorter flight radii than bees, so including pollinator habitat close to production orchards (within 300 feet) for these crops is critical.

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Canopy Farm Management @canopyfm.bsky.social · 21/08/2025

Twilight Tailgate with the Trees: End of Summer Celebration August 28 @ 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm Urbana Illinois Only one Tailgate at the farm this year! Let’s celebrate the start of the school year with a shin-dig at the Savanna Institute Demo Farm! Come see one of our Canopy management sites.

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Canopy Farm Management @canopyfm.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

Even in self pollinating cultivars, black currants depend on insect pollinators such as bumblebees, sweat bees, mason bees, and hover flies. Currants bloom early in the growing season, often too early for honey bees, so farmers rely on native bees for optimal fruit set.

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Canopy Farm Management @canopyfm.bsky.social · 19/08/2025

Pollinators are incredibly important to us. What steps do we take to help conserve and build resilience for pollinators on our clients' farms? Because pollinators are crucial for tree crops, we highly recommend that all of our clients maintain at least 10 percent of their farm in pollinator habitat.

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Canopy Farm Management @canopyfm.bsky.social · 18/08/2025

May 16th, Illinois experienced a dust storm. Drought, the windiest time of year and bare farm land contributed. For us, this event highlights the importance of sustainable practices including tree windbreaks, prairie strips, and cover cropping. Let’s remember lessons we learned from the Dust Bowl.

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Canopy Farm Management @canopyfm.bsky.social · 17/08/2025

Our team utilizes drone photography and mapping to take precision to the next level. When designing a project on a farm, we use drone maps to have top notch accuracy. We also use drones to scout clients' fields for things like pest pressure, plant health, flooding, and irrigation leaks.

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Canopy Farm Management @canopyfm.bsky.social · 16/08/2025

This spring, we planted 16,000 trees at one site! The client converted row crop acres to a mixture of oak, persimmon, chestnut, pear, and crabapple with the goal of attracting and feeding trophy whitetail deer. The groundcover alternates between grassy bedding areas and food plots for grazing.

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Canopy Farm Management @canopyfm.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

Back in May, our team planted 100,000 chestnut seeds at our nursery. In November, the trees will be dug and prepared for nursery customers. All of our chestnuts are from genetic lines that provide high quality chestnuts with large yields. Perfect for culinary use, silvopasture, and whitetail deer!

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Canopy Farm Management @canopyfm.bsky.social · 14/08/2025

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Canopy Farm Management @canopyfm.bsky.social · 13/08/2025

Heartnuts, or Japanese walnuts, are delicious and fairly easy to grow in the Midwest. They tolerate a range of soil types common and can be successful where more selective crop species can't grow. They are also cold hardy, growing in zones down to 4b. The nuts have distinctive heart-shaped shells.

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Canopy Farm Management @canopyfm.bsky.social · 12/08/2025

Willow are excellent additions to windbreaks. They grow fast, are flexible so they can tolerate high wind, and their shrubby form helps stop drift of pesticides and snow. We show one of the best examples we have seen yet with drift damage on one half of the willow windbreak.

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Canopy Farm Management @canopyfm.bsky.social · 11/08/2025

PAWPAW FOR SALE! Potted pawpaws are available for **PICKUP ONLY** in August in Champaign, IL or Spring Green, WI for late summer planting (select location at check out). We will contact you once your trees are ready to schedule a pickup time. Seed Source Red Fern Farm and Jerry Lehman's orchard

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Canopy Farm Management @canopyfm.bsky.social · 10/08/2025

Graham Cassellius of Cassell Hollow Farm will host this field day focused on agritourism and hazelnuts. Topics covered will include hazelnut harvesting and processing, plant propagation in the high tunnel, and flower arranging. Register on Savanna Institute's website.

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Canopy Farm Management @canopyfm.bsky.social · 09/08/2025

We introduce you to our client engagement coordinator, Carolyn Pettit. She's the first person people meet when contacting Canopy. She connects people with the resources they need to make their agroforestry dreams come true. She loves her job, she gets to talk to people all day about trees.

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Canopy Farm Management @canopyfm.bsky.social · 08/08/2025

This year we planted over 200,000 trees for clients in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. We also established 100 acres of pollinator friendly cover crops and prairie. We have a range of job types including: conservation, windbreaks, riparian buffers, silvopasture, hunting properties, and orchards.

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Canopy Farm Management @canopyfm.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

Windbreaks are a great addition to any property. They help protect land from events like drought, water erosion, pesticide drift, and wind. Fast growing species like willow and poplar provide protection within 3-5 years. Not to mention the beauty of trees, pollinator habitat and bird watching!

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Canopy Farm Management @canopyfm.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

Pawpaws are the largest native North American fruit. Pawpaws tolerate more shade than many other tree crops, so they can be planted as an understory crop. Our Pawpaw seedlings come from from Red Fern Farm's improved varieties that will fruit in 5b. Potted stock for sale through our nursery website.

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Canopy Farm Management @canopyfm.bsky.social · 05/08/2025

The American Persimmon has something for everybody. Graziers plant persimmons as a fodder crop. Hunters say persimmons are a magnet for deer. And home cooks seek out the pulp for super moist and nutritious baked goods. Even the leaves can be used for an herbal tea. What can’t this tree do?

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