Why here:
Lowest, coldest, frost-prone section of the paddock.
Refined tree/shrub mix (6 total):
- Quince × 2
- Feijoa × 1
- Persimmon × 1
- Elderberry × 1
- Apple × 1 (very late-flowering cultivar)
What changed:
- Reduced feijoa dominance
- Added one ultra-reliable apple as insurance
- Kept quince as the core crop (they love this niche)
- Elderberry retained as:
- frost-tolerant
- bird-buffer
- medicine and biomass
Functionally:
This area now says “even in a bad year, we eat.”