In addition to their delicious flavor, pecans offer many impressive health benefits. They contain 19 different vitamins and minerals, including calcium, vitamin E, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, and zinc, and they are high in dietary fiber, antioxidants, and several types of heart healthy fats. Eating four to five servings of pecans per week can reduce your chances of many health problems.

Here is more information on the health benefits of pecans:

1. Pecans help reduce weight: Pecans are a good choice for people hoping to lose weight because eating pecans increases metabolism, which encourages weight loss. The high levels of fiber and heart-healthy fats in pecans can also encourage weight loss because they contribute to earlier feelings of fullness and discourage overeating.
2. Pecans can help lower blood pressure: Unsalted pecans can help lower blood pressure due to their high levels of heart-healthy fats and magnesium.
3. Pecans keep your heart healthy: Pecans contains beta-sitosterol (phytosterol), a natural compound that lowers the bad (LDL) cholesterol in blood, and reduces the risk of heart attacks. In addition, pecans contain relatively high levels of vitamin-E, which is good for the cardiovascular system and reduces the risk of coronary heart disease and heart attacks, as well as heart healthy monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats.
4. Pecans keep your prostate healthy: The beta-sitosterol content in pecans helps treat treat Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH), which is a non-cancerous enlargement of prostate gland in men. It has also been found that pecans contain a type of Vitamin-E, gamma tocopherol, which has the ability to destroy cancerous cells without harming the healthy cells.
5. Pecans help prevent breast cancer: Pecan nuts are rich in oleic acid. This fatty acid, which is also found in olive oil, helps to suppress the action of a gene in cells which triggers breast cancer.
6. Pecans replace meat: Like meat, pecans are nutrient dense, flavorful, and high in protein, but unlike meat, they contain very little saturated fat, which increases the risk of heart attack. Instead pecans are high in healthy unsaturated fats ad contain compounds that can help lower cholesterol.
7. Pecans helps digestion: A single ounce of pecans provides 10% of the daily recommended value of dietary fiber. High fiber diets help maintain a healthy digestive system.
8. Pecans are an excellent source of antioxidants: Pecans contain many antioxidants, including lutein, zeaxanthin, beta-carotenes and ellagic acid. Beta-carotenes, zeaxanthin and lutien are good for eye health, while ellagic acid is beneficial in the prevention of cancer. Vitamin E, another antioxidant found in pecans, may help protect the nervous system and delay the progress of neurological diseases.
9. Pecan nuts are naturally sodium-free: This makes them the perfect choice for those people who are on a low salt or sodium-restricted diet.

The reason is clear: blueberries are both delicious and nutritious!

One cup of fresh blueberries contains just 81 calories, yet has one of the highest levels of antioxidants of any fruit. Anthocyanidins, a major component of the reddish-blue pigment of blueberries, are also powerful antioxidants that have been found to help neutralize free radical damage to the collagen matrix of cells and tissues, which could otherwise lead to health problems such as cataracts, glaucoma, varicose veins, hemorrhoids, peptic ulcers, heart disease, and cancer.

Blueberries also contain sizable amounts of another antioxidant compound called ellagic acid, which has been found to reduce the risk of cancer. Blueberries seem to be especially effective at reducing the risk of colon and ovarian cancer.

Blueberries are closely related to cranberries (Vaccinium macrocarpon) and share the qualities of cranberries that make them very effective at protecting urinary tract health and reducing the risk of urinary tract infections. Blueberries are also high in fiber, so like other high fiber foods, they reduce the risk of constipation, diarrhea, and type 2 diabetes.

Finally, blueberries are good sources of vitamin C, vitamin E, and manganese.

Sadly, commercially grown blueberries are considered to be one of the “dirty dozen” foods: foods best purchased organic due to their high level of pesticide residues. The USDA Pesticide Data program has found residues of 52 different pesticides on blueberries, including 8 known or probable carcinogens, 24 suspected hormone disruptors, 14 neurotoxins, and 7 developmental or reproductive toxicants.

Organic blueberries can be fairly expensive, so if your family loves blueberries, you can save money by gathering wild blueberries in areas where this is allowed, or by growing your own. Blueberries do best in slightly acidic, sandy soils that are moist but well drained and high in organic matter. Most varieties are ornamental as well as edible and make very attractive additions to any landscape.

Instead of cutting the tree down nearly to the ground, stump culture practitioners leave the bottom layer or two of branches. This preserves the health of the roots and allows the branches to continue growing. One of the branches is eventually selected to form the leader of a new tree. Like well-managed coppiced trees, which can produce steadily for hundreds of years (the oldest known coppiced trees are over 1000 years old), stump culture allows trees to produce continuously for many years. In British Columbia, some stumps have produced a tree every 5 years for more than 60 years.

In British Columbia, stump culture Christmas trees and greenery are often produced in combination with cattle in silvopasture agroforestry systems, or combined with shade loving floral greens such as Salal (Gaultheria shallon), Bear-grass (Xerophyllum tenax), Falsebox (Pachistima myrsintes), Sword Fern (Polystichum munitum), Deer Fern (Blechnum spicant), and Evergreen Huckleberry (Vaccinium ovatum). These are just a few of the alternative crops suitable to grow in agroforestry systems.

Learn More:

• Christmas Trees: Plantations to Agroforestry Systems
• Silvopasture With Christmas Trees

The orchards also supported Afghanistan’s legendary carpet industry. Agricultural by-products such as walnut husks and pomegranate rinds were used to create the brightly colored dyes prized by Afghan carpet makers.

Sadly, decades of war have taken their toll on both the country’s famous orchards and the store of knowledge required to tend them. 70% of Afghanistan’s orchards and vineyards have been destroyed since the outbreak of war in the 1970′s. Today, Afghan farms are best known for illegal opium production, and less than 2% of the country is forested, increasing not only poverty and food insecurity, but also environmental degradation. Flooding exacerbated by loss of tree cover due to war and drought devastated 11 central and eastern provinces of Afghanistan in 2010.

Several organizations are working to fight poverty, terrorism, and environmental degradation by rebuilding Afghanistan’s orchards, hoping to restore food security and a legal source of income to Afghan farmers and households. Two of the most prominent of these organizations include Roots of Peace, which works to clear agricultural land of land mines and replace them with crops such as almonds, grapes, pomegranates, walnuts, apples, and apricots, and the Global Partnership for Afghanistan, which provides training and plants to farming families, with a special emphasis on empowering widows and other female heads of household.

Afghanistan isn’t the only country benefiting from efforts to alleviate poverty by planting trees. Several innovative programs have sprung up to help the poor and hungry in the United States as well. The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation hopes to plant 18 billion fruit trees worldwide, about three for every man, woman, and child alive today. This goal would not only make a major dent in world poverty and hunger, it would also help fight global climate change, desertification, and deforestation. The FTPF strategically donates orchards in areas where they can do the most good, such as low income neighborhoods, international hunger relief sites, community gardens, Native American reservations, and public schools.

Another interesting US program that uses tree fruits to fight poverty and hunger is Seattle-based City Fruit, an effort to harvest unwanted and surplus fruit to feed the homeless. Depending on the size and variety, a single apple tree can produce up to ten bushels of fruit (more than 400 pounds), yet the average American eats just 50 pounds of fresh and processed apples per year. Other tree fruits have similarly generous yields: pear trees can produce as much as 15 bushels, peach trees as much as six. Most families with fruit trees leave tens or hundreds of pounds of good fruit to rot every year because they simply can’t eat it all.

Founded in 2008, City Fruit harvested and delivered more than 10,000 pounds of this fresh, nutritious surplus fruit for the city’s hungry in 2009. City Fruit also works to educate homeowners about fruit tree care in order to improve the health of Seattle’s urban forest and is currently engaged in an urban orchard mapping project.

Innovative programs such as Roots for Peace, the Global Partnership for Afghanistan, the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation, and City Fruit are just a few of the ways mast-producing trees can be used to fight poverty and hunger. Here are some ways you can help:

• Donate to Roots for Peace, the Global Partnership for Afghanistan, the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation, City Fruit, or a similar organization.
• Call your local food bank to see if they will accept donations of good quality extra fruits and nuts from your trees.
• Encourage your local parks department to plant fruit and nut bearing trees in parks, and encourage local residents to harvest them.
• Start a fruit or nut tree farm or business, or support fruit and nut based businesses in your local community.
• Educate your friends and neighbors about the importance of landscaping with mast-producing trees, and how to plant and care properly for them.

An edible hedge is a hedgerow designed to produce food for human consumption. In addition to providing inexpensive and nutritious food for your family, edible hedges can:

• provide privacy
• reduce heating bills and protect sensitive livestock by serving as a windbreak
• extend the growing season by creating a protected microclimate for tender plants
• reinforce fences, or even act as fences by themselves
• reduce agricultural and stormwater runoff
• reduce erosion
• provide food and habitat for beneficial insects, birds, and other wildlife
• serve as a wildlife corridor
• provide fodder for livestock
• and more!

Planning Your Edible Hedge

Edible hedges typically incorporate a variety of plants including trees, shrubs, vegetables, herbs, wildflowers, grasses, and groundcovers.

Depending on the size of your property, you may or may not want to include trees in your hedge. Large fruit and nut trees can overwhelm a small lot. However, there are many dwarf fruit tree varieties and small understory trees such as dogwood and crabapple that can make excellent additions to an edible hedge, even in a small yard. If you have the space for large mast-producing trees, a few of the best choices include native oaks, hickories, and pecans and non-native standard fruit trees such as domestic apples and pears.

The most common plants in most hedges are shrubs. There are dozens of great native and non-native mast-producing shrubs that are good choices for an edible hedge, including blueberry, raspberry, blackberry, serviceberry, hazelnut, elderberry, chokecherry, aronia, wild cherry, wild plum, gooseberry, currant, shrub roses, and viburnums.

In addition to edible trees and shrubs, incorporate a mix of favorite herbs, annual and perennial vegetables, native wildflowers, ornamental grasses, and groundcovers into your edible hedge.

Each plant should contribute one or more functions to the hedge. For an edible hedge, the most important function is edibility. Choose primarily plants that produce edible fruits, nuts, seeds, berries, leaves, roots, or other parts.

However, food production should not be the only function of the plants in your hedge. For example, the amount of food produced by your hedge can be increased by 30% or more if you incorporate plants that attract pollinators and other beneficial insects. These types of plants are often known as “insectary plants.” Another useful type of plant for your hedge is nitrogen-fixing plants. Nitrogen-fixing plants such as clover and other legumes improve the health of nearby plants and can reduce or completely eliminate the need for synthetic fertilizers. Finally, groundcovers and other “living mulches” keep the soil cool and moist and reduce the need for watering, as well as improving habitat for earthworms and other healthy soil fauna.

Depending on the secondary purposes of your edible hedge, you may want to choose plants that provide other functions as well, such as dense shrubs for privacy or wind protection, or the host plant for a favorite species of butterfly.

Planting an Edible Hedge From Scratch

Whenever possible, choose a spot to plant your hedge with enough room for at least two staggered rows of plants. If you plan to use chemical pesticides or herbicides nearby, add an uncultivated grassy area up to several yards wide on either side of the hedge, if possible. The grassy buffer will help protect plants and beneficial insects in the hedge from chemical drift.

Mulch your new hedge heavily to reduce weeding and watering needs while it becomes established.

Converting an Existing Hedge

If you already have a hedge that you want to convert to an edible hedge, thin it strategically and start planting edible shrubs, trees, and herbaceous plants in the gaps and edges. A good goal is to convert a single row into two or three staggered rows of plants to encourage maximum productivity.

In order to reduce disturbance to the roots of the remaining established plants, don’t till the area you plan to plant. Instead dig individual holes for each new plant, and mulch heavily to reduce weeds. Laying down a layer of newspaper or cardboard under the mulch is a biodegradable way to kill turf grasses or other unwanted plants.

This is one reason mast-producing trees are so valuable a part of conservation and restoration efforts. As truly multipurpose plants, they offer benefits not only to wildlife and the environment but also to humans. Mast-producing trees offer many business opportunities for farmers and other landowners interested in diversifying their income with alternative crops.

The following is a sampling of some of the many crops produced by various mast-producing trees and shrubs that are suitable for commercial sale:

• Almonds
• Apples
• Aronia
• Blueberries and huckleberries
• Brambles
• Cherries
• Chestnuts
• Christmas trees
• Cranberries
• Currants
• Elderberries
• Firewood
• Gooseberries
• Hazelnuts
• Hickory nuts
• Kiwis
• Lingonberries
• Mulberries
• Nursery stock
• Pawpaws
• Pears
• Pecans
• Persimmons
• Plums
• Sawlogs
• Walnuts

In addition to crops produced directly by mast-producing trees and shrubs, there are a number of crops and livestock that can be raised in association with trees and shrubs. For example:

• Boar
• Deer and elk
• Honeybees
• Mast-finished pork
• Free range poultry
• Mushrooms

Value-added products and services related to mast-producing trees and shrubs include:

• Apple cider
• Baked goods
• Canned fruits
• Dried fruits
• Game park or private hunting preserve
• Handmade wood furniture or toys
• Honey and beeswax products
• Hunting guide
• Jams and jellies
• Maple syrup
• Nature preserve
• Sawmill
• Trail rides
• U-pick
• Wine

Learn More

• Income Opportunities in Special Forest Products

Oak savannas, which are also sometimes known as “oak barrens” or “oak openings,” are transitional ecosystems that tend to be highly diverse due to the combination of the “edge effect” and the mix of microregions created by patches of pure grassland scattered with individual large trees or clumps of heavier cover.

Early settlers to the regions extolled the park-like beauty of the savannas, but brought with them the seeds of their destruction. Oak savannas rely on fire to maintain their openness, and the natural inclinations of residents to suppress the fires soon allowed many oak savannas to be swallowed up by weedy trees and invasive plants (many also brought in by the settlers). Today, oak savannas are a threatened ecosystem in many parts of their former range.

Fortunately, growing awareness of their ecological importance has led to a movement to restore the savannahs. Oak savannah restoration and management typically combines prescribed burns with controlled grazing by livestock to mimic the effect of native grazing animals such as bison.

Private landowners interested in restoring the oak savanna on their property can modify the “patch grazing” technique developed by restoration biologists to restore oak savannas in nature preserves to improve wildlife habitat and biological diversity on their property while simultaneously producing a good profit from cattle or other enterprises. Oak savannas can also be managed for small-scale timber harvesting, as game preserves, and other possibilities. Landowners interested in restoring oak savanna habitat may be eligible for cost-share programs, financial incentives, or other forms of aid from government programs.

Learn More:

• Oak Savannas
• Oak Savanna Communities (PDF)

1. Domestic Apple (Malus domestica)

Although there are many beautiful native crabapples with exceptional wildlife qualities, none are quite as beloved by the local Homo sapiens as the common apple. Descended from wild apple species in Central Asia, the domestic apple has been cultivated by humans for thousands of years and there are more than 7000 cultivars raised around the world today. Apples were among the first trees brought to North America by European colonists and the first known apple orchard in the New World was established near Boston about 1625. North America’s native wildlife eagerly took to these sweeter and juicier relatives of the native crabapples, so in some areas humans must fight the deer, bears, turkeys, and other critters for the apple crop! Apple trees are also an important spring nectar source for European honeybees.

2. Common Hazel (Corylus avellana)

A Eurasian relative of America’s two native hazel species, the Common Hazel is more productive and has a larger nut than its American relatives, making it more suitable for commercial cultivation. In its native Europe, it remains one of the most important tree species used for coppicing and it is also widely used in hedgerows. The Filbert (Corylus maxima) is another Eurasian hazel that can be successfully grown in North America.

3. European Pear (Pyrus communis)

The European Pear and other pear species are native to Eurasia, where they have been cultivated for at least 3000 years. Like the domestic apple, they were among the first plants introduced to the New World by Europeans. The sweet, juicy fruits are as popular with native wildlife as they are with humans and introduced species such as honeybees. The Asian Pear (Pyrus pyrifolia) can also be cultivated in some regions of North America.

More Good Non-Native Mast-Producing Trees and Shrubs

• Hardy kiwi (Actinidia arguta)
• European barberry (Berberis vulgaris)
• Mandarin orange (Citrus reticulata)
• Orange (Citrus sinensis)
• Cornelian cherry (Cornus mas)
• Cotoneaster (Cotoneaster sp.)
• Asian Persimmon (Diospyros kaki)
• Goumi (Elaeagnus multiflora)
• Burning bush (Euonymus alatus) – invasive in some regions
• European beech (Fagus sylvatica)
• Common fig (Ficus carica)
• English walnut (Juglans regia)
• Common medlar (Mespilus germanica)
• White mulberry (Morus alba) – invasive in some regions
• Apricot (Prunus armeniaca)
• Sweet cherry (Prunus avium)
• Sour cherry (Prunus cerasus)
• Domestic plum (Prunus domestica)
• Almond (Prunus dulcis)
• Peach/Nectarine (Prunus persica)
• Nanking cherry (Prunus tomentosa)
• Firethorn (Pyracantha sp.)
• Common grape (Vitis vinifera)

Analog forestry products are typically less productive on an individual basis than those raised in more traditional agricultural settings. However, the high degree of biodiversity in analog forests ensures a steady income for practitioners. Analog forestry also provides the same ecological benefits as natural climax forests, including erosion prevention and water purification.

To date, analog forestry has primarily been practiced in tropical environments. However, the edible forest gardening movement in temperate regions shares many principles with analog forestry, and if analog forestry does move on a wide scale into temperate regions, mast-producing trees and shrubs are likely to play a major role in most analog forest gardens due to their multifuctionality.

Learn More:

• International Analog Forestry Network

Mast-producing trees and shrubs offer only seasonal – usually spring – blooms, so they do not provide an adequate year-round source of food to sustain a hive of honeybees, but they are an excellent supplemental source of nectar and pollen and several species provide important early season nectar and pollen sources for bees.

Mast-producing trees and shrubs can also be planted near hives to provide windbreaks and protection from inclement weather.

The best native mast-producing trees and shrubs for bees include:

• blackberries and raspberries
• blueberries
• wild roses
• crabapples
• wild cherries and plums
• hawthornes
• hackberries
• elderberries
• hazelnuts
• mountain ashes
• maples
• serviceberries
• sumacs

Many naturalized Eurasian relatives of native mast-producing trees and shrubs are also excellent sources of nectar for honeybees, including Eurasian flowering cherries, apples, plums, pears, and more. For a month-by-month list of mast and non-mast producing trees that provide important nectar sources for honeybees, check out this article.

Curiously, honeybees generally do not frequent native dogwoods, although they can be an important food source for native bees. Wood-dwelling native bee species such as carpenter bees sometimes make their homes in mast-producing trees and shrub.