Agroforestry för svenska förhållanden 2024 - Flipbook - Page 34
STORA JULEBODA FARM,
MAGLEHEM
Stora Juleboda Farm is located on the coast between
䄃hus and Kivik and covers 100 hectares, divided into
30 hectares orchard, 15 hectares cropland, 15 hectares pasture and 40 hectares forest. The farm is run by
Anna and Marcus Callenbring and their family, who
moved here in 2014 and have been farming and
raising sheep since 2005. The site is surrounded by
beech and pine forests, heather, and the beach,
which is a nature reserve.
When they first arrived, the apple orchard was so ne-
glected that almost everything had to be replanted.
At the same time, they also established the ‘permacultivation’, a system of co-cultivation with alley cropping of different varieties of apple trees, pears,
plums, currants, sea buckthorn, rose quince, nettles
and hops, rose hips, blackberries.
One of the major benefits of using permaculture and
agroforestry methods, according to Anna and Marcus,
is that they get a longer growing season and a larger
variety of crops to sell, than what would have been
possible in traditional systems: the harvest season
Sid 33-34
starts with ramson in early spring, in some years as
early as February, and the last apples are harvested
by the end of November. With the help of a dozen
employees, about a hundred products are produced
throughout the year and sold to restaurant wholesalers,
local restaurants, ICA stores and retail customers.
Help from the animals
Pigs, sheep and chickens help to work the farm’s land
and crops. The pigs are kept both in the forest and in
the crop fields and are moved every few months. The
pigs that graze in the permacultivation are of the
breed Berkshire, a breed from England that has good
resistance to cold temperatures and has simple nutritional needs. At night, they sleep inside an igloo on
straw and during daytime they work diligently to re-
vitalise the crop by turning over the soil. The Berkshire
pigs prefer to eat quickgrass and other weeds rather
than tree plants. Thanks to their presence in the crop,
voles stay away. The farm also hosts a group of sheep.
Unlike the pigs, the grazing sheep like to eat the buds
and bark of the apple trees and for this reason are
kept away from the orchards.
Windbreaks, longer grass and birdhouses in the orchard create environments where the natural enemies of
pests, such as ladybugs and birds, thrive. Anna and
Marcus believe that a high level of diversity creates
