Fruit forest diary · New Port Richey, FL
The fruit forest, tree by tree
Three-quarters of an acre on the Anclote River, planted one tree at a time: every mango, avocado, graft, freeze and harvest, logged as it happened. The same trees we sell, growing in our own ground.
Diary, calendar, plant directory, the aerial map, and Chaka.
The whole place on the county's aerial photo: the house lot plus the two lots to the north, about three-quarters of an acre. Fences, the driveway and the stairs were traced from the photo, and every tree sits where James placed it. The Photo buttons switch between four flights of the same ground: 2026 sunlit is the current flight with its shadows lifted out by measurement, 2026 is that flight as flown, 2025 is the sharpest picture of this place anywhere, and 2023 is full sun from before most of the planting. Nothing moves when you switch. Tap any tree to open its diary.
Next door, not placed yet
Plants on the other side of the property whose spots aren't on the map yet.
Marked for removal
Dropped in the remove box on the map. They stay dimmed until you send me the changes and I take them out of the diary. Tap one to put it back.
Taken off the map
Lost plants and crops taken off the map. Their diary history stays.
Planting-out day
Indoors
Seedlings in the grow tent in the pantry. Their dots sit on the house.
Spot not recorded yet
These have a dashed ring on the map: their exact spot has not been recorded yet.
How far apart everything is
Straight-line distances measured on the aerial photo, where one map pixel is 0.2024 ft. Treat them as good to a foot or two; the photo itself is about 5 inches per pixel.
Closest pairs in the ground
The farm dog
Chaka
Every fruit forest needs a supervisor. This one is a Belgian Malinois who came out of the county shelter at the last minute.
Chaka was born on August 7, 2023, and her first name was Piper. She went through Pasco County Animal Services in Land O' Lakes, and her paperwork there called her a German Shepherd. The shelter staff told James that was a guess. She looks and works like a Malinois, and she may be part Shepherd.
On October 2, 2025, at the last minute, James signed the papers and took her home. He renamed her Chaka, and he still has every page. Someone before him trained her in German, and she still answers to more than five commands in it.
She carries some of what she went through. New people and sudden noises can make her a little nervous, and she keeps one eye on James wherever he is on the property. He does every job here himself, and she is there for all of it: the potting up, the watering, the pruning, and the walk out to the truck when a tree goes home with someone.
2026 was a hard year. In July 2026 she needed emergency surgery, and came through it. On October 10, 2026, an abscess between the toes of her front-left paw ruptured, which meant a Saturday-night trip to the emergency vet, antibiotics and a week of cage rest. She is licensed with Pasco County, her shots are current, and her vet knows her by name.
If you visit, she will want to inspect you before the trees do. Let her.
- BreedBelgian Malinois, maybe part Shepherd
- BornAugust 7, 2023
- WeightAbout 70 pounds
- CommandsMore than five, all in German
- JobSupervisor, fruit forest
Her diary
- Born. Her name then was Piper.
- At Pasco County Animal Services: spayed, microchipped and vaccinated.
- James signed for her at the last minute and took her home. Renamed Chaka.
- Emergency surgery. Came through it.
- An abscess between the toes of her front-left paw ruptured. Emergency vet, antibiotics, E-collar and a week of cage rest.