deer

I was out raking brush from under the trees the other day, it was gorgeous out with a slight breeze and the sun shining.  The next row over, almost glowing, sat a shed.

A four-point shed, which may have come off a nice eight-point (as there were a couple roaming around this year).  We don't find many sheds as nice as this one.  Usually, we find them with the mower, or the squirrels have started chewing on them.  Throughout the years, we've made ourselves a little pile with them.  Saving them for some project.
Deer do roam the Orchard, and, no, we don't allow folks to come out and hunt.  We like taking some time each fall and winter to try our own hand at hunting!
As gorgeous an animal they are, they can devastate an orchard.
This is a three-year-old tree, that they found last November.

They rubbed it raw.  And, the branches...

found below the tree.  Littering the same ground that used to hold their shadow.
Monetarily, we're out a couple hundred dollars (between the cost of the tree, planting the tree, maintenance, etc.).  It's a bummer, but the time is the killer with tree loss.
It took three years to get it there, and now we'll have to take another three years to get it back to where it was in height and size.  We generally start harvesting a few apples at years 4 and 5.  It would have had a little crop this year!

Tree Grafting

Last month, we spent some time with David Doud, who helped guide us through a new experience:  tree grafting! With his help, we learned how to and eventually grafted 200 new trees (and soon we'll get to see how well we did).
So, we'd like to share some pictures and notes of what we did:
The first step to grafting is selecting the scion wood.  This is the tree that you would like to propagate (as apple trees are not started by seed).  The scion wood needs to be disease-free and young growth, and it is collected while still dormant.  Keep the wood moist and cool, stored in a place away from apples (the rootstock needs to be kept the same way when it arrives).

With the scion wood secured, it is time to get materials ready for the arrival of the rootstock (which should be planned for early Spring).  You won't need but a few tools:  grafting knife, grafting wax and rubber budding strips.
When the rootstock comes in, it is time to get busy.
You'll want to heat the wax, so it can be brushed on to the graft union, sealing the graft from the environment, keeping it from drying.  We plugged in the heater my wife uses for encaustic painting.  Fill the heater with water, and drop some beeswax into a tin can.  This takes a bit of time; so, make this step one on grafting day.
Select a rootstock and a scion, at an angle pull the knife quickly and steadily on the scion.  Now, repeat for the rootstock.  Try to make sure the cuts line up well together.

Next, about halfway down on each cut, make a cut back toward the base of the roots on the rootstock or toward the top of the scion on the wood.

This is more of a slip-cut, mechanical.  Put the two together, matching up the cut-backs.

With the rootstock and scion slipped together, wrap the budding strip around them, tying a little knot on one end. 

Paint the strip with wax making sure to cover any bit of wood that may be showing.
After the union is painted with wax, it is time to plant.  We potted our little trees in one-gallon containers that we can keep close to the barn and bring indoors if it gets too cold.  Later in the season, we will prepare some soil, and plant them in the Orchard.

the farming life

or maybe we should have titled this one the farming gamble!  it's been an interesting, transitional spring this year moving from an incredible winter to a wet, hot summer:
we knew the bees suffered this winter with the harsh weather and a bummer of a summer leading into it, but we found how hard winter really was on the hives in the second week of March.  we lost 44 hives!  a devastating loss, for sure.  bees were dead inside their hives, which were full of food.  other hives were simply missing bees altogether:  not dead, not alive...just gone.
peaches.  what peaches!?  the winter wreaked havoc on the peach trees.  we grow several varieties of cold hardy peaches, but to no avail.  we have a lot of dead wood to remove from the trees; and, not to mention a total crop failure.  this is pretty much for the Midwest-wide. 
the start of the apple bloom was great, full of nice blooms and the trees were covered.  toward the end of bloom, the rains came back with cooler temperatures.  the bees don't fly in the wet, cold weather; and, 98% of apples are pollinated by the honey bee.  our early apple varieties are loaded, but we are a little shy with the later varieties:  blacks, winesaps, gold rush, etc.
on the upside, our asparagus and rhubarb survived the winter and herbicide drift from last year.  we have apples!  the bees we have are doing great so far this year.  we are expecting a small grape harvest (for the first time ever!).  the pumpkins are in the ground and starting to get some mature leaves on them; so, parents get the kids ready for fall!

January Rains Bring February Flowers?

A few weeks ago, Jake and i were out trimming some of our Pristine and Zestar! trees when a couple of our lady friends buzzed by us.  One stopped and buzzed around us, seemingly checking out us and our work.  While we stood looking at her, i wondered:  are you not happy with our work?  and, why are you out of the hive?  It was early January, and i couldn't help but be reminded of our last season's apple crop (or should i write, the lack thereof?).

Even today, we stopped trimming early to get out of the rain.  January rains!?

We just have about 100 trees left to trim, some Gold Rush and Candy Crisp; and, another season of trimming will be completed.  The brush needs to be stacked and burned, and the Orchard treated with some urea.  Then, Winter's and Early Spring's work with the trees will be close to completed! 

So, keep your fingers crossed for more cold weather as it would be nice to have some fruit and fewer bugs this year.

bee hives in winter 2010

trimming a pristine apple tree

Once again, more than a few days have gone by without any posts...

Not to necessarily take a Buddhist film out of perspective, but 'Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring Again'...before any mention of Orchard happenings. As soon as the last apple was plucked from the tree last fall, we began clearing a few hundred trees (it is much easier to prune a tree with one cut at the base than several at the top!) to make way for more varieties and younger trees.

We added thirty varieties and about 500 trees to the Orchard this Spring. We planted a couple new varieties, but the vast majority of them are apples from long ago: Kingston Black, Calville Blanc, Duchess of Oldenberg and Blue Pearmain to name a few.  We also planted a few peach, pear and cherry trees.

This Spring has been interesting, though, to say the very least.  Most of the orchards in the Midwest have been hit hard by a late freeze.  Well, the freeze isn't late so much as the blooms and fruit set came early, about a month early!

Folks have asked if there is anything we can do to save the fruit.  We will see what we were able to save in a couple of weeks as many small fruits have been dropping and will continue to do so.  We got up in the middle of the nights a couple of times to start fires throughout the orchard.  The days were spent building cairns of firewood and the nights spent burning them down.  I had never ran a chainsaw at 2:30/3:00 in the morning before this year, I don't ever want to again. 

Anyway, the fires glowed in the night sky.  They would have been even more beautiful under different circumstances.

Pickin' Time!

Another apple season is upon us, hooray, for picking time!

The first apple since the cooler was shut down in February, the initial crunch, the amazingly fresh texture, it was quite simply delicious. We currently have a few apple varieties in the cooler; Lodi, Pristine and Maiden Blush.

All of these apples, and it is only the beginning of August!

We will be picking several varieties (right around 40) over the next few months; so, how do we know when and which apples are ready to be picked?

First, we look to see if the fruit appears to be ripe according to color and size.

Second, we check out the ground to see if any apples have fallen from the tree yet.

Third, we pick one and cut it open with a knife to have a better look at the seeds. Apple seeds begin white and turn brown as the fruit ripens.

Last, we take a big bite. If it's delicious, it's time to pick!

new and old

Driving by the orchard these days, folks may see something in the distance, it's not just a forest of poles...we started a new adventure this spring: grapes!

We planted 550 vines, a few different varieties for wine and a couple for eating. We are super excited to be working with a new crop, a new challenge.

In the next 3 to 5 years, we hope to start harvesting our first fruits and pressing them for our first wines. Dad calls this acre the 'Glass of 2014'

We also have some hops growing for our Bunny #13, our OTS Wine made by fermenting hops with our apple cider.

They are a couple of years old, and we look forward to the time they reach the top of the poles.

We currently are growing willamette, nugget and cascade; and so far, the cascade hops seem to be doing the best.

And, or course, our old standby: apples. We took out a few hundred trees this winter and planted as many more. I believe we are now somewhere around 4200 trees, but i haven't counted yet this year to be sure.

Despite the inclement weather during bloom, the honeybees seem to have done what they do.

We will probably start picking apples in a few weeks. It's hard to believe that apple season is already upon us again.

This is a branch full of pristine apples.

A start to a countdown for fresh apples!