April 2010

It feels like we have skipped Spring and jumped right into Summer. We are finishing up pruning and getting ready to plant our new trees for 2010. We are planting Macouns, Gingergolds, Zestars, Golden Delicious and Northern Spies this year.  So far the warm weather has been nice but not good for planting at all. Hopefully we will get some cooler wet weather next week so we can plant our trees. These warm days have pushed the buds to open and we are now at 1/2" green tip, slightly ahead of schedule from previous years. All will work out well once we do not get a frost as we are only a few days away from bloom. Our cherry and peach trees have a few blossoms already. We have already applied our first appication of dormant oil which helps prevent any overwintering insect eggs from hatching during the warm days of spring. 

 February 2010

Its been a quiet winter so far, now we are getting ready to prune our trees.  We will start pruning the younger apple trees and work our way to the mature trees. We hope the cold spell stays awhile since we need it to be cold to prune the trees.  Our orders for replacement trees have been verified and we are planning our new plots for the incoming trees which will arrive late April, early May. All the equipment has been tuned up and ready for the first warm days of spring.

October 2009

It has been a busy summer and fall.  We opened up for our first u-pick and it has been a very successful and encouraging time for all of us.  We have enjoyed meeting all of our customers and hearing their ideas and suggestions for u-pick 2010.  With over seventeen varieties being picked right now it keeps us all very busy.  We will be open for a couple more weeks and then we will start our annual orchard clean-up to prepare for the long winter and coming spring. Thanks again for everyone who came by to visit and if you have not made it yet hopefully you will find some time within the next few weeks.

June 2009

Things are shaping up, we are busy mowing the grass and the cherries and apples are growing bigger each day. We are approaching “June Drop” which is when the trees decide which fruits will be viable and they abort “drop” the weak ones that will not reach maturity. This is nature’s way of reducing a heavy crop load. We have most of our gardens planted with tomatoes, squash, beans, pumpkins, lettuce, peppers etc. We are finishing up our pump house that will be the heart of our irrigation and fertilization system for the orchard. There are countless other projects underway and everyone is getting ready for busy weeks ahead and all fun that we will have along the way. Our orchard pest manager (Apples the dog) is doing a great job keeping all the trees in line and monitoring the rodents and wildlife to ensure they do not enter the orchard.