new Peach Orchard

Did I mention we planted a new peach orchard? And a few plums too. Our trees arrived from the nursery mid April and it took a little more than a week to plant all 100 or so of them. It's very exciting and quite exhausting as well. We added a couple of 5 gallon buckets of our lovely compost to each hole as we back filled them and then watered each one in so each tree is getting a good start. Now we have several years of tending and training before we get to taste the fruits of our labor. Faith, skill and preserverence are helpful fruit grower virtues. All those pictures in the catalog look so inciting. I certainly hope that the fruit is good and tasty too. Stay posted.
Karen

Springtime work work

Sorry it's been so long since my last blog posting. Spring arrived very quickly once it decided to come. The weather extremes stepped up the orchard bloom time by about two to three weeks earlier then normal and that means I lost a bunch of time to work in the orchards. Now everything needs doing at the same time. We just got our all essential skid steer back working again after it decided to founder on the neighbors property edge at the beginning of April. I'm sure when they asked us if we could just dump a couple of scoops of compost on their garden they never dreamed they would end up with such a lovely yard ornament[ hey - it was only in their yard for a week]. We managed to finally get it back to the barn where we could rip into it. Now many, many, hours later it's back in operation with so very much to do.
The greenhouses are nicely filled with young seedlings awaiting their special time to go out to the fields. We've planted lots of lettuces, swiss chard and onions. The potatoes are up and showing their green heads to the sun. Tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant seedlings look great and we'll begin planting them outside when the weather stabilizes a bit.
It's been great to see many of our work share members again this Spring. We're getting a chance to get caught up with what's been going on since we saw each other last year. Thanks go to all our work share members -you're doing a super job! Lots of hoeing, weeding and planting going on around here. Karen

Life is getting real busy down on the farm

We've started working in the greenhouse seeding flats of kales, lettuces, and swiss chards. Tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants are sown in shallow seed pans and will get potted up to a larger pot size when they've made some more growth. New plantings/sowings are made weekly to try to time it so each kind of transplant is at the right stage of growth when the weather is appropriate to transplant them to the field. This means waves of sometimes sequential sowings.
We have been working at creating new compost piles, turning compost piles, and spreading compost onto various farm fields as the weather permits. Even though our spreader looks like it holds lots of compost in it- it takes a surprising number of trips and time to apply compost to even one of our fields. This job must be done when it is dry enough to both load the compost and make it through the fields without making ruts or cause damaging compaction to wet soils (very bad).
Our elderly skid steer machine that we are using to create the compost piles and load compost is a marvelous machine (pictured above) but it seems to have almost daily problems. I think we have worked on just about every aspect of the machine by now- surely we are about to the point where nothing else will fall off or break on a daily basis.
We just received 1 3/4" of rain over the last three days (much better than the 2-4 inches predicted). We will likely need to wait for three or four days for the soil to dry out enough to resume our compost dispersal project. We have plenty of other projects to keep us more than busy at this time of year. Though everything needs to be done in proper order and in a timely fashion so we can keep moving forward.
We're all praying for moderation in the weather. Seasonal temperatures, sunshine, and a slight breeze during the day would be perfect. But then, how often do we really get perfect?
The first sowing of peas and spinach is beginning to peak their heads out of the soil now.
Karen

Thoughts of planting.....

I thought I'd post a picture from last year- as a reminder that good things are coming. We'll soon be planting again. In the meantime, here's a picture of long rows, soon to be harvested. Everyone keep thinking good thoughts of Spring!

This is it- no more snow!

We got the ladders dug out of the snow pack and the van removed from its snowy resting spot on Tuesday afternoon. The snow is disappearing quickly and we enjoyed some lovely, sunny days of pruning this week. With the use of our new found ladders we were able to prune the tops as well as bottoms of the trees. The rain we're scheduled to have will wash this snow away completely. Good riddance! We look forward to lots of sunny days with moderate temperatures and not too windy please. There is still plenty of pruning to do in the apples and once finished we can start on the cleanup. Then, there is always the peach orchard to prune and then the raspberries and blackberries after that. Oh yeah- don't forget the greenhouse work, compost application, plowing, and other field work. Spring is closing in fast.
Karen

Ahh- To Prune Again

We've been pruning in the apples for the last couple of days now. How lovely to be outside and have the sun shining! The snow pack has melted substantially, but it is suprising to see that it is still a couple off feet deep where it really drifted in the orchards. Our orchard ladders, which we carefully laid on the ground but propped up on some prunings before all this snow came, have still not appeared through the drifts. As luck has it, it looks like the biggest drifts are exactly where we left our ladders. We like to prune a whole tree at a time from the bottom to the top with a person on either side of the row. If it is really windy or wet we sometimes just do the bottoms, then come back later to do the tops. It's no fun being blown off a ladder or getting your gloves wet or muddy when it is cold out. So, since we couldn't get up to the ladders we've been working on the bottoms of the trees where we can get to them. We're still walking on a fair amount of snow and have skipped over some areas because the lower scaffold limbs of the trees are still drifted over. I think we could have lost a VW Beetle in some of the deepest drifts between the apple and peace orchards this year. Yesterday I got our van stuck in the snow still left in the access road. I thought I could blast through what I thought was 5" of snow tot the bare spot 40' away. Turns out it was more like 16" deep. We'll talk up today and take a couple of shovels so we can get the van out and find the buried ladders too. I drove to Downingtown a couple of days ago and was quite surprised to see the snow was almost all gone there. With these temps and some sun shine it's just a matter of time. I bet come July and August we'll be thinking more fondly of snow piles.
Karen

Still the snow won't GO!

This afternoon I tried, again, to plow to the top of the hill for easier access to the orchards. This time I managed to make it without getting the truck stuck in a drift, but I did manage to slide off the road a few times, and I couldn't make it all the way to the top. I did, however, manage to get a decent path plowed to the peaches, which will reduce the amount of walking Karen has to do to get to the apples. Unfortunately, the trees that still need to be pruned are a good distance from the plowed part of our access road, and the pruning ladders have yet to emerge from the snowbank!

Ah, well. Spring is coming (or so I'm told....._)

Jeff

so much snow

It's great to see that the snow has finally melted some. We're going into our third week of solid snow cover. I never remember a winter like this before.
Izzy [the Australian cattle dog that is my constant shadow] and I went for a bit of a walk off the snow plowed path yesterday. This is the first in weeks that we ventured far from where it has been plowed. The snow is still too deep to get to the apple orchard to prune. The rows of trees act as a giant snow fence and so it can really pile up especially in the orchards. Perhaps when we have a little more melting action we will snow plow a path to the compost area. It's a short walk across a field to get to the apples from our compost spot but a rather long hike from the farm house.
We were a little overly optimistic about how much snow our truck and snow plow could handle. A few days after the last big snow we got we thought we would hasten our accesses to the orchard by plowing to the top of the hill. The drifts were way too much for the truck and plow to handle and we succeeded in getting the truck very stuck. After about one and a half hours of digging with skid steer and shovels and pulling with a tractor we managed to uncork it from its drift. I thought it wise to put my big tall boots on and go for an exploratory walk to check on snow depth before trying that again.
Thank goodness January was so nice and we made significant progress in pruning the apples. We have a lot of catching up now to do in order to finish before all the heavy Spring work begins. Apples can be pruned in the winter as well as later in the Spring but if we don't finish early enough it messes up our timing for pruning the peach orchard and all the other activities that Spring down on the farm brings. Peaches do not like being pruned in the winter. We generally prune them beginning the tail end of March through April. It would be lovely to be done with the pruning by bloom time so we can get into the orchards with our tractor and sprayer and not get tangled in all the prunings on the ground. This however, is a rarity. It is not uncommon for us to be pruning when the peaches are in bloom or shortly after. Ah- the smell of peach blossoms. I can almost smell them now. Just the thought of being surrounded by all those flowers brings a smile to my face. I'm sure looking forward to seeing the ground again.

on the ground to destroy the equipment.

Snow, Snow, and more Snow!

I don't know how much snow we've actually got. I know that there are plenty of snow drifts 3' or more here.
We're all pretty tired of snow around here. Snow means a lot of extra work for us, and snow days gobble up valuable time that is needed for other projects and leaves us physically worn out.
We love our new greenhouse and red raspberry high tunnel except for times of heavy snow or icy spells. The structures are made of heavy gauge metal with a heavy mil plastic covering. Because of our high winds we made sure to add even further reinforcement to the structures when we constructed them. The fear that every greenhouse grower has is that the house just won't be able to handle the weight of even several inches of heavy snow or ice. After all our hard work putting the house up and outfitting it with growing benches and such I would hate to see a crumpled mess of twisted metal and plastic.
Snow can be removed from the top of the houses manually by dragging it off from outside or bopping it off from inside (I made a special tool for this) or in times of greater snow accumulations we heat the inside of the structures with portable propane heaters and a big diesel torpedo heater which is terribly stinky but kicks out a lot of heat quickly! Of course all of this takes monitoring to make sure all is working well. I set my alarm for every 3 hours to make my way out through 2 to 4' snow drifts to check to make certain everything was working and to possibly change propane tanks. Much to my horror the big torpedo went out sometime between 1 and 3 in the morning. The snow was coming down heavily then and wasn't scheduled to stop for another 16 hours. I knew I would never be able tot keep up without a heater. Luckily we had a kerosene heater in the barn and I had filled some kerosene fuel tanks a few weeks before. I'm also thankful to have listened to that little voice in my head that motivated me to put a kid's snow saucer in the barn just before the snow started. I realize that though typically I don't view it as being much of a walk between the barn and the greenhouse, that night, with the side door snowed in it would be a difficult walk with a very awkward large kerosene heater. I was absolutely thrilled to see the bright blue snow saucer that I had recently moved to the barn. It would prove to be just perfect in transporting the heater through the enormous drifts between the barn and the greenhouse.
It snowed so much that it mounded up around the long sides of the houses so much that there was nowhere left for it to go. Shovel, shovel, and more shoveling to keep the side walls from breaking under too much pressure.
And then there is always now plowing to break up the snow shoveling monotony. These long storms really suck. Next year we're investing in a snow blower!

Pruning the Orchard

This past week member Mary Ann Vannicola and I went to the Pennsylvania Farm show held in Harrisburg to volunteer at the fruit growers booth. Each county fruit growers association takes a turn to staff the booth in the food court for the day or evening. All the monies raised from selling the cider, apples, apple dumplings, and sundaes goes to help fund research projects that in turn help us as fruit growers. We enjoyed the comradirery of fellow fruit growers and the chance to catch up with friends we don't see often enough. The more people that volunteer means everyone can take a break and walk around to see the show.
It would have been nice to attend the Farm show again on Tuesday for the women in agriculture day, but I couldn't afford to miss another work day on the farm.
We also started pruning the apple orchard. I plan to prune every day except for Sundays if the weather is good. I need to have at least one day per week to rest a bit. We'll start with 1/2 days and maybe put in full days if the weather is particularly fine and schedules permit. The apple orchard is on top of a hill and can be a very cold place in the winter.
We plan to pick up the prunings as soon as possible to allow us to get the tractor and sprayer through the isles. By spraying a deer repellent we hope to at least somewhat control the feeding damage done by the deer. Deer seem to think of apple twigs as candy and as a result do a huge amount of damage, especially over the winter when there is less for them to eat elsewhere.
The best solution is probably to put up an electric fence- obviously an expensive but likely inevitable option if we want to be able to farm in an area with such a large deer population. Our hunter friends have shot a few, but I'm afraid we are not keeping up with the deer population growth. More and more houses going up all around us concentrates them where the food is. We evidently have quite the smorgasborg!
When we're not actually pruning or repairing equipment there's lots of planning and paperwork to do. Website edits are taking place, and we expect our website to be updated by the beginning of February.

Karen

Winter Work Continues

Despite the cold, we've got a few outside things happening now. Karen started pruning the apples this morning, and I'm working on swapping equipment around for some tree removal and firewood cutting tomorrow.

One of the great joys of office work is the wood stove. Especially when it's damp, cold, or bleak outside, it's wonderful to sit in the office next to a warm stove and slog through the paperwork.

It looks like the end of the week will be warmer than it has been for quite a while, so I am expecting to do some mowing in the orchards, and hopefully work on the compost piles Thursday or Friday.

Stay warm, and think good thoughts.....
Jeff

From Farmer Karen

This is my first blog posting! I barely use email and here I am blogging. I guess it is possible to teach an old dog a new trick (not that I'm a dog)

Here we are in 2010. I'd love to say I've had a chance to relax since the tail end of 09 CSA but there always seems to be so much to do. The substantial apple crop this past fall was super but it certainly added much to our work load. Amongst all the farm work in the fall we pressed cider continuously from the end of September through to the end of December. Each cider pressing typically takes two people about half a day. With fewer people around after the end of the CSA season that sometimes translated to me working really fast! Having helpers is wonderful!

Cider, apples, and our many farm value added products were sold at the Brandywine River Museum outdoor courtyard weekends from Thanksgiving through to the end of the year. Because of some lousy weather on some of the market days we sold less than what I'd hoped for and expected. It is always good to see fellow marketers that I've come to know over the years and we all helped keep each others spirits up regardless of the cold temps and less than desirable cash in the pocket.

For those who haven't been, The Brandywine River Museum is a wonderful little museum tucked in along the river in Chadd's Ford PA. Artwork, landscaping, and architecture all blend in a wonderful way. There's a great train display and Christmas trees filled with lovely hand made ornaments. Plan now on visiting in 2010 and get a nice cup of hot cider while you're there- and take an apple butter home while you're at it!

So- is it really time to start pruning the apple orchard again? I'm sure glad I got a message to set me straight so we can begin the whole cycle again.
Karen

The Winter's Work

Though for many people winter is a time to rest and relax, here on the farm we are still busy! During the Holidays Karen marketed our Apples, Cider, and fruit butters at the Brandywine River Museum. We have been busy working on our final cider pressing, fruit butter making, and dealing with the snowfalls. Whenever there is a measurable snowfall we have to be concerned about the weight of the snow on our greenhouse and high tunnel. We place heaters inside to help with melting it off, and then often someone has to push the snow off the roof as well, so that it doesn't collapse.

We are nearly done finalizing our 2010 CSA pricing, and soon will be updating the website with the new information.

Next week the huge winter chore of pruning the apple orchard will begin. Typically this takes about a month, working 1/2 days for two people. The peaches will be pruned in the spring, after the thaw.

We'll have more news soon, in the meantime stay warm and enjoy the winter!
Jeff