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