Cold Weather and Snow

A winter storm moved through this area this past weekend leaving behind five inches of snow and plummeting temperatures.  Subzero readings are predicted for this week.  Up until this recent storm, our winter season was relatively mild with little snow, mostly rain.   These rains were most welcome.  Thanks to this moisture the local water table is making a slow but sure return to normalcy after the recent dry summers.  A good water table creates healthier trees in the orchard.

     Pruning is progressing.  Making good headways in the older apple trees.  Our new apple trees and our peach trees, however, are still in need of attention.  Hopefully, after this cold front moves through we will be able to go out again and try to finish for the year.

The two trade shows and fruit conferences we attended in December and January were good experiences and worth the time and effort.  We “networked” with other growers and were able to discuss issues common to all of us.  The trade show exposition gave us some new ideas for marketing and harvesting our orchard products.  Several new varieties of apples were on display for tasting and sampling.  Some were interesting while others were nothing too promising.  Since it takes anywhere from five to ten years to bring a product to market after the initial tree planting, it is prudent to do a little research on what varieties are available before you just jump in and plant.  As of now, can’t say we were too impressed by what we tasted.  This year our plan for the orchard is going forward grafting some of the old varieties that we have so we can continue to offer these to our customers.  Several of these varieties are not classified as “heirlooms” but tried and true varieties that are no longer available at nurseries, such as our “Golden Delicious,” and the “Jonathon” that has been in the orchard since it was originally planted.

     Another interesting aspect of the conferences that we attended was consumer awareness and consumer demand for more accountability from growers when producing and marketing food products.  Consumers are embracing local, smaller producers and supporting local markets.  Consumers are getting  more interested in learning about their food, where it is grown, how it is grown and who grows it.  This “consumer responsibility” is refreshing to us as a small grower.  We feel we can fill this need for our customers.

     As we continue to perform our winter work in the orchard, we, like everyone else, look forward to Spring.  Each day as we put up with the doldrums of winter, we are inching closer to those beautiful days of bloom!