Doll's Orchards, LLC

Blondie, Gala, McIntosh, Honeycrisp, Ginger Gold

The “OPEN” sign was put out and another season is under way.  Our business hours have been set as:  Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday open at 9:00 a.m. and we will close at 6:00 p.m.; Wednesday, 2:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m.  Saturday, 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. and Sunday, 10:30 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.

The Farmers’ Markets that we will be participating as a vendor are the Saturday Batesville, Indiana Market; the Saturday North Vernon, Indiana Market; the Friday Greensburg, Indiana Market.  Market locations and hours can be found on the websites for each.  Wednesday mornings we will bring our apples to the White’s Farm Flea Market in Brookville, Indiana.  Hours there are sunrise until around noon depending on the weather.

The varieties that we have available at this time are the Gingergold  and Zestar apples.  Both of these apple varieties are superb in their unique flavors and versatility.  Gala is the next variety to pick followed by the ever popular HoneyCrisp.  Nothing is better than an apple fresh off the tree.

Our U-Pik venture will open the 24th of August and at this time we will offer weekend hours only, Saturday, 11:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m., and Sunday,10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. This is something new for us and we are trying to make it a “family” outing.  All the kinks are yet to be worked out so please bear with us in this “growing” venture.  We look forward to seeing all our good customers, old and new, as we begin another season.

“Dog” days of summer are upon us as we approach the beginning of another harvest season.  Heat advisories were issued for the area as the past few days the temperatures have been in the upper 90’s and heat indexes have approached over 105 degrees.  Recent rain has caused the humidity levels to soar.

The apples have passed their cell divisions and are starting to put on their growth.  So far, so good with the development of the apples.  Peaches, however, are not much.  At this point we are trying to beat the wildlife to them as the squirrels and raccoons have enjoyed the few peaches that have ripened so far.  On the lighter side, it is amusing to see the squirrels manage to get a peach from the top of the tree and scurry away with it.  They are “stealing” it for the seed in the stone.  Guess they know something good when they see it and don’t think twice about helping themselves.

Still using weed eaters in the orchard and pulling weeds from around the young trees.  Trying to keep things under control before we spend most of our days picking fruit.  Weed control can be discouraging, especially this year.   We are also fine tuning the equipment as we get ready for harvest.

The first apples we harvested were Lodi and Early Harvest or Transparent.  Both of these varieties are exceptional for sauce.  We have only a few trees so supply is limited and usually go to the same customers every year.  We will be harvesting Gingergold apples in about three weeks and this variety will be the first that we can offer to our customers.  After the Gingergold we will be picking Sansa, Zestar and the ever popular Gala.  By the third week of August we will have a nice selection of apples to offer our customers at our markets.  Check out our updated chart with apple varieties and their uses as well as the descriptions of each of the varieties that are grown in our orchard.

Again, we strongly encourage shopping for your produce at your local Farmers’ Markets.  These markets offer fresh produce, most of it directly from the farmer to you.  Meet and chat with the vendors, ask questions.  A visit to the market may be an extra trip in your busy schedules but there is no better way “eat fresh” and support the local grower.

The orchards are saturated and the trees are standing in water.  It is an understatement to say it has been a wet spring and so far a very wet summer.  Above average rainfall with high humidity and foggy mornings is creating undesirable growing conditions.  Trying to control scab, powdery mildew and unwanted insects has become a truly challenging job.  We are making every effort to take care of the fruit and the trees and hope for a little more sun and a lot less rain at this point.

The Pick-Your-Own orchard is growing and plans are developing for opening it this season.  There is good feed-back on the plans to date and looking forward to seeing patrons bring their children to see how fruit is grown and harvested.

Peaches are not going to be plentiful this season.  More than what we had first thought but not many in terms of demand.  The peach trees are suffering from these extreme wet conditions.  Our clay soil does not drain so well and peach trees don’t tolerate “wet feet.”  There will be numerous peach trees dying this year.  Nothing much can be done to reverse phytophthora which is a soil-borne water mold that produces an infection in plants that is called “root rot” or “dieback.”  Early symptoms include wilting, yellowing.  Prevention is the key versus treatment after a plant is infected.

Light + Water + Warmth = Weeds.  All these factors are present and so are the weeds.  We continue in our efforts of “weed control,” using weed eaters in the older trees and actually pulling weeds from around the newly planted trees.  It’s an eye roll when we tell the workers to get the weed eaters and “let’s go.”

Other than too much rain and too many weeds, the fruit development looks good and moving forward to another harvest season.  Another six weeks and we hopefully will be seeing all of you at the markets.

Days turn into weeks and weeks into months and here it is almost the end of May.  Not too much going on at the orchard except trying to stay ahead of the weeds.  We had an unusually wet Spring and now heading into Summer with the same challenges of too much moisture.  The Midwest has almost twice the usual amounts of rainfall.  Thus, weeds, weeds and more weeds to be dealt with in the orchard.  Our weed eaters are becoming an important part of our day.

The trees look healthy at this point.  So far no fire blight issues and that in itself is a real blessing.  Fire blight is a disease that can wipe out an entire orchard, especially if the orchard has young trees.  Hot, wet weather conditions feed fire blight.  We’ve had the wet conditions but so far not too hot.

Fruit set on the apple trees looks promising even though we had serious rain during the three heaviest bloom days.  The bees did their best but the weather just didn’t cooperate.  Peaches, however, not so good as bloom was light.

The new Pick-Your-Own orchard is coming along.  This will be a transitional year for these trees.  Much positive feedback is coming our way regarding this endeavor.  Our vision is to open on the weekends for those who want to pick and experience the harvest season.

Farmers’ Markets are gearing up in most communities.  We have been going to our local market in Batesville, Indiana with our extra asparagus and rhubarb.  Apples will be at the market by mid-August.  Meeting all of you, our new customers and those who have been buying for years, is the best part of this “growing business.”

Thanks to the local school corporation’s Spring break and good help from the neighbors’ boys, we have finished pruning, raking prunings, mulching and picking up debris in the orchards.  Ready for another season!  Nothing really more satisfying than seeing the orchard pruned, cleaned and waiting for bloom.  Currently the trees are at one half inch green, meaning the leaves have emerged and are green and a half inch long.  Bloom should be on schedule with full bloom usually occurring in this area around the 25th of April.  Fruit bud looks good and with a little help from Mother Nature we should be on our way to another “fruitful” harvest.

Fruit bud on the peaches do not look as promising as the apples.  This was due to the extremely cold temperatures in January.  Peaches are very susceptible to cold and anything lower than ten degrees below zero is just too cold.  Not looking too good for a peach harvest.

New trees have arrived that were ordered from the nursery.  We were able to get these trees planted before the last predicted rain thus, allowing roots to set and develop.  A big job that we are happy to have finished.  Orchardists never tire of planting trees; it is how we touch the future!

Equipment getting its annual PM (Preventative Maintenance) checks.  Trying to stay ahead of the game to prevent breakdowns in the field.  Enough of that happens even with the best PM program in place.

Farmers’ Markets meetings are being scheduled and plans getting put in place for bringing fresh fruits and vegetables to the consumers’ tables.  Spring is just around the corner.  Isn’t it just great?

Today, March 14th, was commemorated as National Ag Day.  Local FFA groups as well as other agricultural groups such as Indiana Farm Bureau sponsored various events to showcase the role that farmers play in our lives and the lives of those around us.  Many agricultural organizations have rallied together to raise an awareness of the nation’s quality farmers and the quality foods that are produced for the nation’s consumers.  Farming has contributed significantly to the overall economic and cultural growth of our communities.  As far as we can surmise, no one has ever gotten tired of eating!

February was one of the wettest months on record for rainfall.  Our area gauged 9.25 inches of rain for the month.  Despite the wet conditions we were able to complete trimming the older trees in the orchard.  We are just about finished with the Pick Your Own Orchard with its new, dwarf trees as well.  Cleanup will be next on our “to-do” list.  There has been quite a bit of prunings and branches cut off this season and cleanup will take some additional time this year.  It is a good feeling to be this far into the program.  With longer and warmer days, the trees will start to come out of their dormancy and viola’, blooms and fruit set.  Bloom in the orchard is really one of the most breath taking events of Springtime and we never get tired of seeing it unfold.

Labor efforts for this whole month of February in the orchard have been dedicated to pruning.  The weather has not been all that cooperative but when we could get out we were working on trimming the trees.  Not nearly  finished, but we are making progress.  Clean-up will follow and another season will be underway.

Purdue University sponsored the Indiana Horticultural Congress held in Indianapolis, Indiana, February 12th through the 15th.  We were able to attend this gathering of growers and producers and were able to sit in on several interesting presentations on food safety, marketing and business succession.  A trade show was also available to walk through and browse.  There were lots of opportunity to discuss issues with the vendors at the the trade show as well as meet one on one with the representatives from Purdue University.

Farm/business succession has been on the discussion table quite often in the  agricultural seminars that we have attended.  We are all aware that the future of agriculture and rural communities lies with young people.  However, the faces of those in agriculture are those of an aging people.  Farmers want to pass on their family farms to those with familial bonds.  Doing this is getting more difficult everyday as fewer and fewer members of the younger generation just can’t survive on family farms anymore.  There are long lists of reasons to justify this mass exodus from family farming but no one solution has been found to turn it all around.  Small farming operations are struggling to maintain their identity and keep from being swallowed up by conglomerates.

Farming is and has been the backbone of this country’s economic growth and success.  People need to eat and their demand for food continues on a daily basis.  Farmers have done their jobs so well that there is an abundance of food available to consumers at good prices.   Actual food, (fresh fruits, vegetables, meats)  at the grocery store is cheap and a great bargain.  A bumper sticker we recently saw read, “If you ate today, thank a farmer.”  Enough said.

Our area is in the throes of “Old Man Winter.”  With actual temperatures below zero in addition to gusty winds, we have been experiencing wind chill factors ranging from twenty to thirty degrees below zero.  Definitely not temperatures conducive to outdoor chores in the orchard such as pruning.  While pruning continues to be the main area of focus in our orchard during this time of year, it will be “on hold” until the weather conditions improve.  We have a long way to go to finish and are anxious for a break in this recent weather pattern.

Trade shows as well as fruit and vegetable workshops have been sponsored by Michigan State University and Purdue University in the past months.  We make a point to attend these workshops to stay abreast of what’s new in the “growing” business.  New apple varieties, latest equipment and marketing ideas are just a few areas of interest for us growers.  There is an overall feeling of  comradery where  concerns are freely discussed and individual grower problems sometimes find resolution.

With all the hype and advertising to eat more fruits and vegetables, apples do seem to be holding their own in commercial sales.  Consumers realize the importance of the apple as part of their daily dietary intake and continue to purchase apples at a steady rate.  Apples are low in calories, one medium apple has approximately one hundred (100) calories.  Apples have no cholesterol, no fat and no sodium.  Apples supply seventeen percent (17%) of the recommended dietary fiber as well as fourteen (14%) percent of dietary values of Vitamin C.  So, some simple advice from a grower, “Eat More Apples!”

What had been a relatively mild winter season has now become a normal January in Indiana, snowy and cold.  We were blanketed with about eight inches of snow these past few days and temperatures dropped into the teens.  Less than a week ago we were working in the orchard with sweatshirts and now will have to don insulated pants and boots.

Our new season starts when we begin pruning.  Pruning or trimming the trees ready them for the upcoming production season.  Thus, pruning the apple trees has been our main focus of the past several weeks.  Taking advantage of the mild temperatures we were able to start the annual pruning and trimming of the older apple trees about three weeks ago.  Pruning is tedious and at times more challenging than we want but it is a necessary element in fruit production.  Not only is it a time to remove extra growth and dead limbs from the trees, it is also a time  to determine the overall condition of the trees as a result of insect damage, root damage, rodent damage and soil conditions.

Our area was hit by an ice storm in early December.  Because last fall was so wet many of the trees had not dropped their leaves when the storm  system moved through.  Consequently the weight of the ice on the leaves and the wet ground caused some of our trees to uproot themselves.  We suffered the loss of quite a few of our new trees in the orchard, these breaking off at the graft or at ground level.  Disappointing to nurture and care for them for over seven years and then find them broke off and laying on the ground.  Remove and replant is the only option when this happens.

The Pick-Your-Own orchard continues to draw interest from our customers.  If the season progresses as we hope, this part of our business should be available for operation this fall.  Mother Nature plays an important role in agricultural endeavors, however, so we will have to see what develops over the next several months.