Hi there!

Greetings, all! It's been a long time since I posted, and for that you have my apologies. It's a bit crazy here this time of year!

Before I forget, a couple people have asked about local activities that kids can enjoy. Time Out NY Kids has a lovely list here and there is an Ulster County farm guide here. If you have any questions, let me know and I'll find you an answer!

Our first two weekends of picking have been lots of fun and we're hoping to get another couple of weeks in before the end of the season. If you haven't been up to pick yet, it's time to make a plan! Remember, you can come just about any time of any day. Just let me know when you want to visit and I'll be here. Weasley, too.

Recipes will be posted to the website soon. If you have any that you'd like to share, send them to me at julie(at)littledogorchard.com.

Hooray for fall! Hooray for apples! See you soon!

...More irrigation... (think about Carly Simon. Or ketchup)

If you're reading this, you've probably gotten an email from us recently, so thanks for checking out the blog! Now go tell your friends that they should lease a tree, too! I feel like such a salesman when I push the leases, but friends, let me tell you: this is not about making money, and it probably won't make much (if any) for years. Right now, we need irrigation. You would be surprised to find out how much installing irrigation costs! (Okay, I was surprised. You might be completely blase about things like this.)

I'll post the details of our contest soon. For today, I'll finish sending out the irrigation plea emails (one at a time, so they don't get eaten by spam filters), work on starting a facebook page for LDO, and spend a few hours mowing before heading up the hill to work for the night.

Folks are starting to email their ideas about how to reach more people - I love it! Keep it up, Friends of Little Dog!

Know any good moves?

If you're wondering what we've been up to lately at Little Dog, picture me and Weasley doing elaborate rain dances. Yes, while nearly everyone else in the area is praying for sun, we're praying for rain. The trees are thirsty and we haven't had irrigation installed yet. We're working on it. We've even been approved for some handy government funding to help pay for it. But we still have a few things to work out (little things like paying the wonderful people we want to hire to handle the installation. You'll probably get an email about our new tree lease campaign soon, in fact...).

So if you know any good rain dance moves, send me a video!

More change afoot!

It's almost unreasonable, the amount of change that goes on around here. First of all, Mother Nature just keeps on truckin', as evidenced by this:Those little applets are bigger than kumquats!

Other exciting change: Gunk Haus (the awesome restaurant and beer garden just up the hill from the orchard), is going to open this weekend! Woohoo! (You have no idea how exciting this is. Seriously. These guys rock.)

There are other changes afoot, but none of them are as concrete. So I'll leave you with those for now.

Before and During

Everyone loves Before and After pictures. Everyone loves the big reveal. I'm one of those people. I love those moments! This? is not one of those moments. And I'm pretty sure I ought to get used to more of these. Welcome to an era of Before and During. The photo above is a project that isn't especially long term: I'm just sanding and sealing the picnic tables I bought last year for you all to enjoy while harvesting your apples. But it's not something I can finish in a day, and, given my week, it probably won't be done this week. But that doesn't mean I can't tell you what I'm up to. It just isn't an especially satisfying moment. So there it is - your first Before and During photo. We all better get used to it, because Little Dog is a work in progress. And it's going to take us years to get where we're headed...

Incredibly cute (and yet, no picture), plus a bit on thinning

It probably goes without saying that I am besotted by our mascot (a.k.a. The Hudson Valley's Handsomest Hound), but I just had to tell you that he is especially cute when he is enjoying fresh asparagus. It's hard to capture with a camera because I'm greedy enough that I never give him a whole stalk. He gets the bottom ends only and he chews them waaaaay back with his hind teeth. I have no idea why it's so cute. I'll have to figure out if I can take a video. I have to be able to post video when the apples are ripe, because another endearing thing Weasley does is fetch apples. He won't fetch anything else, though. And I swear we didn't train him to do that!

Okay, apologies for gushing over my dog. I got a little distracted by the tractor and sprayer out my window. I would imagine they're putting another (?) thinning agent on. I'll talk more about thinning in the next few days. This year, we're going to get into it MUCH earlier than we did last year. (I hope!) The fruit set this season is amazing (go bees!), and we hardly got hit by frost, which means there are entirely too many little fruitlets out there on the trees. The conventional response to too much fruit is to spray any number of chemicals that kills off the weaker buds. Obviously, here at Little Dog, we don't roll like that. So I'll be reaching out to my neighbor to hire hands to snap off hundreds (possibly thousands) of buds per tree.

The crazy thing is, thinning ends up meaning more fruit in the long run. I'm going to try to take or find good pictures so I can illustrate this stuff for you a bit better. Pictures are good, right?

Eeeeeeeeeeeeevil.

It constantly surprises me how much of farming is killing things. I spent hours yesterday pulling the pretty princess pictured above out of all manner of unfortunate places. She loves to snuggle up with anyone, and seems to have no standards. Left alone, she'll take over, insinuating herself into every crack and crevice, insuring that no one else can get close. I hate that bitch.

For those of you who, like me until recently, don't know who that is, that's poison ivy. And yes, The Coasters were singing in my head ALL DAY.

I had to pull the ivy out before I could start reclaiming a chunk of land that Mother Nature has been trying to take back for years. I can't go in with a weed whacker (or "string trimmer" for you professionals) until the ivy is cleared. Whacking is will only lead to more ivy. More ivy is bad.

So I pulled out a garbage bag full of the stuff. I dressed up in the functional equivalent of a haz-mat suit so she couldn't inflame my soul (or skin). It took a good couple of hours, as you have to get as much of the root as possible, otherwise you're wasting your time. She's impressively persistent.

And now a word from our sponsor:

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A common cold'll fool ya'

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But poison ivy, Lord'll make you itch!

Apples, Kazakhstan, biodiversity and you!

My cousin Kim is going to love this: One of the people working on the Little Dog permaculture plan has visited the wild apple forests of Kazakhstan. If that sounds vaguely familiar and you can’t remember why, you’ve probably read Michael Pollan’s book The Botany of Desire. In the first chapter, Pollan tells part of the history of the apple and learns that the birthplace of the modern apple is most likely Kazakhstan. The apple forests there exhibit the surprising genetic diversity. The forest is healthy, balanced, natural, and tends to remain fairly unbothered by pests and disease. Sounds brilliant, eh? We should get some of that action here, you say? Indeed. Biodiversity is going to be the key to Little Dog’s future. We’re on the path to planting all kinds of interesting stuff in the orchard: berries, hops, nuts (the Northern Pecan! Woo!), pungent greens. All of those things are going to make the orchard a healthier, happier place to be. We’re going to build a system that supports itself. It’s going to take a big chunk of time and money, but it’s going to happen and you, dear reader, are going to be a part of it.

Speaking of taking part, let's all brainstorm names that might trip off the tongue in a more pleasant way than "permaculture", shall we? Or perhaps I just need to practice...

A mixed bag

Do you want the good news first or the bad news first? Okay, the bad: Temperatures dropped last night to the point where we may have suffered damage. And they're going to drop again tonight. If we freeze, we could lose any portion of the crop. If it's a mild frost, it could do the perfect amount of damage, which is a funny thing to say. But every crop has to be thinned (more on thinning later), and if we lose just the right amount to frost, we don't have to spray to thin or spend serious money for hand-thinning. But if it gets TOO cold, we could lose it all. That would be BAD news.

Now the good: I had a trained professional look at our current business plan last night and he doesn't think I'm crazy! (Wipe that look of surprise off your face, soldier!) I still have a few serious blanks to fill in, but those will have to wait until the second week of May. (Have I mentioned how bad I am at waiting?) But the basics look good. We're not going to get rich off this place, but we might be able to grow apples without spending more money than we have. And THAT'S good news.

Now all we need is to not lose the crop to frost. Think warm thoughts!

Anticipation, anticipa-a-tion

I'm sitting here waiting for a FarmNet consultant to get here so we can discuss whether or not Little Dog has a real future. ARGH. I am NOT. GOOD. At WAITING. (He's late, by the way. I'm not that out of control.)

p.s. If anyone out there has a tractor they're not using anymore, send it on over here! Heck, we'll even come get it.

The Bees Knees

That right there is a housing development for the most important laborers of all: bees. Without the bees, no one else gets to work, because without them, there's no fruit. These particular bees are serious migrant workers. They travel all over the country for work. Their biggest gig is pollinating almonds in California. I love these guys, even though I'm still afraid of 'em too. It's amazing how long a childhood sting lasts in the old amygdala, eh?

The hives in the picture were rented by the fellow who is leasing the bigger part of our orchard. All the major growers rent hives. Here at Little Dog, we're working on figuring out what to plant that will attract native pollinators. According to a recent article in New York Fruit Quarterly, there are as many as 81 different species of native bees who are willing to hang out and do what needs to be done in order for these trees to bear fruit. Can you imagine? 81 different species in New York alone! That's exciting news for me for a couple of reasons. Reason one is that I don't have to be as concerned about colony collapse disorder. Reason two is because, for some reason, cultivating plants that attract native pollinators is less scary to me than starting my own honey bee hives.

If you have questions about bees, post 'em! I probably won't be able to answer off the top of my head, but this is how I learn.

I don't remember putting *this* in my queue...

You know when you're watching a DVD and you hit "Fast Forward" and then you hit "Play" but the movie keeps speeding along? I swear Mother Nature hit "Fast Forward". See for yourself:

I'll explain those funky boxes from the first picture in another post down the line. But for now I'll just say that these trees are putting on their best "come hither" looks...

It's only you and me, and we just disagree...

There are workers in the part of the orchard that we own but can't yet manage today. They're throwing fistfulls (fists full?) of rodent poison everywhere to kill off the voles (who tunnel and make a hash of orchard floors and rudely gnaw on apple tree trunks).

Here's my plan: I'm about to apply something to the grassy areas called milky spore . It's a bacterium that is harmless to pets, people, beneficial insects ... well, in short, it doesn't hurt anyone but Japanese beetle grubs. See, the beetles will wake up soon, mature into adults, and eat any green matter in sight. The green matter that concerns me most is apple tree leaves. See, without those leaves, the tree can't collect the sunlight that feeds the apples. So I don't like Japanese beetles. You know who *does* like them? Voles. Voles like them when they are tasty grubs, sleeping in the dirt, waiting to become beetles. (You're with me so far, right?) So here I go with my milky spore, which will kill the grubs (so they don't grow up to eat the leaves). And where there are fewer adults, there will be fewer grubs, which means the voles will eventually have to look somewhere else for food.

Sometimes I feel like an evil genius.

It ain't easy, capturing green.

Well folks, what can I say? It's STUNNING in the Hudson Valley right now. Spring is busting out all over. And all I have to capture it on is a little phone camera. So I'll just tell you that we're sneaking beyond tight cluster and moving right into pink (these are the phrases/words apple growers use to describe the stages of development. I promise I'll let you know when I make stuff up.)

It's kind of funny how the mind gets used to the starkness of winter. I keep being surprised when I look out the windows. Green, green, green. GREEN! I might have to lean on a certain neighbor for some awesome images. Maple Avenue, here I come...

I thought it was an apple orchard. Why are there prunes everywhere?

Seriously - prunes are EVERYWHERE around this joint. Okay, I'm not sure they're called that, but what would *you* call the stuff leftover after pruning? I'm calling 'em prunes, and that's that.

Even though it's not the ideal season for pruning, we just had ours done. (Ask me about the timing if you're interested. I won't bore the rest of you with the details.) It was beyond necessary this year, as I skipped last year out of frugality and an absolute lack of ability and/or labor for hire. The guys who came were awesome - fast, efficient, and super friendly. One of the guys has been working on these trees for the entire time they've been here. I wish I could download his knowledge right onto my hard drive!

Once the crew has been through to pick up the big chunks of tree (er, rather, the big prunes), someone will swing through with a chopper to dice up the rest. Once that happens, I'll probably start the permaculture plan. That's likely to entail planting fun things like chives (to confuse pests!).

It's getting incredibly green around here, so I'll try to get some good pictures soon...

More death and destruction

Sumacs will take over if you let 'em. They're nicer about it than the multiflora, but they're just as determined. Happily, it's pretty easy to pull 'em out by the roots. The roots snake all over the land, and the process would make me sad if we had a "lawn" or anything that we're growing on purpose, but for now, it's all good.

Hail the conquering hero:

Out, damned spot!

In these parts, you can make friends just by talking trash about the multiflora rose. They're evil for many reasons: They're vicious and thorny, they grow like (pardon) weeds, they spawn all over the place and they will take over your land if you let it. Jody discovered on the internet recently that the favorite method for multiflora removal is a bulldozer. Well, we don't have a bulldozer. But we have loppers, and we're not afraid to use them! Here's the before photo:

And here's the after:

The next step is for Jody to get out there with a shovel and dig out the root ball. And then we'll mow with religious fervor. Wish us luck! The next victims are the staghorn sumac...

So much chaos, so few posts

Apologies, my friends, for not keeping you up to date on the Little Dog daily doings. Winter was so quiet and calm and then BLAM! Spring exploded all over the place. Things are in serious flux over here, but it's all very exciting. We're getting things done and making plans for a brighter future. I don't want to say too much, for fear of jinxing ourselves, but the word for the day is "permaculture". Google it, if you like. Or, check back in here at the blog, because I'm pretty sure it's going to be coming up a lot...