Too Many Apples...

Man, it's hot out and I am WAY behind on the thinning. Wish me cool thoughts!

Worse than Elmer Fudd

I am a terrorist of rabbits. It's true. I don't mean to be; I just am. I was out the other day, mowing the orchard to gear up for thinning (about which, more later). So there I am, mowing away. The garden tractor is LOUD and I tend to assume that critters will hear me coming and get out of the way. But then I see said critters, scampering off in a panic. The poor things. As far as I know, I have no reason to scare them off. Unlike the woodchucks...

How to get ahead in the apple business

Yes, I do favor the low-hanging fruit.

Conundrum

If the enemy of my enemy is my friend, is this deer my friend? I find it a challenge to believe that, but there she was, chewing on the sumac. Anyone who helps me contain the menace of sumac, well, I have to love. Okay deer, here's the deal: You eat the sumac and I won't hang bars of stinky soap in the orchard for you to nibble on. But we're going to have trouble if you go after the apples...

Farm Friends

It's not only about dogs here at Little Dog Orchard. We have lots of wildlife friends, too. This here is a snapper turtle, laying a clutch of eggs. (This happened a few weeks ago.) I spotted her from my office window. She dug a nice hole, laid probably 50-80 eggs, buried them, and headed off into the sunset. Sometime around September, we'll be inundated with little snapper babies. Maybe you'll see some when you come picking.

The Agony and the Ecstasy

The hatred I have in my heart for Japanese beetles is matched only by the joy I take in crushing them between two culled apples.

Jerks.

Remember that "I am crushing your head" guy? That's me, stalking the metallic bastards.

Lots and LOTS of apples

Wow - okay, first, an apology: I'm sorry I've been neglecting the blog. I making a New Week's Resolution to be better at keep you up to date. (And I'll go back and fill in some of the exciting farm details that you've missed.)

Today I started hand-thinning the apples. See, conventional farmers do chemical thinning. They spray any number of things (usually throwing in a pint of Sevin) on the trees, and the weaker apples die off, leaving minimal work to do by hand. I can't do that, though, 'cuz Sevin isn't exactly organic. So I get to go through the orchard and pick thousands and thousands of apples.

This might be a strange thing to say, but it's good that we have a bit of scab with year. It makes deciding which apples to pick really easy. See scab? Pick apple. As I make the orchard healthier, it's going to be harder to thin. I'll feel much guiltier. Poor little apples. They never got a chance.

This here is the first load. That is less than half of what I'll pull off the first row. (This year, I have 11 rows.)

Now I just have to figure out what to do with them. Compost, yes, but not all of them. Anyone out there have any ideas?