The Fine Art of Literature

A whole day devoted to creating and delivering brochures? Hell yes! Especially when a really nice person from Lincoln Center invites you to bring some by. (Thanks, Lisa!) So yes, I spent pretty much all day crafting the very first Little Dog Orchard Lease A Tree brochure. As soon as I figure out how, I'll post a link to it.  

The great thing about this endeavor is that I get to meet a lot of really cool, nice, thoughtful, interesting people. (I swear I am not sucking up to the reader.) There are so many people out there who get excited at the idea of being a part of a healthy, sustainable food economy that it makes my heart sing. 

On a not-totally unrelated note, check out the Silk Road Ensemble on Live from Lincoln Center tonight. It's a great show!

Total Failure

Operation Double Bubble is a complete failure. I might try again with more gum directly in the holes. I might try Leslie's approach and throw used kitty litter in the holes. (Anyone with used kitty litter around should drop me a comment.) But the woodchucks best be warned: A new sheriff is coming to town, and he's armed. (Hint: It ain't me.)

Operation Double Bubble begins!

The Weapon

The Target

Operation Double Bubble went into effect yesterday at 15:00 hours. The goal? Target elimination. The weapon? A 99 cent package of Double Bubble chewing gum. Yesterday afternoon, I unwrapped the pink pods of doom and laced the area in and around the woodchuck holes. As of this morning, the gum I left just outside the holes was untouched, and there were a few targets roaming around and grazing. So I threw everything into the holes. 

And now I wait.

(For those of you worrying about my mental health and/or assuming I'm turning into Bill Murray, I have at least three more approaches to woodchuck elimination that I'll attempt before resorting to plastic explosives shaped like rabbbits.)

The mascot likes the product!

It's so good for my ethical side (hopefully the majority share) that our mascot likes the product. 

Nothing exciting to report today. It's dreary weather, but good for working on establishing the business side of LDO. I'm also following an enticing lead about possibly getting some technical assistance from the USDA/NRCS on organic transition planning. Having regular access to someone who can give me advice on what the heck I'm doing would be so great! (As would not having to wear out my welcome with my farmer-neighbors...) 

So Many Lessons

Being a new farmer means learning. All the time. Some lessons are big and some not so big. Today I learned that spending more than than five hours weed whacking is probably not a good idea. It might not be the biggest lesson, but I'm sure it will serve me well in times to come. 

Things are moving quickly around here!

Man, let me tell you - Mother Nature does not waste time. We went from tight cluster to pink to blossom overnight. Well, it felt like it went that quickly anyway. I have pictures of blossom time that I'll post shortly. And I promise I'll get better about posting photos. I think Jody might have a few of the bees that were brought in to pollinate (I'm still a bit bee-shy.)

The learning curve continues: A few days ago I went to the annual Thinning and Pest Management Meeting that the good people at Cornell put on. The majority of the conversation revolved around chemicals that I won't use in our orchard, but it's still good to know what the standards are. It's also fun to meet the guys who have been growing apples around here for a lot longer than I have!

About a week before that meeting, I went to a workshop on sprayers for small growers. That was REALLY interesting. It turns out that I really only have one option for our orchard because of the spacing between the rows and trees. So now I'm looking for a 50- or 100-gallon air blast sprayer. If you know of anyone with a spare, let me know!