Last post about the deer fence because it's DONE! #appleorchard #deerfence #cestfini

An established root system really makes a difference! The grafts we did this spring in-orchard to previously planted rootstock have had substantially more growth than the newly grafted trees we planted. Also, our overall grafting success rate this year was awesome!

3D printing some variety labels to nail to trellis posts. #prusa #3dprinter #orchard #applevarieties

Discovered some #appletrees in the woods beyond the orchard!

Though it looks suspicious hanging out next to a girdled tree, the frog is innocent. The voles are not. Major vole damage in the orchard. There's always something...

In response to the voles and borers attacking the orchard, we painted the trunks. And with the blue tubes off and mulch pushed away from the trees, hopefully the rodents will be exposed to the predators.

Happy holidays from the orchard! -Amanda and Tristan #appleorchard #happyholidays

Scionwood order has been placed with Fedco. Excited to graft these three new-to-us varieties this year - Roxbury Russet, Black Oxford, and Redfield. If you have experience with any of these and love them let us know! If you hate them, don't tell us because it's too late 😆.

Taking a cider break from orchard work slakecider. #cider #slakeyourthirst

Trees trained. Tying the branches down encourages them to be fruitful. And we want fruit! #appletrees #orchard #training #tiedown #branches #fruit

Rootstock! Scionwood! Grafting!

It will be a very small crop from only a few of the varieties, but we actually get apples this year!

X marks the spots we'll be returning to regraft. #appletrees #orchard #graftfailure #xmarksthespot

Yesterday - snow in the morning, fire in the afternoon. ❄🔥 Trying out the flame weeder. #flameweeder #fireandice #appleorchard

Newborn apple trees awaiting transport to the orchard. #spring #grafting #appletrees #orchard

First time grafting to planted rootstock in the orchard since we had so many graft failures from last year. Hopefully better luck this year! 🤞

Dead tree. Broke it in half. Borer living inside. Ugh. #borer #appletree #deadtree

This past weekend was spent preparing for battle with the weeds. #weedwacker #appletrees #orchard #weedcontrol #battletime

#deerfence. It's happening.

The next step for us in the weed war is a layer of heavy weight paper to snuff out the weeds before decomposing. 48 inch wide roll... cut slits to slide into the tree row. #appleorchard #weedcontrol #weedwar #weedguardplus