Farm News

February 2008 Report

They call it the dormant season, and compared with the buzz of springtime and the madness of harvest, these are quiet days, even if some fierce January winds scared us. We only lost one tree to the storm, and that was a eucalyptus that will make great firewood. We started pruning shortly after Christmas. The books tell you to cut all crossing and inward growing branches and spindly growth, and show you pictures of perfectly groomed trees. The reality is less tidy, especially when you are dealing with cranky old persimmons, some of which insist on sending vertical shoots thirty feet in the air like bamboo, while others languish and threaten to kill themselves if you even show them a pair of loppers.

Anyway, we finally wrapped up the pruning around Valentine’s Day, The young European pear trees are growing like mad, and may well bear a first crop this year. Baby peaches got moved into their permanent spots, and if last year’s two Indian Blood samples are any indication of things to come, we are in for some amazing treats. We also moved half of the baby French seeded table grapevines to an old kiwi trellis, where they will be shaped into a great big arbor. Yesterday we planted the rootstock for all the new French heirloom plums and peaches Laurence wanted, and are eagerly awaiting the budwood from the UC Davis Germplasm repository. Jeff will do the grafting under the supervision of the hummingbird who has taken watch over the whole orchard.

Buds are beginning to swell. We got the dormant spray done just in time, organic superior oil and Bordeaux mixture. Jeff used the flail mower to reduce five foot tall tangles of prunings into mulch, which we spread around the orchard to increase tilth. Speaking of soil improvements, last year’s clover and wildflowers seeding worked out great. The clover gives our bees almost year-round food, and the wildflower patch is providing habitat for beneficials. We are expanding it another 3,000 square feet. We also are planting nasturtium seeds under the apple trees, to deal with the yearly plague of rosy apple aphids, and scattering sweet alyssum around to provide the poodle with a fragrant bed while he watches us work.

Laurence has found a source for nettles seeds – not easy, since most folks consider them a noxious and painful weed, but she came back from France saying that French farmers swear by a spray of decomposed nettles tea to feed their crops, so she wants to try it here. Oh, and while she was in the South of France drinking wine and researching medieval farming superstitions, Jeff got to drive to Montana in a blizzard to fix broken sewer pipes at a friend's ranch, which serves him right for not going to France with Laurence while he had the chance.

We still have a few hoshigaki looming over us, and Laurence couldn't resist making lemon marmalade again, but overall the cupboards are bare of fruit until summer.
Warm regards, Jeff and Laurence

Everything in our four and a half acres orchard, from planting to tending, harvesting, packing,
and selling the fruit, is done by Jeff with part-time help from Laurence, with the awesome support of
Taylor the French poodle and of our flock of guinea hens