ORCHARD SPRING & SUMMER

The apples are growing! They look mini now, but they’re bigger every day. Pollination in May was a bit spotty because it rained a lot. We got precious few “good flying days” — but enough! On dry days, the local bees, flies, wasps, butterflies, hummingbirds, and other interested parties push like mad to harvest pollen for themselves, thereby moving sticky pollen-grains from blossom to blossom. Those hardworking natives creatures get extra help from domesticated honey bees (rented) that the beekeeper brings in for just that short time. (FYI the champion pollinators are bumble bees, who even work in the rain. When they get too heavily soaked to fly, they shelter under leaves till they've drip-dried enough to keep going. Save the bumbles, everywhere!)

Amazingly, most apple varieties need cross-pollination in order to set fruit! So grains of pollen must be moved between varieties, not just between blossoms, in order to grow the apples. Pollinators don’t care about this, any pollen’s fine for them -- but their work benefits fruit-eaters. Imagine how many millions of pollinator trips make an apple crop!

During June, a lot of weakly-growing fruits fall to the ground. The trees seem to “decide” which apples are worth supporting, and drop the others. Remember, fruit trees are not in the gorgeous-delicious-fruit business. They’re in the business of making more fruit trees. To do that, the fruit needs to be tempting to wildlife that will eat it, digest the fruit, and drop the seeds after digestion has taken its course… But what’s tempting to wildlife is not nearly as flavorful and beautiful as humans want. So growers thin to help the fruits grow larger, prune to help sunlight reach more of them, and control pests and diseases so they will reach top quality. It takes constant vigilance and care to minimize "intervention” while growing a great crop. All being well, our many varieties of eating apples, cider-apples and "crossovers" will go on sizing up, coloring up and reaching their fabulous best, each variety in its own time.

In September, we'll be open for harvest retail season. Meantime, check “Seasonal Hours” to learn about the (few) times we’re open from November through August. 