What did you do in your orchard today?

[Mini Horses]

Yep....preps for later. I did blueberry, apple butter & fig preserves last month. It's fruit I had. I'll do elderberry from some I juiced and red pepper jelly.

Cold comes -- oven goodies happen

 

[R2elk]

FB said its time for a jam fest. So that's what she did.

Fresh picked and washed plums

Plums cooking in crockpot

Waterbathed sealed in jelly jars.

Looking forward to butter biscuits with plum jam over the cold winter months

Jesus is Lord and Christ

Try making peach and plum jam.

 

[CrealCritter]

Cherry pie filling.

Cherry amaretto jam

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[CrealCritter]

Thinned some granny smith apples. I was consened about branches breaking, plus FB said she would make apple crisp with them.

Organicly grown and far from perfect. But atleast I know how they were grown.

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[Mini Horses]

Are the cherries from your trees? There's a LOT there. Wow. I love a good cherry pie

 

[CrealCritter]

Are the cherries from your trees? There's a LOT there. Wow. I love a good cherry pie

Not completely, partial from our young tree. FB supplemented with organics from AS.

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[CrealCritter]

Last year I planned and grafted a antique apple row and set them out early this spring. The focus was on cider but I also considered eating, baking apples also. I had planned on a row of 15 trees. All but 2 survived and are growing well. I forgot I gave 2 away, so I have 11 in the row. I'll have to graft some more this spring to fill out the heirloom row.

As long as I'm grafting apples in the spring. I decided to graft another row of apples but it will be modern apples with focus on disease resistantance. The Purdue, Rutgers, Illinois University (PRI) breeding program was my starting point. I also read a lot of various studies and finally decided on the number and varieties. I really enjoyed my studying so it didn't seem like a burden to me. Here is the semi final variety list I'll graft. Although my studying is winding down I may change the number on a few varieties based on pollinating partners and flowering time grouping. I'm looking closely at Willam's Pride and Novamac.

2 Pristine
2 Enterprise
2 GoldRush
2 Crimson Crisp
2 Liberty
2 Freedom
2 Arkansas Black
1 Novamac

Some of these might sound familiar because you may have seen them in grocery stores.

Others for antique row consideration
Milden
Blue Pearmain
Wolf River
Saint Edmund's Russet
Black Oxford

Source for above scionwood and rootstocks

Heirloom Apple, Pear, and Plum Scionwood

Heirloom Apple, Pear, and Plum Scionwood

maplevalleyorchards.com

My conclusion for someone who would like to grow two organic apple trees:

Modern Varieties
I would try Novamac and Enterprise as pollinating partners. Novamac is a modern disease resistant Macintosh type apple and very resistant to scab, firelight, rusts and mildew. Enterprise is also a modern disease resistant apple and very resistant to scab, resistant to firelight, rusts and mildew.

Antique Varieties
ll'l update after I complete my studies.

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[CrealCritter]

Cherry pit jelly

Setup test, pretty color and

Maybe it's just me... but I think FB gave those cherries a run for their money, by even making jelly out of the pits.

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[CrealCritter]

Picked and eat the VLP (Very Last Plum). So tree ripe I pulled it apart instead of using a knife. It tasted like j e l l o But it's VLP for the season but then again... it's tasty memory will serve as motivation for next season.

Our orchard will never look like this without a 8 foot tall fence around it to keep critters out. I have no plans to build such a fence. But if I did I could pack the trees into rows and wire train like is shown. To me... whoever's apple orchard this is, it's a thing of beauty and production to feed enmass.

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[FarmerJamie]

We had an orchard of one tree. Lolol. Have done nothing to it since we moved in.