Protecting the Harvest

I've finally given up trying to write an all encompassing blog of everything that is going on and decided to break it down into small stories. I just might be able to keep up with this format - maybe...

Several days ago, while moving the irrigation water around, Don discovered that the cherries were starting to ripen and it wouldn't be long before the birds noticed it too. So one of today's tasks was to put up the tree nets. This is no simple task since the trees are 8 to 15 feet tall. Several years ago we devised a primitive method of lifting the 30 x 30 foot nets up in the air and over the trees using 10 foot pieces of conduit. With one of us on each side of the tree this almost works. Of course the nets get tangled on everything possible but the thought of a glass of wine later this afternoon (and cherry desserts this winter) keeps me from hurling the conduit like a javelin. 

Mission accomplished and on to the next task. 

From Fleur Creek Farm

Wassailing the Orchard

Original orchard started in 2004

Last Saturday was the day for our annual Orchard Wassailing. In years past it’s been just Don and I with a cup of apple cider, standing in the snow, toasting our apple and cherry trees. This year’s celebration was very special because it wasn’t just us, it was the neighborhood and the wassailing was organized by a wonderful neighbor who just started her own little orchard.

We first learned about fruit tree wassailing in Michael Phillip’s book, The Apple Grower. According to Wikipedia the purpose of wassailing is to awaken the cider apple trees and to scare away evil spirits to ensure a good harvest of fruit in the autumn. In the cider-producing regions of west England (primarily the counties of Devon, Somerset, Dorset, Gloucestershire and Herefordshire) wassailing also refers to drinking (and singing) to the health of trees in the hopes that they might better thrive.

Heirloom orchard started in 2014

The ceremonies of each wassail vary from village to village but they generally all have the same core elements. On January 17th (the old Twelfth Night) a wassail King and Queen lead the song and/or a processional tune to be played/sung from one orchard to the next, the wassail Queen will then be lifted up into the boughs of the tree where she will place toast soaked in Wassail from the Clayen Cup as a gift to the tree spirits (and to show the fruits created the previous year).

Then the assembled crowd will sing and shout and bang drums and pots & pans and generally make a terrible racket until the gunsmen give a great final volley through the branches to make sure the work is done and then off to the next orchard. Private readings about people in Somerset in the 1800s revealed that inhabitants of Somerset practiced the old Wassailing Ceremony, singing the following lyrics after drinking the cider until they were "merry and gay:"

Perhaps unbeknownst to the general public, this ancient English tradition is still very much a thriving tradition right here in the mountains of southern Colorado. There are already plans for next year and who knows, maybe by then another neighbor will start an orchard and we’ll have a third location to visit. And just in case you wondered we don't yet have a wassail King, Queen nor gunsmen but there is always next year!

Apple tree, apple tree, we all come to wassail thee,
Bear this year and next year to bloom and to blow,
Hat fulls, cap fulls, three cornered sack fills,
Hip, Hip, Hip, hurrah,
Holler biys, holler hurrah.

From Fleur Creek Farm

Heirloom Orchard

It has been ten years since we started our little orchard. In 2004, tempting climate and altitude, we planted two strains of cherry trees (Bali, Montmorency) and three strains of apple trees (Sweet Sixteen, State Fair, and Haralred). In past blogs I’ve written about the trials and tribulations, challenges and failures, and the joys and successes.
     Orchard comes of age
     Keeping up with summer’s chores
     Orchard fencing

Not ones to learn from our past frustrations, we decided 2014 was the year to start our heirloom orchard. Don spent a good part of the winter researching various strains and the nurseries that carried them. Our goal was not so much to create another production orchard as it was to continue these wonderful old strains of apple trees and test them at our less than ideal location (for fruit trees anyway).

Don settled on four strains, all zone 3 or 4 though untested at 8000+ foot elevation, and purchased them from Trees of Antiquity. The bareroot trees arrived in early May, just in time for three nights of 20 degree temperatures. We had already decided that we would start the youngsters in large pots of good quality soil before planting them in the ground this fall so we hustled them into the old cabin where they waited out the cold nights. We have ordered bareroot shrubs and trees in the past and are always a little disappointed by how small they are, looking more like sticks than trees. I was stunned to see how robust and healthy these trees from Trees of Antiquity were.

So here are the new heirloom additions to the orchard:

Rambour Franc (c1535): A 16th century French apple popular with American colonists. Rambour is a French name given to certain varieties of red apples of a large size. Crisp, very juicy, breaking flesh, a great apple for early season eating out of hand and also good for sauce. Large red fruit, bright striped. Precocious, vigorous, hardy and productive tree. Displays some resistance to scab and fireblight.

Bloom: Midseason
USDA Zone: 4,5,6,7,8,9
Pollination: Select another midseason bloom apple variety
Fruit Storage: Fair
Mature Size: Large
Ripens: Early
Uses: Fresh eating/ dessert, cooking (puree, applesauce, apple butter), baking
Rootstock: Semidwarf

Snow Apple (c1739): From Canada and also known as Fameuse, Snow Apple is one of the oldest and most desirable dessert apples, a parent of the aromatic McIntosh. Flesh is tender, spicy, distinctive in flavor, and snow white in color with occasional crimson stains near the skin. Very hardy, heavy bearing tree that is excellent for home orchards. Delicious fresh off the tree, in cider, or in culinary creations.

Bloom: Midseason
USDA Zone: 3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10
Pollination: Select another midseason bloom apple variety
Fruit Storage: Fair
Mature Size: Medium
Ripens: late
Uses: Fresh eating/ dessert, cooking (puree, applesauce, apple butter)
Rootstock: Semidwarf 

Cox’s Orange Pippin (c1830): Highly esteemed in England as a dessert apple; produces excellent fruit in cooler summer climates. Medium sized apple, red and yellow, usually striped. The flesh is yellow, firm, crisp, very juicy, richly aromatic and some say almost spicy. Flavor is enhanced when fruit ripens off the tree. A heavy bearer and one of the best apples for espalier.

Bloom: Midseason
USDA Zone: 4,5,6,7,8,9,10
Pollination: Select another midseason bloom apple variety
Fruit Storage: Fair
Mature Size: Medium
Ripens: Mid Season
Uses: Fresh eating/ dessert, cooking (puree, applesauce, apple butter), baking, juice/hard cider
Rootstock: Semidwarf 

Smokehouse (c1837): Smokehouse is a seedling of the ancient American variety, Vandevere. Smokehouse originated in Lampeter Township, PA about 1800's adjacent to William Gibbons’ smokehouse. Tender, but firm, exceedingly juicy, yellow tinged flesh. Fresh cider flavor. Young, productive bearer and a reliable cropper. Flattish, red-striped yellow fruit. Hardy to -40 degrees F. Excellent keeper, very good quality apple for multiple uses. Shows some resistance to fireblight.

Bloom: Late
USDA Zone: 3,4,5,6,7,8,9
Pollination: Select another late season bloom apple variety such as Grimes Golden and/or Newtown Pippin
Fruit Storage: Excellent
Mature Size: Medium
Ripens: Late
Uses: Fresh eating/ dessert, cooking (puree, applesauce, apple butter), baking, juice/hard cider
Rootstock: Semidwarf

Wish us luck!

From Fleur Creek Farm