Grafting

We decided to chop up the Cameo variety of apples and instead make the trees produce Honeycrisp apples!  We took shoots from the Honeycrisp trees and grafted them into the trunk of the old Cameo trees. 

Here is the grafts up close.  Then we painted on some grafting wax to keep away water and air.  Now we wait for some activity!

 

 We also did the same thing to some old Red Delicious tree.  If the grafts take, then we will have 4 additional Jonathon trees!

 

This is Terry standing in the field where we grew the flower seed.  All the red are tiny flower seeds sprouting.  It is all from back in the late summer when we cut the flowers and laid them into rows(called swathing). The flower seed shattered.  It shows how much seed you can lose when you are harvesting!

This is a wheat field.  The picture above is where the geese didn't feed.  They must have been scared of the wheel line!

This picture is where they DID feed.  Can you see the difference??

Salem Harvest came today!

We had a big harvest today but there are lots of apples left I am told. So we are changing our mind about this Saturday being the last to come pick! We will stay open until the weather turns nasty.

Here is what was going on today:

Since it was nearing the end of the year and the weather is sure to turn to rainy and cold, we had Salem Harvest come out and pick some of our apples. It was a great turnout!
I've included some pictures of the day!

How it works is that each person that signs up with Salem Harvest gets to keep half of what they pick and the other half is donated to the Marion Polk Food Share. I guess they harvest all kinds of crops.

Here is the check in line. Everyone has already signed up ahead of time and only those people are let in the field. Salem Harvests coordinates it all!

So many apples were picked that all the bins were filled by the first round of pickers! There were 2 sessions and they still had the 2nd to go!


Loading up the truck!

Happy picker :)

And a great helper!

Thank you!

Thank you so much for all who came out this year!  It was a good year for apples and for that we are thankful!  It was fun to see all the families with kids, people from out of town and for some people it was their first time!  What fun!

Pink Lady is ready!

Pink Lady apples are ready!!  They are the last apple to ripen in our orchard so come get them!
  We still have almost ALL the varieties of apples that can still be picked.  Although the Gala apples are fewer in number and the Honey crisp are nearly gone.
    If you still want a Winter supply of apples, please come get them within the next two weeks.
We should have a good apple supply until the middle of the month at least.............

We also have WE-PICK buckets of apples available for $10 each.  Just call and say what varieties you'd like and how many and we can pick them for you.  Or we will also have a selection in front of the office ready.
Great option for if it's cold and rainy, or if you're unable to get around easily.

Still plenty of apples on the farm available for picking!!!!!

Pink Lady apples are ready!!  They are the last apple to ripen in our orchard so come get them!
  We still have almost ALL the varieties of apples that can still be picked.  Although the Gala apples are fewer in number and the Honey crisp are nearly gone.
    If you still want a Winter supply of apples, please come get them within the next two weeks.
We should have a good apple supply until the middle of the month at least............. 

Granny Smith are now ready.

Granny Smith just came ripe. 
Great for making pies and for those that like a tart apple!...Especially good dipped in caramel!

Checked the Pink Lady and they are not quite ripe....maybe another week.  I will let you know when they are.

Still have plenty of other apples still available that are super yummy!  Jonagold, Golden Delicious, Melrose, Red Delicious, Braeburn, Cameo and Rome.

Honeycrisp and Gala are about gone but if you really want some, you can probably find some if you look. 

Best time to come for a wide selection!!

Right now is when we have the widest selection of apples!  If you like to mix apples in your bucket, come now!  Fuji, Braeburn and Cameo just came ripe, but there are also tons of perfectly ripe Jonagold, Golden Delicious, Red Delicious, Honeycrisp and Gala. 

Plus looking outside the weather is beautiful!!