Little Dog Blog

Susie says yes with her kisses...

2011-03-17T17:45:00.005-04:00

It's amazing how quickly spring happens around here. It seems like less than a week ago, snow was still everywhere and my teeth were chattering. Today, Weasley and I sat on the porch for an hour, basking in the sun and reading. (Okay, it was only me who was reading.) There are more birds out there than you can shake a stick at, but my favorite is still this guy, the house finch:

Here he is with his lady friend. Sure, we get fancier birds with more dramatic plumage, but this guy sings the cutest little song. I just love it. Plus, he tends to hang out on my deck, so we've become close over time. I can't tell you how happy I am that the house finches are back! Yay!

Other signs of spring: Duck Duck and Mother are back. I'll put their picture up later. Duck Duck and Mother are a mated pair of geese who call Little Dog Orchard home. They aren't real social, but we love having them. Weasley wants to go meet them, but we won't let him. We're mean that way.

We've seen a wounded fox lately. If any of you know who I can call to have this poor thing picked up and fixed up, let me know. It's so desperate for food that it's eating the old nasty apples from last year. That can't be ideal for a carnivore. I'd leave food out, but I don't want to ruin the poor thing for normal life. I'll be researching fox rescue more this week.

Last, but certainly not least, a friend and neighbor just spotted his first muskrat! What a joy - now we'll all have The Captain and Tennille stuck in our heads for the next eight months. (See how I like to share?)

Hi there!

2010-10-01T10:48:00.002-04:00

Greetings, all! It's been a long time since I posted, and for that you have my apologies. It's a bit crazy here this time of year!

Before I forget, a couple people have asked about local activities that kids can enjoy. Time Out NY Kids has a lovely list here and there is an Ulster County farm guide here. If you have any questions, let me know and I'll find you an answer!

Our first two weekends of picking have been lots of fun and we're hoping to get another couple of weeks in before the end of the season. If you haven't been up to pick yet, it's time to make a plan! Remember, you can come just about any time of any day. Just let me know when you want to visit and I'll be here. Weasley, too.

Recipes will be posted to the website soon. If you have any that you'd like to share, send them to me at julie(at)littledogorchard.com.

Hooray for fall! Hooray for apples! See you soon!

...More irrigation... (think about Carly Simon. Or ketchup)

2010-06-25T09:21:00.005-04:00

If you're reading this, you've probably gotten an email from us recently, so thanks for checking out the blog! Now go tell your friends that they should lease a tree, too! I feel like such a salesman when I push the leases, but friends, let me tell you: this is not about making money, and it probably won't make much (if any) for years. Right now, we need irrigation. You would be surprised to find out how much installing irrigation costs! (Okay, I was surprised. You might be completely blase about things like this.)

I'll post the details of our contest soon. For today, I'll finish sending out the irrigation plea emails (one at a time, so they don't get eaten by spam filters), work on starting a facebook page for LDO, and spend a few hours mowing before heading up the hill to work for the night.

Folks are starting to email their ideas about how to reach more people - I love it! Keep it up, Friends of Little Dog!

Know any good moves?

2010-06-16T10:23:00.003-04:00

If you're wondering what we've been up to lately at Little Dog, picture me and Weasley doing elaborate rain dances. Yes, while nearly everyone else in the area is praying for sun, we're praying for rain. The trees are thirsty and we haven't had irrigation installed yet. We're working on it. We've even been approved for some handy government funding to help pay for it. But we still have a few things to work out (little things like paying the wonderful people we want to hire to handle the installation. You'll probably get an email about our new tree lease campaign soon, in fact...).

So if you know any good rain dance moves, send me a video!

More change afoot!

2010-05-25T17:43:00.003-04:00

It's almost unreasonable, the amount of change that goes on around here. First of all, Mother Nature just keeps on truckin', as evidenced by this:Those little applets are bigger than kumquats!

Other exciting change: Gunk Haus (the awesome restaurant and beer garden just up the hill from the orchard), is going to open this weekend! Woohoo! (You have no idea how exciting this is. Seriously. These guys rock.)

There are other changes afoot, but none of them are as concrete. So I'll leave you with those for now.

Before and During

2010-05-17T17:01:00.002-04:00

Everyone loves Before and After pictures. Everyone loves the big reveal. I'm one of those people. I love those moments! This? is not one of those moments. And I'm pretty sure I ought to get used to more of these. Welcome to an era of Before and During. The photo above is a project that isn't especially long term: I'm just sanding and sealing the picnic tables I bought last year for you all to enjoy while harvesting your apples. But it's not something I can finish in a day, and, given my week, it probably won't be done this week. But that doesn't mean I can't tell you what I'm up to. It just isn't an especially satisfying moment. So there it is - your first Before and During photo. We all better get used to it, because Little Dog is a work in progress. And it's going to take us years to get where we're headed...

Incredibly cute (and yet, no picture), plus a bit on thinning

2010-05-17T09:28:00.003-04:00

It probably goes without saying that I am besotted by our mascot (a.k.a. The Hudson Valley's Handsomest Hound), but I just had to tell you that he is especially cute when he is enjoying fresh asparagus. It's hard to capture with a camera because I'm greedy enough that I never give him a whole stalk. He gets the bottom ends only and he chews them waaaaay back with his hind teeth. I have no idea why it's so cute. I'll have to figure out if I can take a video. I have to be able to post video when the apples are ripe, because another endearing thing Weasley does is fetch apples. He won't fetch anything else, though. And I swear we didn't train him to do that!

Okay, apologies for gushing over my dog. I got a little distracted by the tractor and sprayer out my window. I would imagine they're putting another (?) thinning agent on. I'll talk more about thinning in the next few days. This year, we're going to get into it MUCH earlier than we did last year. (I hope!) The fruit set this season is amazing (go bees!), and we hardly got hit by frost, which means there are entirely too many little fruitlets out there on the trees. The conventional response to too much fruit is to spray any number of chemicals that kills off the weaker buds. Obviously, here at Little Dog, we don't roll like that. So I'll be reaching out to my neighbor to hire hands to snap off hundreds (possibly thousands) of buds per tree.

The crazy thing is, thinning ends up meaning more fruit in the long run. I'm going to try to take or find good pictures so I can illustrate this stuff for you a bit better. Pictures are good, right?

Eeeeeeeeeeeeevil.

2010-05-16T10:36:00.003-04:00

It constantly surprises me how much of farming is killing things. I spent hours yesterday pulling the pretty princess pictured above out of all manner of unfortunate places. She loves to snuggle up with anyone, and seems to have no standards. Left alone, she'll take over, insinuating herself into every crack and crevice, insuring that no one else can get close. I hate that bitch.

For those of you who, like me until recently, don't know who that is, that's poison ivy. And yes, The Coasters were singing in my head ALL DAY.

I had to pull the ivy out before I could start reclaiming a chunk of land that Mother Nature has been trying to take back for years. I can't go in with a weed whacker (or "string trimmer" for you professionals) until the ivy is cleared. Whacking is will only lead to more ivy. More ivy is bad.

So I pulled out a garbage bag full of the stuff. I dressed up in the functional equivalent of a haz-mat suit so she couldn't inflame my soul (or skin). It took a good couple of hours, as you have to get as much of the root as possible, otherwise you're wasting your time. She's impressively persistent.

And now a word from our sponsor:

"Measles make you bumpy

And mumps'll make you lumpy

And chicken pox'll make you jump and twitch

A common cold'll fool ya'

And whooping cough can cool ya'

But poison ivy, Lord'll make you itch!

Apples, Kazakhstan, biodiversity and you!

2010-05-14T18:37:00.004-04:00

My cousin Kim is going to love this: One of the people working on the Little Dog permaculture plan has visited the wild apple forests of Kazakhstan. If that sounds vaguely familiar and you can’t remember why, you’ve probably read Michael Pollan’s book The Botany of Desire. In the first chapter, Pollan tells part of the history of the apple and learns that the birthplace of the modern apple is most likely Kazakhstan. The apple forests there exhibit the surprising genetic diversity. The forest is healthy, balanced, natural, and tends to remain fairly unbothered by pests and disease. Sounds brilliant, eh? We should get some of that action here, you say? Indeed. Biodiversity is going to be the key to Little Dog’s future. We’re on the path to planting all kinds of interesting stuff in the orchard: berries, hops, nuts (the Northern Pecan! Woo!), pungent greens. All of those things are going to make the orchard a healthier, happier place to be. We’re going to build a system that supports itself. It’s going to take a big chunk of time and money, but it’s going to happen and you, dear reader, are going to be a part of it.

Speaking of taking part, let's all brainstorm names that might trip off the tongue in a more pleasant way than "permaculture", shall we? Or perhaps I just need to practice...

A mixed bag

2010-04-28T11:05:00.003-04:00

Do you want the good news first or the bad news first? Okay, the bad: Temperatures dropped last night to the point where we may have suffered damage. And they're going to drop again tonight. If we freeze, we could lose any portion of the crop. If it's a mild frost, it could do the perfect amount of damage, which is a funny thing to say. But every crop has to be thinned (more on thinning later), and if we lose just the right amount to frost, we don't have to spray to thin or spend serious money for hand-thinning. But if it gets TOO cold, we could lose it all. That would be BAD news.

Now the good: I had a trained professional look at our current business plan last night and he doesn't think I'm crazy! (Wipe that look of surprise off your face, soldier!) I still have a few serious blanks to fill in, but those will have to wait until the second week of May. (Have I mentioned how bad I am at waiting?) But the basics look good. We're not going to get rich off this place, but we might be able to grow apples without spending more money than we have. And THAT'S good news.

Now all we need is to not lose the crop to frost. Think warm thoughts!

Anticipation, anticipa-a-tion

2010-04-27T15:10:00.003-04:00

I'm sitting here waiting for a FarmNet consultant to get here so we can discuss whether or not Little Dog has a real future. ARGH. I am NOT. GOOD. At WAITING. (He's late, by the way. I'm not that out of control.)

p.s. If anyone out there has a tractor they're not using anymore, send it on over here! Heck, we'll even come get it.

The Bees Knees

2010-04-25T12:28:00.003-04:00

That right there is a housing development for the most important laborers of all: bees. Without the bees, no one else gets to work, because without them, there's no fruit. These particular bees are serious migrant workers. They travel all over the country for work. Their biggest gig is pollinating almonds in California. I love these guys, even though I'm still afraid of 'em too. It's amazing how long a childhood sting lasts in the old amygdala, eh?

The hives in the picture were rented by the fellow who is leasing the bigger part of our orchard. All the major growers rent hives. Here at Little Dog, we're working on figuring out what to plant that will attract native pollinators. According to a recent article in New York Fruit Quarterly, there are as many as 81 different species of native bees who are willing to hang out and do what needs to be done in order for these trees to bear fruit. Can you imagine? 81 different species in New York alone! That's exciting news for me for a couple of reasons. Reason one is that I don't have to be as concerned about colony collapse disorder. Reason two is because, for some reason, cultivating plants that attract native pollinators is less scary to me than starting my own honey bee hives.

If you have questions about bees, post 'em! I probably won't be able to answer off the top of my head, but this is how I learn.

I don't remember putting this in my queue...

2010-04-19T11:03:00.007-04:00

You know when you're watching a DVD and you hit "Fast Forward" and then you hit "Play" but the movie keeps speeding along? I swear Mother Nature hit "Fast Forward". See for yourself:

I'll explain those funky boxes from the first picture in another post down the line. But for now I'll just say that these trees are putting on their best "come hither" looks...

It's only you and me, and we just disagree...

2010-04-10T10:26:00.003-04:00

There are workers in the part of the orchard that we own but can't yet manage today. They're throwing fistfulls (fists full?) of rodent poison everywhere to kill off the voles (who tunnel and make a hash of orchard floors and rudely gnaw on apple tree trunks).

Here's my plan: I'm about to apply something to the grassy areas called milky spore . It's a bacterium that is harmless to pets, people, beneficial insects ... well, in short, it doesn't hurt anyone but Japanese beetle grubs. See, the beetles will wake up soon, mature into adults, and eat any green matter in sight. The green matter that concerns me most is apple tree leaves. See, without those leaves, the tree can't collect the sunlight that feeds the apples. So I don't like Japanese beetles. You know who *does* like them? Voles. Voles like them when they are tasty grubs, sleeping in the dirt, waiting to become beetles. (You're with me so far, right?) So here I go with my milky spore, which will kill the grubs (so they don't grow up to eat the leaves). And where there are fewer adults, there will be fewer grubs, which means the voles will eventually have to look somewhere else for food.

Sometimes I feel like an evil genius.

It ain't easy, capturing green.

2010-04-09T19:21:00.003-04:00

Well folks, what can I say? It's STUNNING in the Hudson Valley right now. Spring is busting out all over. And all I have to capture it on is a little phone camera. So I'll just tell you that we're sneaking beyond tight cluster and moving right into pink (these are the phrases/words apple growers use to describe the stages of development. I promise I'll let you know when I make stuff up.)

It's kind of funny how the mind gets used to the starkness of winter. I keep being surprised when I look out the windows. Green, green, green. GREEN! I might have to lean on a certain neighbor for some awesome images. Maple Avenue, here I come...

I thought it was an apple orchard. Why are there prunes everywhere?

2010-04-06T14:34:00.003-04:00

Seriously - prunes are EVERYWHERE around this joint. Okay, I'm not sure they're called that, but what would *you* call the stuff leftover after pruning? I'm calling 'em prunes, and that's that.

Even though it's not the ideal season for pruning, we just had ours done. (Ask me about the timing if you're interested. I won't bore the rest of you with the details.) It was beyond necessary this year, as I skipped last year out of frugality and an absolute lack of ability and/or labor for hire. The guys who came were awesome - fast, efficient, and super friendly. One of the guys has been working on these trees for the entire time they've been here. I wish I could download his knowledge right onto my hard drive!

Once the crew has been through to pick up the big chunks of tree (er, rather, the big prunes), someone will swing through with a chopper to dice up the rest. Once that happens, I'll probably start the permaculture plan. That's likely to entail planting fun things like chives (to confuse pests!).

It's getting incredibly green around here, so I'll try to get some good pictures soon...

More death and destruction

2010-04-05T12:23:00.002-04:00

Sumacs will take over if you let 'em. They're nicer about it than the multiflora, but they're just as determined. Happily, it's pretty easy to pull 'em out by the roots. The roots snake all over the land, and the process would make me sad if we had a "lawn" or anything that we're growing on purpose, but for now, it's all good.

Hail the conquering hero:

Out, damned spot!

2010-04-02T12:58:00.004-04:00

In these parts, you can make friends just by talking trash about the multiflora rose. They're evil for many reasons: They're vicious and thorny, they grow like (pardon) weeds, they spawn all over the place and they will take over your land if you let it. Jody discovered on the internet recently that the favorite method for multiflora removal is a bulldozer. Well, we don't have a bulldozer. But we have loppers, and we're not afraid to use them! Here's the before photo:

And here's the after:

The next step is for Jody to get out there with a shovel and dig out the root ball. And then we'll mow with religious fervor. Wish us luck! The next victims are the staghorn sumac...

So much chaos, so few posts

2010-04-02T12:48:00.003-04:00

Apologies, my friends, for not keeping you up to date on the Little Dog daily doings. Winter was so quiet and calm and then BLAM! Spring exploded all over the place. Things are in serious flux over here, but it's all very exciting. We're getting things done and making plans for a brighter future. I don't want to say too much, for fear of jinxing ourselves, but the word for the day is "permaculture". Google it, if you like. Or, check back in here at the blog, because I'm pretty sure it's going to be coming up a lot...

Why We Need a Better Camera, or Is this Your Momma?

2009-11-07T15:35:00.003-05:00

A couple days ago, as I was running the little dog out for his morning constitutional, I stopped in my tracks, one foot out the door. Why? Because there were three llamas in my driveway.

Llamas in my driveway.

On days like these, I don't miss the city at all. (I still miss good Thai food, though.) The only thing that could have made it better would be a camera with a zoom. That and the presence of my friend Zoe and her daughter.

Fun with Photos

2009-10-21T11:08:00.003-04:00

Goodness gracious - apologies for neglecting the blog! I'm running around like crazy trying to sell the apples that weren't taken by any of you reading. But that's no excuse. So here are some fun pictures for you to enjoy, all of which have been taken since the last post:

Did I say 85 pounds? Oops.

2009-10-02T10:24:00.004-04:00

These guys got 160 pounds of Empires off their tree this past weekend! 160! That's about thirty cents per pound for naturally grown apples. Wow!

Weasley liked 'em, too, as you can see.

Pictures of their first

batch of apple sauce up next...

Before... After!

Start spreadin' the news!

2009-09-21T14:16:00.006-04:00

It's up to you Time Out New York Kids! Woohoo - check it out! (It's alphabetical, so we're about halfway down.)

Dates!

2009-09-10T11:37:00.002-04:00

No, not the kind you eat, the kind you put in your calendar. I just got off the phone with my Extension advisor (love ya', Mike!) and he tells me that the best, most super-optimal picking weekends will be the last weekend in September and the first weekend in October. Apparently, this applies to Empires and Red Delicious.

This is news to me, as I had been told that Reds are usually ready a week or two after Empires. But I suspect that we can chalk this difference up to the general disagreements between farmers and agricultural researchers. I won't go into gory detail here, but let's just say that there's a dissertation's worth of material in the clashing of those two cultures.

So mark your calendars! September 26-27 and October 3-4 are going to be the best for picking. I'll send out an email to that effect soon. And I will also warn you that the absolute last day to pick will probably be October 11th. After that, I'll have to hire guys to get the rest of the fruit off the trees quickly.

So Close!

2009-09-08T13:03:00.002-04:00

I'll be taking some sample apples to the lab today or tomorrow to get the scientific word on when they will be perfectly ripe for your picking pleasure. But, having put a few in my mouth, I can tell you (unscientifically) they will be ready SOON. The Empires will be ready first, then the Red Delicious.

In other exciting news, the logo is (pretty much) done! Woohoo! As soon as I can figure out how to get a pdf up on this page, I'll show you what we've been working on. It's almost as cute as the mascot!

rain, rain GO AWAY

2009-08-29T11:58:00.001-04:00

And yet another day is lost that could have been spent getting apples off the orchard floor. Boo on rain! Go out west, where you're needed!

Boy, do we need a tractor!

2009-08-27T15:30:00.004-04:00

I'll post photos soon, but today I'll just tell you that Jody and I have been making progress on the non-orchard part of the yard. One of the strangest things we have to do is to pull up apple saplings. "But Julie," you might say, "you're growing apples! Why pull up apple saplings?"

That's a fine question, my friend. But here's the story: Real apple trees, the ones you find growing in our orchard and every other orchard, are all grafted in order to combine what's called root-stock and fruit-stock. The saplings that are growing in our yard are just root-stock, so the fruit they produce would be sub-par. Besides, we have 1200 trees. You think we should have more? If so, you can help me thin next year!

We started pulling the saplings with our mighty Forester, but decided not to wreck the clutch on our little project. So we invited our friend Cos and his (genuinely) mighty truck to come over and play. The boys and the truck made quick work of the saplings.

Thanks for the help, Cos! You rock!

Ridogulous

2009-08-24T18:32:00.002-04:00

Those of you who know Weasley know that he isn't especially dog-like. He doesn't get excited when you say "dinner", "treat", "walk" or "outside". He hates car trips. He's not much for barking. And he doesn't play fetch.

Or does he?

This picture was taken after playing fetch with an apple for about half an hour. Yes, an apple. I swear I'm not making this up. We tried substituting a small tennis ball, but he wasn't having it. He wanted to fetch the apple.

I love this dog!

By the way, your dogs are welcome at LDO when you come to pick your apples. If I get my act together in time, I'll make a small fenced-in area so everyone can hang out off leash. If I don't, they'll have to stay on leash. But do bring them (assuming they like to travel more than Weasley).

Thoughts on Thinning

2009-08-10T14:33:00.003-04:00

Apple trees need to be thinned. This means reducing the amount of fruit the tree produces naturally. We do this because the tree produces as many blossoms as it can, in order to increase its chances of reproduction. But apple growers want quality fruit. So we reduce the quantity, in order to redirect the trees' energy to growing the tastiest fruit possible.

Conventional growers spray chemicals on the trees shortly after pollination (in general). The weaker buds fall off, and what's left becomes big, healthy fruit. But I can't use those sprays, so I have to use alternative approaches. This year, that means hand-thinning.

I have learned this: thinning by hand is INSANE. It's absurdly time-consuming, and for a rookie like me, it can even be scary. Some of the trees are quite tall, and getting high enough to reach all the fruit can be precarious. Jody and I have both had some heart-stopping moments when the ladder wobbled. Yikes. Also, I'm having a really hard time finding hired hands to help. I had assumed that there would always be guys around who were looking for work. And that may be true. But I don't know yet how to find them. So we're behind on the work. So I apologize for the effect that might have on the trees.

That said, there is SO MUCH FRUIT out there. You will absolutely believe you are in Eden when you come. And yes, I'll have lots of different recipes to give you, to help you use up all that wonderful fruit!

Too Many Apples...

2009-08-10T12:45:00.001-04:00

Man, it's hot out and I am WAY behind on the thinning. Wish me cool thoughts!

Worse than Elmer Fudd

2009-08-03T10:40:00.003-04:00

I am a terrorist of rabbits. It's true. I don't mean to be; I just am. I was out the other day, mowing the orchard to gear up for thinning (about which, more later). So there I am, mowing away. The garden tractor is LOUD and I tend to assume that critters will hear me coming and get out of the way. But then I see said critters, scampering off in a panic. The poor things. As far as I know, I have no reason to scare them off. Unlike the woodchucks...

How to get ahead in the apple business

2009-08-03T10:26:00.000-04:00

Yes, I do favor the low-hanging fruit.

Conundrum

2009-08-03T10:20:00.005-04:00

If the enemy of my enemy is my friend, is this deer my friend? I find it a challenge to believe that, but there she was, chewing on the sumac. Anyone who helps me contain the menace of sumac, well, I have to love. Okay deer, here's the deal: You eat the sumac and I won't hang bars of stinky soap in the orchard for you to nibble on. But we're going to have trouble if you go after the apples...

Farm Friends

2009-07-25T11:01:00.005-04:00

It's not only about dogs here at Little Dog Orchard. We have lots of wildlife friends, too. This here is a snapper turtle, laying a clutch of eggs. (This happened a few weeks ago.) I spotted her from my office window. She dug a nice hole, laid probably 50-80 eggs, buried them, and headed off into the sunset. Sometime around September, we'll be inundated with little snapper babies. Maybe you'll see some when you come picking.

The Agony and the Ecstasy

2009-07-23T19:31:00.006-04:00

The hatred I have in my heart for Japanese beetles is matched only by the joy I take in crushing them between two culled apples.

Jerks.

Remember that "I am crushing your head" guy? That's me, stalking the metallic bastards.

Lots and LOTS of apples

2009-07-19T17:54:00.003-04:00

Wow - okay, first, an apology: I'm sorry I've been neglecting the blog. I making a New Week's Resolution to be better at keep you up to date. (And I'll go back and fill in some of the exciting farm details that you've missed.)

Today I started hand-thinning the apples. See, conventional farmers do chemical thinning. They spray any number of things (usually throwing in a pint of Sevin) on the trees, and the weaker apples die off, leaving minimal work to do by hand. I can't do that, though, 'cuz Sevin isn't exactly organic. So I get to go through the orchard and pick thousands and thousands of apples.

This might be a strange thing to say, but it's good that we have a bit of scab with year. It makes deciding which apples to pick really easy. See scab? Pick apple. As I make the orchard healthier, it's going to be harder to thin. I'll feel much guiltier. Poor little apples. They never got a chance.

This here is the first load. That is less than half of what I'll pull off the first row. (This year, I have 11 rows.)

Now I just have to figure out what to do with them. Compost, yes, but not all of them. Anyone out there have any ideas?

The Fine Art of Literature

2009-06-09T10:47:00.004-04:00

A whole day devoted to creating and delivering brochures? Hell yes! Especially when a really nice person from Lincoln Center invites you to bring some by. (Thanks, Lisa!) So yes, I spent pretty much all day crafting the very first Little Dog Orchard Lease A Tree brochure. As soon as I figure out how, I'll post a link to it.

The great thing about this endeavor is that I get to meet a lot of really cool, nice, thoughtful, interesting people. (I swear I am not sucking up to the reader.) There are so many people out there who get excited at the idea of being a part of a healthy, sustainable food economy that it makes my heart sing.

On a not-totally unrelated note, check out the Silk Road Ensemble on Live from Lincoln Center tonight. It's a great show!

Total Failure

2009-06-07T15:15:00.003-04:00

Operation Double Bubble is a complete failure. I might try again with more gum directly in the holes. I might try Leslie's approach and throw used kitty litter in the holes. (Anyone with used kitty litter around should drop me a comment.) But the woodchucks best be warned: A new sheriff is coming to town, and he's armed. (Hint: It ain't me.)

Operation Double Bubble begins!

2009-06-05T12:41:00.005-04:00

The Weapon

The Target

Operation Double Bubble went into effect yesterday at 15:00 hours. The goal? Target elimination. The weapon? A 99 cent package of Double Bubble chewing gum. Yesterday afternoon, I unwrapped the pink pods of doom and laced the area in and around the woodchuck holes. As of this morning, the gum I left just outside the holes was untouched, and there were a few targets roaming around and grazing. So I threw everything into the holes.

And now I wait.

(For those of you worrying about my mental health and/or assuming I'm turning into Bill Murray, I have at least three more approaches to woodchuck elimination that I'll attempt before resorting to plastic explosives shaped like rabbbits.)

The mascot likes the product!

2009-05-27T20:53:00.002-04:00

It's so good for my ethical side (hopefully the majority share) that our mascot likes the product.

Nothing exciting to report today. It's dreary weather, but good for working on establishing the business side of LDO. I'm also following an enticing lead about possibly getting some technical assistance from the USDA/NRCS on organic transition planning. Having regular access to someone who can give me advice on what the heck I'm doing would be so great! (As would not having to wear out my welcome with my farmer-neighbors...)

So Many Lessons

2009-05-19T18:26:00.003-04:00

Being a new farmer means learning. All the time. Some lessons are big and some not so big. Today I learned that spending more than than five hours weed whacking is probably not a good idea. It might not be the biggest lesson, but I'm sure it will serve me well in times to come.

Things are moving quickly around here!

2009-05-18T12:54:00.002-04:00

Man, let me tell you - Mother Nature does not waste time. We went from tight cluster to pink to blossom overnight. Well, it felt like it went that quickly anyway. I have pictures of blossom time that I'll post shortly. And I promise I'll get better about posting photos. I think Jody might have a few of the bees that were brought in to pollinate (I'm still a bit bee-shy.)

The learning curve continues: A few days ago I went to the annual Thinning and Pest Management Meeting that the good people at Cornell put on. The majority of the conversation revolved around chemicals that I won't use in our orchard, but it's still good to know what the standards are. It's also fun to meet the guys who have been growing apples around here for a lot longer than I have!

About a week before that meeting, I went to a workshop on sprayers for small growers. That was REALLY interesting. It turns out that I really only have one option for our orchard because of the spacing between the rows and trees. So now I'm looking for a 50- or 100-gallon air blast sprayer. If you know of anyone with a spare, let me know!