The Worm in the Apple

I read a memoir titled The Orchard last week.  Written by a woman who currently lives in Wisconsin, it is about her short marriage to a man who grew up on an apple orchard in Iowa.  The story is typical of many of the memoirs being written these days -- lots of angst and dysfunction; she & her husband were very young when they married and struggled to find their feet within the marriage. The time was the late 1970s through about 1990.  Farming was different then, every type of farming.  Strong chemicals were being used, often without benefit of protection to the person using them, or those going into the fields after application.  Regulatory agencies (EPA) were working to change that & discontinue use of some of the worst chemicals, but those changes were slow in coming.  The husband developed a fast-growing cancer and died at about age 35.  The author blames the cancer on the pesticides being used -- and she could certainly be right since I suspect that they were spraying DDT (it is never named in the book).

Unfortunately, she got so much wrong about the pests that her book cannot be taken as a serious work.  It is strictly her memory of parts of her life, told the way she wants it interpreted.

I can't speak for every orchard, but I know what is being taught at conferences and workshops, and I know what other orchardists tell me at those meetings.  What went on in the 1970s & 1980s does not happen anymore.

In The Orchard the author tells about her husband showing her where the Codling Moth -- a major pest to apples -- are boring into the tree trunks.  Codling Moth do NOT bore into tree trunks, not ever.  They are a real and persistent problem -- the proverbial worm in the apple -- but they bore into the apples themselves, lay eggs inside the apple that hatch into worm-like caterpillars that then bore their way through the apple leaving brown trails behind -- and often the process hasn't finished by the time the apple is ripe, so the caterpillar-worm is still in the apple when you pick it.

A pest that does bore into the trees is Dogwood Borer -- another real and significant problem for apple trees.  [There could be other borers that I don't know about  that infected the author's orchard.]

As scientists have learned more about the life cycle of the Codling Moth, they have also developed ways to deal with the moth rather than spraying a broad-based organophosphate pesticide that kills everything in its path, good and bad alike.  Farmers have learned more about the inter-connectedness of nature and are concerned about taking care of the soil and the water, and still making a crop that can be sold to earn their living.  There are 'organic' sprays (remember, gentle readers, that organic label on your food does not mean no chemical sprays have been used).  The trouble with the organic sprays for Codling Moth is that they must be sprayed every 10 days from May through September, as well as after every major rainfall.  And they often don't work as well as 2 well-timed conventional sprays.

There are also pheromone disrupters.  This past year, Farmer Bill & I tried a codling moth pheromone disrupter for the first time -- with pretty good success.  Pheromone disrupters for Codling Moth come in various shapes and sizes.  We used one that is similar to a giant twist-tie.  At the beginning of the Codling Moth season -- determined by the number of degree-days recorded that year -- we sent a crew out to the orchard to twist a disrupter onto every tree, and extras on the perimeter trees.  The pheromone scent imitates the scent of a female Codling Moth and excites the males.  The males fly toward the scent, planning to find the female and copulate with her, so she can bore into an apple, lay her eggs, and complete the circle of life.  But with pheromones coming at them from absolutely every tree, the males get disoriented -- and the premise is that they will get completely frustrated, not be able to find an actual female, and not be able to fertilize her eggs.

For years we have had a pheromone trap hanging in the orchard.  This trap has sticky stuff on it -- the pheromone lure draws the moths in & traps them in the goo.  We hang the traps in April and check them weekly.  When the number of moths in the trap hits a threshold, it is time to spray the orchard.  In 2011, once we'd hung the disrupters in the orchard we never saw another moth in the trap -- they were all flying around trying to find those elusive females elsewhere.  And we had virtually no Codling Moth damage to our apple crop.  While not cheap, the disrupters are less expensive than the organic sprays available, and similar in cost to the conventional sprays.  If they work over the long term -- multiple years -- they will be far less costly than any spray program in terms of their impact on the environment.

I guess my point in telling this story is to remind my readers (all 3 of you) that you can't believe everything you read.  No one fact checked this author's book before it was published & she got her facts wrong.  I don't believe she was intentionally wrong, she just didn't know.  And she wrote about what happened on farms 25 - 35 years ago by the time the book was published.  There is a tendency among some groups of the public to vilify conventional farmers en masse.  But I don't think Farmer Bill is a villain.  He uses chemicals judiciously and sparingly.  He sprays early in the day or late in the day when the 'good' bugs are less likely to be active.  He wears protective garb and a ventilator mask and doesn't allow staff into the fields before the interval proscribed by the label.  We eat a lot of apples at our house, and a lot of our friends and family eat them, too.  We're not interested in poisoning any of these people.  We are interested in making our farm profitable -- and wormy apples are not saleable.

Winter

The strawberries were covered this past week; the blueberries were mulched; machinery was winterized & put away.   Farmer Bill took off this morning to pick up a new (to him) tractor in Virginia and won't be back for about 6 days.  I plan on spending a lot of time working in my sewing room while he's gone.  I hope to finish the wall quilt I started last spring, and make a start on a new quilt for our bed that I've been planning for almost 2 years.  When I need a break from sewing I'll work on a few home improvement projects -- light fixtures in the hallway come to mind -- and do some fall cleaning.

We had a light dusting of snow last night, which covers up the brown and makes things look very clean and pretty.  Not enough yet to get out the snowshoes...

We had a pretty good apple season this year, which helped make up some of the deficit from the strawberries (see posts about the river field).  But Farmer Bill will still be on an austerity budget -- except for the tractor -- this winter.  He's needed another tractor for several years; to be able to keep the employees busy and the work moving along in the summer.

Libraries give value for your dollar

I've always worked in public libraries, but I rarely used them as a child or young adult.  My childhood library was more than a mile away, not on a bus line, & I rarely had transportation (I didn't even have a bicycle of my own until I was 15).  My university was an alternative university specifically designed for adults returning to school and it didn't have a physical library.  We were eligible to use the libraries at the University of Minnesota, and we were encouraged to explore and use the public libraries.  [Minnesota has a somewhat unique arrangement for public library access that allows people to use one library card across the entire state at no charge.]  That's when I began using public libraries more often.  When my kids were young I took them to the library occasionally, but not regularly.  Our local branch had storytimes that we could have attended, but they were so crowded and noisy that the kids didn't enjoy them.  They preferred hanging out in the children's area, choosing books to take home & read.

When I decided on a career in public libraries I had no idea of the strange schedules I would be asked to work -- nor the interesting characters with whom I would be in daily contact.  But since no one would believe both issues are what they are, we continue to get people interested in working in public libraries (luckily for the public!).

Almost all of the branches in Dakota County Library are open on Sunday afternoons during the school year.  [The Library Board and administration would like us to be open Sundays all year round, but haven't yet been able to come up the the money to staff those additional hours.]  So between Labor Day and Memorial Day, my branch is open 7 days & 61 hours each week (check your local library hours & you'll see that 61 hours is a lot for a branch library).  And we have professional librarians on duty during all open hours.  [No, libraries can't be staffed with volunteers, and the average person can't walk in off the street and do what we do -- on the librarian side or the clerical side!]  Our branch lends 1800-2000 items every day, and takes that many returns as well.  A human being has to touch every returned item to make sure it gets back to its proper spot, in a timely manner, so we can find it again.  Five years ago a human had to touch every borrowed item, too.  Now most of the checkout is done by patrons at self-service machines.  Add on free Internet access for the public, several dozen subscription research databases, children's storytimes, author visits, book groups, constantly changing technology (ereaders, tablets, and more), and you have yourself some very busy librarians and library staff. 

The public gets great bang for the buck from public libraries.  In Minnesota the per capita tax expenditure for public libraries is about $35.  Public libraries are paid for through property taxes; every member of the public is eligible to walk through our doors and use our resources.  And a wide variety of them do!  The variety makes the job both interesting and exhausting.  No public library can possibly offer all of the services that people ask for on a regular basis: passports, birth & death certificates, notary services, legal aid, tax advice and preparation, small business services from copying to faxing to payroll, immigration services, resume & cover letter writing, tutoring (in every subject at every level from grade school through college), one-on-one computer training, in-depth research for personal topics and term papers, and more. 

And, of course, the public still wants free access to physical books -- 1800-2000 of them every day, as I mentioned above.  In addition to the books, we offer the loan of music CDs, movie DVDs, and audiobooks, free (as long as you return them on time & undamaged).  We have free Internet access, free introductory computer classes, free research databases (mostly also available, using your free library card, from one's home computer) with material that can't be accessed free on the Internet, free troubleshooting help for the Nook you got for Christmas, free wireless access, free children's programming, free teen and adult programs, and more.  It's a great resource at a great price.  Please be supportive of your public libraries, and considerate to the staff, who are not paid more than their private-sector counterparts, and don't really have super marvelous benefit packages, and who work evenings and weekends all year-round.

End of the apple season

Zestar!, Ginger Gold, Chestnut Crab, Cortland, Sweet Sixteen, Honeycrisp, Haralson, Honeygold, Regent, Keepsake.  Ten varieties of apples on about 2600 trees, ripening in turn starting about August 20 and continuing through early October.  The trees were planted in 2003 and are just starting to really produce.  Farmer Bill and I are still learning how to manage the trees and manage the harvest.

2011 was a pretty good apple season.  Straight River Farm had only a couple of very short hail events with only minior damage; a light frost during blossom and a cool, wet spring kept the Zestar! and other early apples down in number -- but not grievously so.  We managed to keep most of the diseases and pests at bay and harvested a large crop of salable apples.  It's October 30 and virtually all of the apples have been sold.  Farmer Bill may take a load downtown one more Saturday, but that will be it.  The large cooler will be emptied, cleaned, and turned off for the winter.  The preparation-for-winter farm work has already begun and will continue for several weeks.  Strawberries will be covered with straw, fields will be plowed, hoop houses emptied, machinery winterized, the orchard mowed.  Enough work for Farmer Bill and a couple of men through November.  Farmer Bill is looking forward to being able to stay at the farm every day & work on taking care of the place.  The shorter days -- and no markets to get to -- mean being able to sleep until 7:00 a.m. most days.  Pure luxury.

How I became a librarian

I occasionally think I should write about my work as a librarian -- especially since that's the job that pays me a salary.

When I went back to college to finish my B.A. I wasn't sure what to study.  I went to an alternative college where I could design my own program, and I spent a lot of time talking to my advisors.  The first advisor talked with me a couple of times and then suggested that based on what he was hearing I should switch to someone else.  The second advisor became someone as close to a mentor as I've ever had.  She encouraged me to call my baccalaureate degree "Information Management."  I focused on the liberal arts, and tossed in a handful of classes surrounding managing information.  For one class, I organized a collection of documents pertaining to the early years of the school & created a searchable database using a software that is now surely as extinct as the dodo bird.

I was thinking all the time that I'd like to work in a library; in fact, I'd taken a part-time job shelving at our local library to get a feel for the work.  I love the orderliness of libraries, I love books and reading, and it seemed like a good fit.  So with my newly-acquired degree I started looking for work with a little more responsibility than shelving.  I quickly discovered that most libraries require a Master's degree before you can work as a librarian.  However, one local county library system did not -- and in the fall of 1994 they were hiring!  The jobs were all half-time and the starting pay was not great (for librarian work), but they were jobs.  I was able to qualify and got an interview.  I interviewed -- badly, as I always feel I do -- and was hired by the best boss I've ever had, or ever expect to have.  Her name is Ruth, and I've always been grateful that she saw something in me worth giving a chance in her library.

I worked at the Forest Lake Library for 5 years.  Ruth retired and left after I'd been there about 4 years.  The manager after Ruth was just biding time until she found a job out west -- she went to Montana -- where the sun shines more often -- and although she was frustrating, she wasn't there often enough or long enough to have a huge impact.  The manager after her was the worst boss I've ever had and I hope the worst I ever do have!  Shortly after she arrived I started actively looking for other work.  I applied for several jobs and was hired by Ramsey County Library as a substitue librarian.  I tendered my resignation to Washington County Library, took the cut in pay, and jumped ship immediately.  Within months of starting with Ramsey County, I was called for an interview at Dakota County, after which I was offered a 3/4-time job, at a very good starting salary.  At that time, Dakota County Library was the up-and-coming library system.  There seemed to be a lot of creative juices flowing, librarians were encouraged to be innovative, and the pay scale was about the best in the Twin Cities.  I took the job -- that was July 2000 -- and I've been with Dakota County Library ever since.

Agritainment and wedding anniversaries

Yesterday was our 29th wedding anniversary.  We pretty much decided to stick it out for another year.  And we sort of took the day off.  It was a rotation day for me; I work every other Saturday, so on those weeks I get Thursday off.  Farmer Bill will often go to help for the first half of the Thursday market, but didn't this week.  I spent the morning catching up on some bookkeeping.  The chimney sweep came about 9:30 and swept the chimney, so we're ready to go for this winter.  Farmer Bill organized a load for the Thursday market & sent Ryan off by himself -- the traffic is slowing down at markets so 1 person can handle it pretty well.  Then Farmer Bill & I went out for lunch (!) and drove to Spring Valley, WI to visit an orchard and talk to the owner about using his equipment to press apple cider.  It is a long drive, but a pretty one in the fall.  We talked about farming, about being married for 29 years & all the things we've experienced together.

The kitchen this orchardist built was compact and tidy.  They bake some pies on Fridays and Saturdays.  On Sundays they make apple crisp.  New this year they started making doughnuts, which have proved very popular.  They bottle honey from their own hives, make some jams and jellies out of their own fruit (pears, plums, apples, and grapes), and sell maple syrup tapped from their own trees.  The orchard includes about 30 acres of trees and is set up for people to come in and pick their own.  I could see the wheels turning in Bill's mind (& that usually makes me nervous).  We've toyed for a couple of years about having a store on SRF to sell our apples.  But we really don't want to go the agritainment route.  No jumping pillows, no corn mazes, no petting zoo.  And our orchard is definitely not set up for pick-your-own.  The rows are too close together; each row is a different variety that ripens at a different time.  Keeping pickers -- especially young ones -- on the right rows would be impossible.  And making SRF a destination is difficult when there's nothing to do but buy a bag of apples or a jar of jam.  It's hard to see why people would come to our place when they can go a dozen other places & be entertained.

This winter we'll have more conversations about what to do & how to do it.  Stay tuned.

What are you doing this weekend?

I see the last post was on August 25, a full month ago.  Since then Farmer Bill has worked non-stop, averaging 16 hour days, seven days a week.  The apple harvest is different than strawberry season.  For one thing it lasts much, much longer.  Strawberry season averages 18 days; apple harvest averages 6 weeks -- for the picking -- 10 or more weeks to sell the crop.

Last year Farmer Bill managed to find a farmers' market on Mondays, which used to be his day off marketing.  So he now markets 7 days a week.  Good news is that he found a great employee, Ryan C., who goes to markets for him several days per week.  Of course, Farmer Bill just found other markets to go to on those days.  But I suppose the more markets he goes to, the more apples he sells & the sooner his crop is sold.  But it can be pretty exhausting.

Because Bill is such a people person, and is so conscientious about his farming, he has begun to develop relationships with agritainment orchards.  An orchard in Delano has purchased large quantities of our Honeygold apples for 3 years now.  Honeygold ripen about October 1; they are a green/yellow apple with a firm texture & a mild sweet flavor.  They eat and cook well, but sell very slowly, and SRF always has more Honeygold than we can sell at farmers' markets.  So the relationship with Apple Jack has been a great boon.  This year Bill found an orchard that needed Zestar! and was able to sell 50 bushel at a good price (before they softened -- and before the Honeycrisp came in).  That same orchard is now interested in some of our Honeycrisp, which means they were pleased with the quality of the Zestar! they got.  These are small orders in the scheme of things, but huge for our operation.  A third venue that may work well for Farmer Bill is a produce auction in northern Iowa.  Bill took apples there 2 years ago, but last year's crop was so small that he didn't need additional outlets (except for Honeygold!).  This week he sent a load of apples down and it sold -- very well at very good prices.  Additional apples will be going to the auction next week.  All of these sales are down to Farmer Bill.  He seeks out possible venues.  He develops relationships.  He treats people fairly, respectfully, and evenly, always.

Okay, I got a Saturday off from marketing today -- a total fluke -- so now I have to quit messing about on the computer and go make good use of this 'free' time.  Applesauce to make, apple rings to dry, and the usual laundry to work on and bathrooms to clean, although very little housework gets done this time of year beyond keeping the kitchen clean and trying to keep us in clean underwear.  By the beginning or middle of November I should be able to start doing a thorough cleanup...