The first year I started this blog, I wrote quite a bit. Last year not so much. It was a hard year for farming and a hard year to work in the public library and that made it a hard year to write. I spent December and January being pretty lazy about the house and farm. Farmer Bill would suggest that he's been lazy too, but it's all relative. He and his right-hand man have done a lot of maintenance work on the machinery and tools, and worked outside when the weather allowed, even though they haven't put in the kind of hours they will during the growing season.
Speaking of weather... We were really hoping for more snow this winter. We had very little snow last winter, and not much rain over the summer, leaving us in a net deficit. The lack of snow cover during the recent cold spells means that the ground is deeply frozen. After it thaws, we're going to need a pretty rainy spring to get things back on track.
One of the things Farmer Bill does in the off months is go to conferences. It's a great way to get to talk to other growers and learn about new things. The big talk this year is a new insect that's arrived and is starting to cause problems in fruit crops. It's the Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD) and it came from Asia, probably via international trade routes. It prefers soft fruits such as blueberries, cherries and raspberries and was found in those crops in Minnesota in 2012. Fruit specialists are looking at IPM methods of controlling this new pest, as well as various chemical (including organic) methods. Apparently SWD can inflict a lot of damage in a short time. Other fruit flies wait until there is overripe or damaged fruit to do their stuff. This fruit fly has a little serrated knife on its butt that lets it cut a slit in good fruit to lay eggs. Isn't nature amazing? We'll be adding monitoring traps for SWD in our raspberries, and maybe in the blueberries too, just in case (they won't be producing any fruit this year since they're only 2 years old). What we'll do if we discover this pest depends on research being done at universities across the country. Right now Farmer Bill is out pruning the apple trees. Generally, pruning should start about February 1. But if temperatures are above 20 degrees F. one can start pruning earlier. Since the goal is to prune and shape every tree every year, the earlier he can start the better.
One of the things I've been doing this winter is trying to improve my quilting skills, without a lot of real success. I continue to really enjoy the designing and piecing parts of quilting, and I think my skills there have improved over the years. But I can't get my quilting skills to a point where I am satisfied. I know I'm a bit of a perfectionist about it, and for some quilts it just shouldn't matter so much, but I'd still like my feathers to look like feathers rather than spikes. I've pretty much decided that hiring someone who IS good at quilting and has one of those really cool long arm machines is worth the expense for the quilts I really care about. I've contacted a long-arm quilter in the area and will meet with her soon to see if we're compatible. For 'lesser' quilts, I'll do the straight-line quilting that I'm reasonably good at and call it a day.
And for this post, I'd better call it a day, too.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Thanksgiving
This was a hard year for strawberry and apple farmers. The warm weather early in March meant that both the berries and the apples started growing too early. When the inevitable cold weather returned, the apple blossoms were frozen. Most of the strawberry blossoms were protected by watering - starting somewhere between 11:00 pm and 2:00 am and watering until the temperatures rose above freezing well after sunrise. But excessive watering encourages fungal growth and a leafspot problem developed that cut the strawberry crop about in half. The apple crop was about 5% of last year's crop when all was picked and done. The raspberries suffered damage from the frosts and an invasive pest newly arrived from the south. The blueberries came through pretty well and are a better stand than we first thought. They take a loooonngg time to 'green up' in the spring. We'll be better prepared for the wait next year and less prone to panic.
On the bright side, the tomatoes raised in the hoop houses did very well and because we had some of the first tomatoes, both grape and slicers, they sold for a very good price. Once the field-raised tomatoes came in, the prices dropped significantly and Farmer Bill will think this winter about whether to bother with field tomatoes. The cantaloupe also did well this year and customers continued to be amazed at the size of our melons. I have my doubts as to whether sweet corn makes any money, but it does create cash flow... and farmers always need cash.
All in all, a mixed bag of crop results; but Farmer Bill was able to make the mortgage payments and pay the property taxes and the help (less help needed, of course). So that's a positive. And of course, there's always next year. [This year we've used the phrase 'wait until next year' about both the farm and Farmer Bill's baseball team.]
We do have many things to be thankful for. Our daughter was married this year, and the couple bought a house and are settling into married life. Our son & d-i-l moved to Maine and her new job is proving to be a good one, with possibilities for future growth - and we actually talk somewhat more often than we did when they were just an hour away. Both Farmer Bill & I remain healthy. My job has never been in danger and I continue to enjoy most aspects of the work. I hope to be able to find more time for writing over the winter and into the next year. I get a lot of great ideas during my long drive to and from work, but rarely do they make it to print. Maybe next year...
Happy Thanksgiving to all.
On the bright side, the tomatoes raised in the hoop houses did very well and because we had some of the first tomatoes, both grape and slicers, they sold for a very good price. Once the field-raised tomatoes came in, the prices dropped significantly and Farmer Bill will think this winter about whether to bother with field tomatoes. The cantaloupe also did well this year and customers continued to be amazed at the size of our melons. I have my doubts as to whether sweet corn makes any money, but it does create cash flow... and farmers always need cash.
All in all, a mixed bag of crop results; but Farmer Bill was able to make the mortgage payments and pay the property taxes and the help (less help needed, of course). So that's a positive. And of course, there's always next year. [This year we've used the phrase 'wait until next year' about both the farm and Farmer Bill's baseball team.]
We do have many things to be thankful for. Our daughter was married this year, and the couple bought a house and are settling into married life. Our son & d-i-l moved to Maine and her new job is proving to be a good one, with possibilities for future growth - and we actually talk somewhat more often than we did when they were just an hour away. Both Farmer Bill & I remain healthy. My job has never been in danger and I continue to enjoy most aspects of the work. I hope to be able to find more time for writing over the winter and into the next year. I get a lot of great ideas during my long drive to and from work, but rarely do they make it to print. Maybe next year...
Happy Thanksgiving to all.
Saturday, June 23, 2012
And it's over...
Amazing. Farmer Bill will pick the last of his strawberries on Monday - and that's it for this year. The crop suffered from frost damage & angular leaf spot. The frost was one that was missed - possibly when we were in Scotland for our daughter's wedding, or possibly shortly after we came back, or maybe even earlier. We really don't know... which indicates it might be time to think about a different frost alert system. Food for thought for next winter. Angular leaf spot was a problem across our area, wherever people used sprinkler irrigation to do frost protection. The bacterium lives in the soil and spreads to the strawberry leaves via splashing water. It is hard to control, but there is a spray that seems to get good results - and is labelled for organic use, which is an added bonus.
[If you haven't read my previous diatribes on whether organic producers spray, they do. None of us wants to poison the earth, the people eating our produce, or ourselves. But farmers who are in farming to make a living need to have a crop to sell, and sometimes (often) nature throws us a curve ball that we have to figure out how to hit. An organically-approved pesticide means that the chemicals in it have been proven to break down rapidly, leaving little or no residue on the produce.]
We started picking the summer raspberries this week and the response has been good - because the crop looks pretty good.
We're seeing splashes of red in the grape tomato hoop house, the melons are blossoming like crazy (get busy, you bees!), and the slicing tomatoes look good to me, but I haven't seen any red yet. There's a LOT of sweet corn planted - on our place and at a neighbor's place - but Farmer Bill says he's not planting off the farm after this year. It's too hard to keep up with the additional acreage during strawberry season. I've been encouraging him (okay, maybe I've been nagging a little bit) not to expand every year. We're not getting any younger, and the 16-hour days seem harder every summer. In the middle of strawberry season he usually agrees that he should cut back, but in the middle of the winter when he's rested again, almost anything seems possible.
It looks like the Zestar! might actually be our most plentiful apple variety for this year. After the April 10 frost, where all the existing blossoms were frozen, the Zestar! put out a few new clusters here and there. Most trees actually have a few apples on them!
It's still a long slog through the summer. I'm hoping that the tomatoes, melons, and sweet corn continue to do well. And that Farmer Bill can find a couple of good marketing staff to help him get them sold.
[If you haven't read my previous diatribes on whether organic producers spray, they do. None of us wants to poison the earth, the people eating our produce, or ourselves. But farmers who are in farming to make a living need to have a crop to sell, and sometimes (often) nature throws us a curve ball that we have to figure out how to hit. An organically-approved pesticide means that the chemicals in it have been proven to break down rapidly, leaving little or no residue on the produce.]
We started picking the summer raspberries this week and the response has been good - because the crop looks pretty good.
We're seeing splashes of red in the grape tomato hoop house, the melons are blossoming like crazy (get busy, you bees!), and the slicing tomatoes look good to me, but I haven't seen any red yet. There's a LOT of sweet corn planted - on our place and at a neighbor's place - but Farmer Bill says he's not planting off the farm after this year. It's too hard to keep up with the additional acreage during strawberry season. I've been encouraging him (okay, maybe I've been nagging a little bit) not to expand every year. We're not getting any younger, and the 16-hour days seem harder every summer. In the middle of strawberry season he usually agrees that he should cut back, but in the middle of the winter when he's rested again, almost anything seems possible.
It looks like the Zestar! might actually be our most plentiful apple variety for this year. After the April 10 frost, where all the existing blossoms were frozen, the Zestar! put out a few new clusters here and there. Most trees actually have a few apples on them!
It's still a long slog through the summer. I'm hoping that the tomatoes, melons, and sweet corn continue to do well. And that Farmer Bill can find a couple of good marketing staff to help him get them sold.
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Strawberry Season
It's officially strawberry season again. We took our first strawberries to the markets on May 31 and June 2. Farmer Bill opened his strawberry patch to pickers on June 5. This is about the earliest we've ever opened. The strawberry crop looks good this year, mostly. There is some frost damage in the upper field, and the early variety - Wendy - really isn't working out. There just doesn't seem to be a really good early strawberry variety. Farmer Bill used to grow Annapolis as his early variety. It is good tasting and does well for size, but doesn't get sweet until it's very ripe, so if you let the field get ripe, the mid-season berries are ready to pick... and you've lost your advantage of having an early variety.
The apple crop is mostly non-existent for 2012. We had incredible, record-setting warm weather in March, which woke the trees up and got them blooming early. Then April came in with normal April weather and the blossoms froze. It looks like we'll have 5-10% of the normal crop of apples. There will be, almost literally, a few of everything, but not very many of anything.
Other crops will have to take up some of the slack - there are an awful lot of cantaloupes and watermelons planted this year. Both hoop houses are full of tomatoes - grape tomatoes in one and slicers in the other. The hope is that Farmer Bill will have some of the earliest tomatoes that bring the best prices. There is also a LOT of sweet corn planted (and more plantings being planned, I'm sure - Farmer Bill knows better than to tell me how much sweet corn he's growing).
The raspberries look really good this year. They are covered in berry buds now & I expect them to start turning red any time (actually I've eaten a few almost-ripe raspberries). We'll definitely start picking them early - maybe as much as 2 weeks early. Farmer Bill is hoping to do well with the raspberries this year - partly to help make up for the apples, partly because it's time for the raspberries to start pulling their weight & producing some income.
It was a busy day today at the strawberry patch. Our picking crew worked hard for 4 hours picking several hundred pounds of strawberries that were almost all sold by the time we closed at 2:00. The PYO operation was steadily busy, too. We're still in the beginning stage of picking, which means that the berries are a bit larger, but further between. Next week there will be more clusters of berries, and that's when the PYO customers are really happy. A huge part of Farmer Bill's job is to manage the customers' expectations & keep them happily toiling on their knees through the strawberries. He's really good at it.
The apple crop is mostly non-existent for 2012. We had incredible, record-setting warm weather in March, which woke the trees up and got them blooming early. Then April came in with normal April weather and the blossoms froze. It looks like we'll have 5-10% of the normal crop of apples. There will be, almost literally, a few of everything, but not very many of anything.
Other crops will have to take up some of the slack - there are an awful lot of cantaloupes and watermelons planted this year. Both hoop houses are full of tomatoes - grape tomatoes in one and slicers in the other. The hope is that Farmer Bill will have some of the earliest tomatoes that bring the best prices. There is also a LOT of sweet corn planted (and more plantings being planned, I'm sure - Farmer Bill knows better than to tell me how much sweet corn he's growing).
The raspberries look really good this year. They are covered in berry buds now & I expect them to start turning red any time (actually I've eaten a few almost-ripe raspberries). We'll definitely start picking them early - maybe as much as 2 weeks early. Farmer Bill is hoping to do well with the raspberries this year - partly to help make up for the apples, partly because it's time for the raspberries to start pulling their weight & producing some income.
It was a busy day today at the strawberry patch. Our picking crew worked hard for 4 hours picking several hundred pounds of strawberries that were almost all sold by the time we closed at 2:00. The PYO operation was steadily busy, too. We're still in the beginning stage of picking, which means that the berries are a bit larger, but further between. Next week there will be more clusters of berries, and that's when the PYO customers are really happy. A huge part of Farmer Bill's job is to manage the customers' expectations & keep them happily toiling on their knees through the strawberries. He's really good at it.
Monday, May 28, 2012
Looking over the fields
We'll be picking some early strawberries to take to market this week. Yesterday was a blistering 90+ degrees with lots of wind & the berries ripened as I watched (and we had a lovely compote of fresh strawberries & bananas and frozen blueberries for dessert - yum!). The temperatures going forward are much more moderate - with even a potential frost one night (in our low-lying field). Moderate is good for the berries. Too much heat & they ripen faster than we can pick them and before they can grow big & fat. However, we can get by for an entire week with no more rain... the drought of last fall is completely broken, we've had record rainfall for the month of May (and our basement hasn't flooded once -- hurray!), but now we need things to dry up a little bit.
This will be our 9th year selling fruit from SRF. Our mailing list has grown to over 1000 names, and I'm finally biting the bullet and have contracted with a company to create an email list. Earlier this year I set up a Facebook page for the farm and I'm trying to post on it occasionally. The website that I created years ago is still our main focus on the interwebs, but FB is a force that must be acknowledged. I'll be putting up a sign at the checkout stand for people to 'Like' us on FB. The average age of our customers is probably about 50 or so, but every year we get new, younger people coming out to pick or buy berries. And there are a lot of 50+ folks on FB now, too.
This will be the earliest we have ever started picking strawberries. Including the 10+ years of Bill's Backyard Berries in White Bear Lake.
My journey through the orchard was a sad one, as it has been since April 10 when the frost hit the blossoming trees. If we get 5 bushel of Honeycrisp I'll be amazed (a 'normal' harvest would be 250-300 bushel). The SweeTango dropped most of their apples, too, so not much help from them this year. They, however, are still young trees, and we wouldn't want too much crop on them anyway. The Zestar! put out some new blossoms after the frost, and there may actually be more Zestar! than we'd guessed - which was zero - but again not even 1/10 of our normal crop. Last year not much strawberry crop, this year not much apple crop. I wonder if we'll ever get a year where we get a good harvest from both main crops.
The raspberries look very good; it's a new patch that was planted 2 years ago & produced lightly last year. The bees, who didn't get much out of the apple blossoms, are crazy busy in the raspberries. Farmer Bill hopes to get a decent crop - and some sorely needed cash - out of the raspberries - which will be ready early too - before the 1st of July for sure.
Tomatoes in the hoop houses are growing like crazy. If the pollination happens as expected Farmer Bill should have some of the first tomatoes on the market - which bring very good prices from Minnesotans starved for real tomato flavor.
The melons were transplanted last week. One batch got planted a bit deep and is taking a bit longer to get going... the other field looks very good. If you like cantaloupe you should really buy a locally grown & ripened cantaloupe. Of course, then you'll never be able to buy supermarket melons again... Did you know that cantaloupe do not ripen after they're picked? They do soften (begin to break down), and their smell intensifies (as they spoil), but they are as sweet as they will be when they're picked. We have to tell customers that our melons are ripe & they should NOT under ANY circumstances leave them sitting on the countertop for 3 days. Eat them that day, cut them up and store in containers, or refrigerate them & eat within a few days.
Farmer Bill has planted peas every year for the past 4-5 years - he mostly does edible pods now, after trying shelling peas and snowpeas in the past. Many of our strawberry customers will go out and pick a pile of peas to take home, or buy some if they're already picked. This year the peas won't be ready until late in strawberry season so he'll have to try to sell them at markets and to raspberry customers. And I'm not sure who's going to pick all the green beans Farmer Bill planted this year. I'll pick enough for the two of us to eat next winter, but I really don't do picking any more - between work and home duties (and arthritis in the knees) I don't have much time.
The sweet corn is growing, but the planter struggled again this year and the fields will be a bit spotty. I like sweet corn, but one ear once a day is enough for me. Farmer Bill is known to eat 4 or more ears of corn at a sitting. And he'd probably do that twice a day if he could - if he had time at lunch - or at least until his stomach rebelled. I don't mind picking sweet corn sometimes (you do it standing up, which is a plus), but it always seems like a lot of work for the return. Sweet corn takes a lot of space on the load, and it's a lot of work to sell. Farmer Bill grows one heritage sweet corn variety - Jubilee - that I use for freezing and we love having it in the freezer to put in soups and stews and to eat as a side dish. It has real corn flavor as opposed to most of the new varieties that are like eating corn-flavored sugar. But the old varieties turn starchy soon after picking, so Jubilee has to be cooled (we use well water & Farmer Bill turned our garage into a drive-in cooler) and then sold with the caveat that customers must eat it that day or the next. It will not hold in their refrigerator all week.
Well, Farmer Bill just came in from his round of the fields & announced "There's nothing to do out there, so I came inside." We'd better go have lunch and then get back to it... because of course there's so much more to do than we'll ever get done...
This will be our 9th year selling fruit from SRF. Our mailing list has grown to over 1000 names, and I'm finally biting the bullet and have contracted with a company to create an email list. Earlier this year I set up a Facebook page for the farm and I'm trying to post on it occasionally. The website that I created years ago is still our main focus on the interwebs, but FB is a force that must be acknowledged. I'll be putting up a sign at the checkout stand for people to 'Like' us on FB. The average age of our customers is probably about 50 or so, but every year we get new, younger people coming out to pick or buy berries. And there are a lot of 50+ folks on FB now, too.
This will be the earliest we have ever started picking strawberries. Including the 10+ years of Bill's Backyard Berries in White Bear Lake.
My journey through the orchard was a sad one, as it has been since April 10 when the frost hit the blossoming trees. If we get 5 bushel of Honeycrisp I'll be amazed (a 'normal' harvest would be 250-300 bushel). The SweeTango dropped most of their apples, too, so not much help from them this year. They, however, are still young trees, and we wouldn't want too much crop on them anyway. The Zestar! put out some new blossoms after the frost, and there may actually be more Zestar! than we'd guessed - which was zero - but again not even 1/10 of our normal crop. Last year not much strawberry crop, this year not much apple crop. I wonder if we'll ever get a year where we get a good harvest from both main crops.
The raspberries look very good; it's a new patch that was planted 2 years ago & produced lightly last year. The bees, who didn't get much out of the apple blossoms, are crazy busy in the raspberries. Farmer Bill hopes to get a decent crop - and some sorely needed cash - out of the raspberries - which will be ready early too - before the 1st of July for sure.
Tomatoes in the hoop houses are growing like crazy. If the pollination happens as expected Farmer Bill should have some of the first tomatoes on the market - which bring very good prices from Minnesotans starved for real tomato flavor.
The melons were transplanted last week. One batch got planted a bit deep and is taking a bit longer to get going... the other field looks very good. If you like cantaloupe you should really buy a locally grown & ripened cantaloupe. Of course, then you'll never be able to buy supermarket melons again... Did you know that cantaloupe do not ripen after they're picked? They do soften (begin to break down), and their smell intensifies (as they spoil), but they are as sweet as they will be when they're picked. We have to tell customers that our melons are ripe & they should NOT under ANY circumstances leave them sitting on the countertop for 3 days. Eat them that day, cut them up and store in containers, or refrigerate them & eat within a few days.
Farmer Bill has planted peas every year for the past 4-5 years - he mostly does edible pods now, after trying shelling peas and snowpeas in the past. Many of our strawberry customers will go out and pick a pile of peas to take home, or buy some if they're already picked. This year the peas won't be ready until late in strawberry season so he'll have to try to sell them at markets and to raspberry customers. And I'm not sure who's going to pick all the green beans Farmer Bill planted this year. I'll pick enough for the two of us to eat next winter, but I really don't do picking any more - between work and home duties (and arthritis in the knees) I don't have much time.
The sweet corn is growing, but the planter struggled again this year and the fields will be a bit spotty. I like sweet corn, but one ear once a day is enough for me. Farmer Bill is known to eat 4 or more ears of corn at a sitting. And he'd probably do that twice a day if he could - if he had time at lunch - or at least until his stomach rebelled. I don't mind picking sweet corn sometimes (you do it standing up, which is a plus), but it always seems like a lot of work for the return. Sweet corn takes a lot of space on the load, and it's a lot of work to sell. Farmer Bill grows one heritage sweet corn variety - Jubilee - that I use for freezing and we love having it in the freezer to put in soups and stews and to eat as a side dish. It has real corn flavor as opposed to most of the new varieties that are like eating corn-flavored sugar. But the old varieties turn starchy soon after picking, so Jubilee has to be cooled (we use well water & Farmer Bill turned our garage into a drive-in cooler) and then sold with the caveat that customers must eat it that day or the next. It will not hold in their refrigerator all week.
Well, Farmer Bill just came in from his round of the fields & announced "There's nothing to do out there, so I came inside." We'd better go have lunch and then get back to it... because of course there's so much more to do than we'll ever get done...
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Strawberry blossoms & weddings
It's a good thing I only have 2 children - if I had a third child, s/he would want to get married in May and I would have to commit murder - either the child or the husband, I'm not sure which.
Our wonderful d-i-l really wanted a June wedding. But raising strawberries just doesn't allow for June weddings. Late May was a compromise. That was the first child, married 4 years ago this month.
Now the second child is getting married in May, too. In Scotland. In a castle. This is a wonderful and romantic and exciting thing to do. Farmer Bill & I will be there with bells on & love every minute of it. But we'll also be thinking about the farm while we're there & we'll need to hit the ground running (that's the royal 'we' since it's mostly Farmer Bill) when we return.
I went for a walk across the berry fields today - the raspberries are starting to bud out - the blueberries have finally decided to put out leaves - and the early strawberry varieties are blossoming like crazy. One month from blossom to strawberry. So there may be berries to pick for the farmers' market as early as Memorial Day weekend. We'll be opening for berry picking the 1st weekend in June is my prediction. And that's 10 days earlier than average.
We're still waiting to see about the apples. It does look like we'll have SweeTango, Haralson, Sweet Sixteen, and Keepsake. It doesn't look like we'll have much for Honeycrisp, a real blow because that is the best selling apple. SweeTango will sell very well, too, but the trees are still young and can't be allowed to have many apples on them. There don't appear to be many Honeygold or Regent either. But we're still several weeks from really knowing.
Last night we had 15 minutes of hail. We've been a virtual no-hail zone for many years, but it couldn't last. Since the strawberries aren't bearing yet and the apples are just at petal fall, there wasn't as much damage as might be. Still, we know there was some. It's hard to stay upbeat and positive when nature throws these things at you. All I can say is at least it's not a grasshopper plague...
Our wonderful d-i-l really wanted a June wedding. But raising strawberries just doesn't allow for June weddings. Late May was a compromise. That was the first child, married 4 years ago this month.
Now the second child is getting married in May, too. In Scotland. In a castle. This is a wonderful and romantic and exciting thing to do. Farmer Bill & I will be there with bells on & love every minute of it. But we'll also be thinking about the farm while we're there & we'll need to hit the ground running (that's the royal 'we' since it's mostly Farmer Bill) when we return.
I went for a walk across the berry fields today - the raspberries are starting to bud out - the blueberries have finally decided to put out leaves - and the early strawberry varieties are blossoming like crazy. One month from blossom to strawberry. So there may be berries to pick for the farmers' market as early as Memorial Day weekend. We'll be opening for berry picking the 1st weekend in June is my prediction. And that's 10 days earlier than average.
We're still waiting to see about the apples. It does look like we'll have SweeTango, Haralson, Sweet Sixteen, and Keepsake. It doesn't look like we'll have much for Honeycrisp, a real blow because that is the best selling apple. SweeTango will sell very well, too, but the trees are still young and can't be allowed to have many apples on them. There don't appear to be many Honeygold or Regent either. But we're still several weeks from really knowing.
Last night we had 15 minutes of hail. We've been a virtual no-hail zone for many years, but it couldn't last. Since the strawberries aren't bearing yet and the apples are just at petal fall, there wasn't as much damage as might be. Still, we know there was some. It's hard to stay upbeat and positive when nature throws these things at you. All I can say is at least it's not a grasshopper plague...
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
The Vagaries of Farming
The morning of April 10 the temperature sank to 15.3 degrees (Fahrenheit). Because of the warm March temperatures - especially several nights when it was 60+ - the blossoms on the early varieties were well advanced. They could probably have survived 28, maybe even a bit lower for a short time. But no apple blossoms can survive 15.3. In one fell swoop, all those potential apples were done for. There may be some of the later varieties - maybe some Honeycrisp & SweeTango - we'll have to wait and see what the weather does as those blossoms appear.
On Monday night (April 16) I woke Farmer Bill at 11:00 to send him out to frost protect the strawberries. The temperatures were dipping below 32. The strawberries are not really blossoming yet - although the buds are starting to poke up in the center of the plants - but with a near total loss of the apple crop, Farmer Bill is not taking any chances. There are a couple of freezing nights coming up and Farmer Bill will go to bed early and get up about every hour to check the temperatures (I'll stay up until about midnight to give him a chance to get 1-2 hours continuous rest). If it gets to 32, he has to drive down to the river and start the pump that runs the sprinklers. The overhead sprinklers keep the blossoms wet. There's an old adage that "it's always coldest before the dawn." Turns out it's true. The coldest temperatures that our data logger records generally happen in the hour right before and just as the sun rises. So the overhead sprinklers have to run for as much as an hour after sunrise until the temperatures come up above freezing. Makes for a wet field... but saves the strawberry crop - and when we actually have blueberry blossoms, we may have to save the blueberry crop the same way.
Years ago Farmer Bill remembers someone asking his dad (the original Farmer Bill) about crop failures. The home farm outside of Welcome, Minnesota has never had a crop failure. To what, Grandpa Bill was asked, did he attribute the record of no crop failures? "We always got rain when we needed it," he replied. That was slightly simplified but mostly accurate - Grandpa Bill was a simple, honest man. Straight River Farm has had 4 weather-related disasters in the 8 years that it's existed. A 100-year flood in 2004, a frost on Mothers' Day 2010, a 500-year flood in September 2010,and now a frost in April 2012. It's hard, but you can't take it personally or you'd never be able to carry on. Farmer Bill will work hard to get the most out of his other crops.
On the up side - we'll be done selling apples early so I'll be able to start quilting early. I'm already thinking about the projects I want to complete...
On Monday night (April 16) I woke Farmer Bill at 11:00 to send him out to frost protect the strawberries. The temperatures were dipping below 32. The strawberries are not really blossoming yet - although the buds are starting to poke up in the center of the plants - but with a near total loss of the apple crop, Farmer Bill is not taking any chances. There are a couple of freezing nights coming up and Farmer Bill will go to bed early and get up about every hour to check the temperatures (I'll stay up until about midnight to give him a chance to get 1-2 hours continuous rest). If it gets to 32, he has to drive down to the river and start the pump that runs the sprinklers. The overhead sprinklers keep the blossoms wet. There's an old adage that "it's always coldest before the dawn." Turns out it's true. The coldest temperatures that our data logger records generally happen in the hour right before and just as the sun rises. So the overhead sprinklers have to run for as much as an hour after sunrise until the temperatures come up above freezing. Makes for a wet field... but saves the strawberry crop - and when we actually have blueberry blossoms, we may have to save the blueberry crop the same way.
Years ago Farmer Bill remembers someone asking his dad (the original Farmer Bill) about crop failures. The home farm outside of Welcome, Minnesota has never had a crop failure. To what, Grandpa Bill was asked, did he attribute the record of no crop failures? "We always got rain when we needed it," he replied. That was slightly simplified but mostly accurate - Grandpa Bill was a simple, honest man. Straight River Farm has had 4 weather-related disasters in the 8 years that it's existed. A 100-year flood in 2004, a frost on Mothers' Day 2010, a 500-year flood in September 2010,and now a frost in April 2012. It's hard, but you can't take it personally or you'd never be able to carry on. Farmer Bill will work hard to get the most out of his other crops.
On the up side - we'll be done selling apples early so I'll be able to start quilting early. I'm already thinking about the projects I want to complete...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)