It's a decent year for fruit here at Old Vines. We had a killing frost over Easter weekend, which locally did lots of damage to whatever was blossoming at the time. Apricots and plums were mainly affected, the latter here at the farm, too. Last year, frost got our grapes. (It's always something?) What it proves to me is we need to make sure we diversify.
We plan on expanding our orchard significantly this fall. Lots more different kinds of apples, with different bloom times. Other fruit trees, too, will join us: pears, peaches. And the Old Vines of the title of the farm? They'll stay, those 80 year old vines, but maybe I'll invest in some European varieties, too. You know, if I decide to make my own hooch.
Canning season, then, will extend into November! Yum. Grape jam, apple butter, apple sauce...
3 comments:
Diversity is a very good thing. We have this bad habit of planting more each year. I blame that darn Fedco catalog and their tempting group order discounts (not to mention the tempting prose in the actual catalog).
My own resident hooch maker is currently in the kitchen getting a gallon of wild blueberry wine going. And after that, I should have enough elderberries for him. And after THAT, comes a three gallon batch of peach. No blackberry this year, though, but it doesn't look like we'll need it. *hic* ;)
That's no bad habit, Liz! And yes, I fall sway under the Fedco catalog yearly. And here I am, trying to seed-save. Do I *really* need a third variety of parsnips? No.
I would like to try my hand at winemaking, even though we've got two wineries in our very town. But I am with you on the DIY nature of this kind of life! (And isn't it good to see guys getting all excited about the voodoo that is recreational beverage-making?)
Well... it's only "bad" for the pocketbook. :)
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