What goes on at a farm during the winter? Whenever it’s not raining we need to be out in the orchard making sure that the trees are in good shape. Strong winds hit Lake County frequently during winter storms and our young trees in the new orchard took a hit this year. This weekend we spent re-staking and re-tying about 80 trees. Some needed the strength of T-posts to get them back to an upright position and firmly planted in the ground again.

Once we get tools put away from that job, we get out the clippers and pruning shears and begin to sucker the trees. Once the weather is a little warmer Rich gets serious about pruning the trees with his sawzall.

Starting in March, we will be checking every week to see if budding has started because then it will be time to apply an organic foliar spray to the old orchard to encourage fruit development.