The Bright…and Dark Side of Daffodils
Daffodils are some of the most eagerly anticipated early heralds of spring here on the farm. When our orchard slope was first cleared, the entire area looked depressingly bare. Even with the newly planted fruit trees in place, there was a definite lack of presence in...
Scion Exchange 2012: An Abundance of Apples
It’s that time of year again. Coinciding with fruit tree winter pruning season, the California Rare Fruit Growers host a series of fruit wood Scion Exchanges in the San Francisco, and Monterey Bay Areas. Last year we found scions for some wonderful varieties of...
Replanting Fruit Trees, and Mitigating Vole Damage
Each January, right after the New Year, we turn our attention back to the orchard. It’s bare root fruit tree planting season! Last summer we noted that two fruit trees in our orchard had sustained significant damage as a result of Meadow Voles. Last spring, for...
Grafting Fruit Trees: Update
In January, before the weather was good enough to do much in the garden, we started out the season by attending our first fruit tree scion exchange. A few weeks later we then attended a grafting workshop hosted by the California Rare Fruit Growers (CRFG). Then in...
Building Owl Boxes
You might be expecting a ‘Fowl Friday’ post, but this week we’ve decided do an ‘Owl Friday’ post instead. In our February Garden Update we were lamenting the fact that hoards of voles (Microtus californicus) have moved into our orchard. ...
Our 2020 Calendar Is Now Available!
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