Ghost trees!
You may ask why my peach trees are covered in white.
I spray them with a slurry of superfine kaolin suspended in water. It is a way to control bug & beetle damage without pesticides. It's non toxic & doesn't interfere with fruit or foliage.
It's a bit of work to keep the trees protected. I have to reapply every week & after a heavy rainfall. But it's worth it.
We have curculio in the soil & this prevents the beetles from laying eggs in the developing fruit.
Just before 11 p.m, the dogs started barking wildly. Usually that means animals outside. Often coyotes howling. I turned on the back porch lights but didn't see or hear anything. I let the dogs into the fenced in area, but it looked like I had forgotten to close the gate. Nope. It was FLATTENED. A metal gate.
Looked back at our cameras.
This bear took out the gate & had been roaming our back porch. This is about 2 feet from my kitchen door.
Far too close for comfort!
It looks like our fruit trees may have survived the freeze late April. We have fruitlets on the plums & pears. Not sure about the peaches yet. Apples will likely be fine because they hadn't gotten to bud break yet during the cold snap.
Fingers crossed!
Potatoes planted!
6 rows, approx 18 per row if they all pop up.
4 varieties: pinto & purple from last year's harvest, french fingerlings, & eva from our co-op.
Bonus photo of our bounteous rock harvest from digging the trenches.
We know why New England farmers were always grumpy. And why there are so many stone walls here!
Almost time to plant potatoes! Most of these sprouted eyes are from potatoes leftover from last year's harvest. Some are new varieties for us we purchased at our local coop.
Last summer's mixed fruit country wine, bottled & back sweetened. I think this batch was peach, wild grape, strawberry, & blueberry.
It's fairly low alcohol as I don't use any added yeast. It's just the yeast that is natural on the fruit.
I've been waiting 8 months to drink it.
Tastes like a cross between a cider & a sour. Yum!
There are times I wish the technology existed to share a smell. The plum trees are in full flower. The scent is intoxicating. Sweet without being cloying. The bees are having a pollination convention. :)
It looks like all the fruit trees survived the late freeze we had early in the week.
After a very cold winter, my fruit trees survived. The peach and plum trees are flowering now.
It may go down below 27 deg F early Tues morning.
2 hours at 27 is enough to kill the blossoms. No blossoms. No fruit.
AARGH.
It's impractical to try to cover the trees. I can spray them with water & hope the ice around the blossoms will insulate them.
I'm obsessively checking multiple forecasts & hoping for the best.
Anyone who says farming is easy is utterly wrong.
LJ
