July 19, 2025

Today in the orchard

Today Alyssa, Skylar and I spent the day inventorying the fruit in the Finley Lane orchard. If you’re going to recommend that others grow (or not grow!) particular cultivars, you have to take the time to get out in the orchard to observe and to write down those observations. We usegood, old-fashioned paper, pencil and clipboard. We looked at about 250 trees today of about 230 cultivars. One pleasant surprise was the Blanc Mollet tree. (USDA PI 162719). The young tree is loaded with fruit. It has more than a bushel on it and it’s not that old. It may be a cultivar to consider for more planting. While we looked for fruit, we also checked every tree for insect damage, general health and for two tags: one with a name on it and another with a number. If you’re going to keep track of the trees and the fruit, you need good tags!  We prefer pencil on vinyl-siding wired onto a conveniently visible and accessible branch.

July 18, 2025

Today in the orchard

Cammy and the resurrected corn patch, July 18, 2025 

Some days you have to drop everything, set aside all plans, change course and do something you never thought you’d ever have to do. Today was one of those days. It was all hands on deck to do an emergency repair in the big vegetable garden. The major winds of the past two days had caused the corn to lodge. In some rows every stalk was on the ground. Cammy, Skylar and I pounded in stakes every few feet down each row and then basket-wove string back and forth around the stalks. It was a huge task. The situation was looking pretty grim at lunchtime, but we were able to resurrect the patch by day’s end. We even got done in time to go off to the film festival in Waterville.

Meanwhile the first beebalm (wild bergamot, Monarda fistulosa) flowers are up in the Finley Lane orchard. Within the next week or so there’ll be thousands of flowers throughout the orchard. The Monarda is a highlight of the summer for us… and the bees. 

July 17, 2025

Today in the orchard

Bracken fern growing on a “path”, July 17, 2025

Today the focus was on clearing around the apple trees in the “BRC” orchard. The blackberries, comfrey, nettles, bracken fern (Pteridium aquilinum) and other companions annually threaten to strangle the apples about mid-July. So they get trimmed back enough to access the impending fruit. The Trailman and the Cole’s Quince are about a month away from harvest. Edges of the paths that suffer from a path-version of atherosclerosis need to be hacked back. In some places you have to turn sideways to avoid the arching blackberry canes. In the process impressive piles of plant matter are generated; they become mulch for the apple trees. In and out, expansion and contraction, round and round. Will the circle be unbroken?       

July 16, 2025

Today in the orchard

Every farm should have (at least one) outhouse, July 16, 2025

Skylar and I spent most of the day at the Finley Lane orchard. We installed a window and hung a door on the new outhouse (very spiffy), repaired an irrigation line (those darn scythes), watered and mulched the squash and watermelons (growing incredibly fast) and began to rebuild the chicken pen door (they keep getting out). It’s endless! 

July 13, 2025

Today in the orchard

(Report by Skylar) Another quiet morning in the orchard— in terms of human voices, that is. In terms of birds and frogs and bugs and dogs, there were plenty of conversations spinning around my ears. I spent the morning at Finley Lane. I first watered the cucurbit and pepper patches. A few days ago I cut the drip tape while scything so we had to turn off the irrigation heading to the melon and pumpkin patch. Watering these plants by hand is even more important right now, as unless it rains, they are not receiving any other water. 

I then scythed another patch of the orchard, the corner called “Emily’s Orchard.” Here there are not only apple trees, but also a few peaches, plums, quinces, and medlars. This was a great opportunity for me to stare at each tree and notice the differences among them. By this point, I have likely spent more time with apples than the majority of people, but I still have so much to learn about these trees (and from them!) What I do know is that even among apples, there is a huge amount of diversity in tree form, leaf shape, bloom, and color. And that’s to say nothing about the fruit. On the other hand, I have almost no experience with quinces or medlars, and in this orchard there are only a few individuals of these non-apples. So while I can say, ‘oh this quince has much rounder leaves than the apples’ or ‘pears look like apples that are angry’, I don’t have nearly a large enough of a sample size to say anything at all with certainty. 

Common Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina) hanging out outside the shop, July 13, 2025.   

In the afternoon we worked in the shop. A snapping turtle passed by and moseyed off into the trees. I carved a sort of ‘button’ to go on the outer edge of the ladder where the rung goes through the rail. It is completely nonessential to the integrity of the ladder, but I’m always a fan of those embellishments that make an object feel like your own. We epoxyed the piece on and now it is a permanent feature. We also epoxyed John’s cherished snath for his scythe. Hopefully this time it will hold.  

July 14, 2025

Today in the orchard

Giant Lichen Orbweaver (Araneus bicentenarius) (We Think) joined the orchard crew today.

Today Laura, Skylar and I scythed, weeded and painted neem on about 70 young trees in our next-door-neighbor’s orchard. It’s a very old and very new orchard. It was originally planted by the Jones family in the early 1900’s. (Actually, the original planting may be much older, but the remaining old trees likely date from about 1900.) The old trees are primarily Baldwin, Ben Davis and Stark. Beginning about 10 years ago, we’ve been filling in the spaces where the trees died with the old historic cultivars of central Maine. As a result, the orchard has become a mini-heritage orchard. The day was hot and dry, but the apple team sprinted into action, and by 5 PM we were done and ready to go home.

July 12, 2025

Today in the orchard

Noah Todoroff of NOK VINO, July 12, 2025

Cammy and I visited friends in New Hampshire today. Wherever we go, we look for farmers’ markets. They should always be the center of every community. They are the center of every community! We found a good one at the head of Lake Sunapee this morning. It was right at the harbor on a grassy hillside overlooking the lake. I immediately set my internal magnet for apples and cider (as always), and it hasn’t failed me yet. We found NOK VINO where they were pouring samples of their ciders and wine. Of course we had to try everything and took home a bottle of their Sparkling Apple Cider with a wonderful apple-photo by Bill Mullan on the label.        

July 11, 2025

Today in the orchard

My setup as I thin the plums; a ladder, a five-gallon bucket, a tree, and my fingers, July 11, 2025.

(Report by Skylar.) This morning I added the second bolt to my apple ladder. It is now as sturdy as it will ever be. John and I built the bulk of the ladder at MOFGA’s Farm and Homestead Day, but we didn’t bring along the necessary tool —a brace and bit— to do this final step. Now, it is ready to be climbed. And climb I did. I went to Finley Lane with my ladder to thin the plums on branches I couldn’t reach from the ground. 

I also continued to work on DIRK, the digital key through which anyone can receive a preliminary identification of their mystery apple. I am currently learning to use Airtable, the platform that currently stores the apple data and will likely be the way that users interact with it.

While at Finley Lane, I watered the “Strike Anywhere” peppers and the cucurbit patch. We have sixteen hills planted with winter squash, pumpkins, muskmelons, and watermelons. While all are growing well, the squash are outpacing the melons. The watermelons and muskmelons are still small enough to keep them covered with mesh netting which protects the plants from the Striped Cucumber Beetle (Acalymma vittatum) and the Spotted Cucumber Beetle (Diabrotica undecimpunctata). They will gladly feed on any plant in the Cucurbiticae family, so row cover is our friend while the plants are still young. 

July 10, 2025

Today in the orchard

The nail apron and the plums, July 10, 2025

I spent much of today inventorying the nursery and updating our records. It’s a time-consuming task, but always worth the effort. Some tags fade. Some blow away in the winter winds. Some never got tagged in the first place. Some grafts didn’t take. Some did really well. All this information should be documented.  So I put down the scythe and the shovel at least once or twice a season and get down on my knees with a clipboard and a bunch of paper and pencils.

We also began to thin the plums. The plum crop (knock on wood) could be one of the best in recent years. There are gazillions on the trees, so many that the branches are already in danger of breaking. We put on cloth nail aprons from the lumber yard and then pinch-off any of the small green plums that are touching one another. When the plums are allowed to touch one another, they often gets brown rot which ruins them. Less fruit also puts less strain on the tree branches. The little plums will eventually go into the compost. On some branches, we removed nearly 3/4 of the fruit. It seems extreme, but even after thinning, the trees are loaded. We’ll thin all the plum trees over the next couple days and then hit the apples. It’s thinning time.       

Before

After

July 9, 2025

Today in the orchard

We’re nearly done weeding and applying neem oil to the orchard trees. Or as Skylar’s dad, Wayne, called it “Nemo-ing” the trees. Wayne has been staying with us for the past week and has been a great addition to the SCF farm team. We will miss his strong back, curiosity, enthusiastic attitude and sense of humor. 

Another of the plants that has (over) populated the Finley Lane Orchard is Smooth Bedstraw (Galium mollugo). Bedstraw is sticky, long-stemmed, delicately flowered and vigorous. Although not as much of a nuisance as poison ivy, it is relentlessly tenacious and can cover even small apple trees by mid-summer as illustrated in the Before and After pictures below.   

Before

After

July 8, 2025

Today in the orchard

“You can look but you better not touch!” The Coasters, 1959

Although I love most of the plants that have taken up residence in and around the farm, there are a few exceptions. One of them is Poison Ivy (Toxicodendron radicans). Although it has stayed away from much of the farm, we have found it lurking along the orchard fence line up at Finley Lane. As Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller famously wrote and The Coasters sang: 

“Late at night while you're sleepin'

Poison ivy comes a-creepin' around”

If it’s good for something, I don’t know what that is. I don’t seem to be allergic to it, but others are. (“You’re going to need an ocean of Calamine Lotion.) We don’t spray Roundup on the farm so I’ve been looking for organic controls. Today I tried spraying a mixture of vinegar and dish soap: a pint of vinegar, a pint of dish soap and 25 gallons of water. Now we wait to see if it does anything.  

July 7, 2025

Today in the orchard

Catalpa speciosa, July 7, 2025

One of the highlights of our summer is the Catalpa bloom. It’s happening right now. I planted a single tree (Catalpa speciosa) 20 or 30 years ago, and it has thrived. The incredible white flowers are etched and decorated with purple. It’s like having a thousand orchids on a single tree. Not only are they beautiful, bees love them too. The trees grow to be quite large so if you plant one, give it plenty of room. Farther south the flowers are gone-by, but here in central Maine they bloom in early July.                

July 6, 2025

Today in the orchard

(Report by Skylar.) My father is paying me a visit this week, and he has jumped into helping on the farm. In the morning we weeded the one and two-year old apple trees in the nursery. This job is quicker than weeding the trees in the orchard, and we have to do it every few weeks all summer and fall. We use a hoe to shave off the small weeds in the top layer of soil and our hands to remove larger weeds with deeper roots. If we get to them before they grow too large, they are quite easy to remove.

Deer fly

I think this is the correct day to pay tribute to the deer fly. I have been seeing them for about a week now, but today we got caught in a brief tornado of that consisted of hundreds of these flies. Deer flies are in the genus Chrysops of which there are about eighty species living in North America. To me they are less of a bother than black flies and mosquitos, as their bites don’t seem to cause an itchy welt, but they certainly are annoying, especially the females who feast on mammal blood while the males feed on flower pollen. I cannot say I love to be around them, but I can’t blame them for biting me. They don’t exactly have a choice in what they eat. 

July 5, 2025

Today in the orchard

John and Oscar checking out the plants at Super Chilly Farm

Oscar Hurtado-Gonzales and his family visited the farm while on a family vacation. Oscar is a plant pathologist at APHIS (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service) at the USDA. He and I have worked together to import nearly two dozen historic cider apples from the UK over the past 15 years. It has been with Oscar’s help that we’ve finally got the true Foxwhelp here in the US.

Plant importation has been frustrating in the past. APHIS was known to hold onto material for years, sometimes even decades, before releasing it. As a result, many folks resorted to the “suitcase” or “pocket” method of sneaking material into the country. (Not a good idea.) Since he joined APHIS, Oscar has been stream-lining the process using the latest genetic technology, and release-times have been greatly reduced. He’s also great fun to work with.

If you’re considering importing apple cultivars from around the world, he is the one to contact. Going through APHIS is always preferable to the suitcase method. The more we use their expertise, the better chance we have of minimizing agricultural catastrophes. And, if the government notices that APHIS is being used, maybe it will continue to be funded.

July 4, 2025

Today in the orchard

(This report by Skylar.) On this Fourth of July we continued to weed the young apple trees and to paint their trunks with neem oil. Clearing the grass and other herbaceous plants from around the base of the trees makes it much easier to apply the neem which we let drip down onto the soil around the base.

We saw our very first Monarch of the season today. I’ve been hoping and wondering when I would start seeing them. (Another Monarch fluttered by my window this very minute, as if they’re saying, ‘yes, we’re here!’ That brings my Monarch count up to three. )

A pizza in the making, topped with pesto, mozzarella, and Black Oxford apple slices, July 4, 2025. 

Later on the 4th Cammy and John hosted a Fourth of July gathering. We ate and chatted and were merry. And what was the center of our celebration if not the Black Oxford apple? This variety is known as the Fourth of July apple because of its long storage life. The Black Oxfords we celebrated with today have been in the Super Chilly Farm root cellar since last October, over eight months. Although they are slightly spongy and wrinkly, they still make a splendid pizza topping and apple pie, which was how we ended up using them. In the pie they cooked down quite soft while still holding their shape, but the skins were relatively tough and they did not produce much juice on their own at this time of year. Next year we’ll peel the apples first and add a squeeze of lemon juice to bring about a juicier filling. 

July 3, 2025

Today in the orchard

Neem oil on young apple tree

We have begun to apply Neem oil to all the young apple trees (less than ten years old) in the orchards. In late June/early July we paint the oil at full strength to the trunks up to about knee-high. We do this to combat the round-headed apple tree borer (Saperda candida), possibly the worst pest in the young orchards of Maine. The borer lays an egg that hatches into a larvae that tunnels through the trunk causing the tree to weaken and then break off. Eventually the mature beetle emerges from the tunneled trunk and heads off to kill more trees.

Although we don’t know how neem works, we suspect that the oil smothers the eggs or the smell deters the beetle from laying the eggs in the first place. We apply neem in late June because it coincides with egg-laying period. We’ve painted the trunks earlier in June which is less effective. This year we found only one borer so far in 400+ trees. In an untreated orchard in central Maine, you might find hundreds. Neem works.         

Neem trees (Azadirachta indica) can be found throughout South Asia. The pungent oil is extracted from the seed kernels and has been used as an organic pesticide for generations. It is also used medicinally.  

July 2, 2025

Today in the orchard

The digger and the sickle

We continued scything and weeding the orchards. It’s an annual summer ritual that provides us with an opportunity to interact up close and personal with every tree in the orchard.

First we mow a circle around each tree using a straight-snathed, European-type scythe. We then get down on our knees to weed and cultivate around the base of the trees using two elegant, simple tools: a short-bladed sickle and a Korean hand digger. The short-blade on the sickle is stiff enough to cut through any tough weeds, and the elongated, triangular digger is perfect for cultivating as well as for digging out small clumps of weeds. While we’re at it, we snip off any root-sprouts and occasionally do some minor pruning. We examine each trunk for borer infestation and check the tree for fire blight. A single apple tree takes us about 5 minutes. Then on to the next (and the next and the next!)  

July 1, 2025

Today in the orchard

Broad Winged Hawk perched in an apple tree, taken by Laura Sieger, on July 1, 2025

(Today’s report by Skylar.) Another productive day in the orchard weeding around the apple trees. There are many hundred trees here, and every one gets a chunk of our energy and care. Sometimes I get into a flow in which I can work faster and more focused than is my standard for a period of time. Today I didn’t “flow” quite enough to completely zone out my surroundings. I was able to pause and admire a few of the birds around me.

One of the birds was a Broad Winged Hawk. I don’t recall many times in my life where I have been closer to a hawk, and she stuck around for a while. Boy was she loud, screeching away. It was pretty clear she is not popular in the orchard. Wherever she went, the Robins and Blue Jays would make a ruckus and quickly get themselves far away. This hawk was behaving oddly. She stood somewhat crooked and didn’t look to be flying properly. Perhaps she is injured. I’ll keep an eye out in the coming days to see if she stays around.

Another wonderful bird of the day: the Common Yellowthroat, both male and female. If it weren’t for their chirping back and forth, I would not have known what species the female Yellowthroat was. She is a fairly muted, yellowish-gray. The male, however, has a bright yellow throat (surprise surprise) as well as a thick, black band that goes right over his eyes.

In the afternoon Laura and I worked for a while on a digital apple project called DIRK. We will have more information about this project in the coming months.

June 30, 2025

Today in the orchard

Tree Lilac June 30, 2025

Today we sprayed twice, once in the early morning and once in the evening. We’re spraying to protect the apples from codling moth (Cydia pomonella). Codling moth is one of the major apple pests in Maine. It enters the calyx and reeks havoc inside the fruit. You can tell you’ve got damage simply by looking at the calyx; if you see frass, you know you’ve got trouble inside. We sprayed Dipel and Surround. We also sprayed Regalia (biofungicide), Cueva (copper fungicide) and CalPlus (calcium nutritional supplement).

This was the first time we’d sprayed in a couple of weeks, and it provided an opportunity to look at every tree. It’s now fairly easy to see the fruit, especially the red cultivars that are showing some color. The crop is (alas) a light one. The week of cold wet weather during bloom was likely the culprit. The bees were huddled together in the hives when they should have been out pollinating the blossoms. Still (so far). It appears that the Duchess, Black Oxfords, Frostbites and Scout will all have good crops. And there will be others.

Another spectacular plant that’s now in bloom is the Tree Lilac (Syringa reticulata). It blooms nearly a month after the common lilacs. The bloom and fragrance make it worth having on the farm. We also sighted another Scarlet Tanager on the driveway. What an amazing electric red!