Great to be back home and out in the orchards again. I spent most of today going up and down the rows of apple trees, taking notes on their conditions. I wanted to catch up on how each tree is doing and at what stage they all are. Many are at about 1/2 green though others are barely showing any green at all. None are in bloom. I was also checking out potential topworking sites for about a dozen new cultivars I’m adding to the collection. Looks like there will be room for them all. At home I moved the buckets of young grafted trees outdoors where they can harden-off. We’ll plant them in the nursery next week.

The temperature was cool, and I wore a sweatshirt and a sweater all day. The dandelions (Taraxacum spp) and violets (Viola spp) just bloomed today for the first time (presumably to celebrate my return to the farm.) I was also greeted by not one, but two black flies (Simuliidae family) who ceremoniously bit me on the neck.

In the evening Cammy and I went to the Colby College senior art show. We saw several of my “apple students” there, four of whom were showing their art work. Three of them showed us photos of the apple seedlings they started with seeds from the class. We’re changing the world, one new apple at a time.