Today was our Spring tree-planting day. It was a fantastic whirlwind of activity, well-lubricated by a whole lot of rain. Skylar, Evacilie and a bunch of their friends from COA arrived yesterday evening and celebrated up in the orchard with a fire, food and Super Chilly Farm cider. This morning Alyssa, Kevin, Todd and I joined them. After the traditional pre-planting Super Chilly breakfast of (what else?) oatmeal and applesauce, we went to work. It was a major team effort all the way. By noon we had planted 34 trees, a quarter of which are grafted selections we’re excited to trial over the coming years. The rest are seedlings grown from some of our favorite “mothers.” All of them are two-year-olds from our nursery: the apples of the future.

The weather was near perfect for planting trees: rainy. It did hold off until mid-morning, but then it came down steadily until after dark. The trees loved it, and despite being rather soaked, we did too. Although it would have been fun to hang out, tour the farm and geek out over all the daffodils, by early afternoon everyone was ready to de-mud, put on dry clothes and find some heat. What a perfect way to spend a rainy day in April. Thank you everyone!