Today in the orchard
Lupines (Lupinus polyphyllus)
Today was the hottest day we’ve had in 2025, maybe in the 90’s, so of course it was the day we decided to chip brush. This is the job that every apprentice anticipates with great enthusiasm. What could be more fun than grinding tree limbs into tiny bits using a big machine? Their excitement diminishes rapidly when they realize that chipping is dirty, tough, loud and exhausting under any conditions, and even more so when the temperatures go up. No apprentice has ever voluntarily returned for a second day, and a few have told us that it was their least favorite day of the season. But despite our age and ailments, we persevered (with a little help from Marc) and chipped up a massive amount of prunings. We prefer not to leave all the pruned branches in piles or even scattered around to rot. We know other orchardists who have done so and wound up with fungal diseases in their orchards. Since we don’t want to burn the wood or cart it to the dump, we borrow a big chipper from our neighbor to chip up the fruit tree prunings and brush we’ve cleared along the edges of the farm. Then we spread the chips back around the trees as mulch and future fertilizer. It’s a good system. The trees and gardens love the mulch. But it does require a powerful chipper and a intense and grueling couple of days.
We saw our first lupine flowers (Lupinus polyphyllus) yesterday. Lupinus polyphyllus has become a beautiful addition to the Maine landscape but one that has a complicated relationship with the native ecology. In some areas it’s considered unwanted and invasive. (Oh, the things that humans set in motion.) Lastly, a rose-breasted grosbeak came to the feeder this morning. What an amazing song!.
