Today in the orchard
Scythes waiting for orchard action above the door, Italy 2006
The weeding continues around the trees in the Finley Lane Orchard. There are about four hundred. The process is a simple one: scythe or sickle the bedstraw and “unwanted” tall grasses away from the base of the tree; trim off any rootsprouts from below the graftline; cultivate the ground out about 12” from the trunk. Only three or four tools are required: a sickle or a scythe, a hand-cultivator (a “digger”) and a pair of hand pruners (we like “Felcos”). These are simple tools. They’ve been around for a long time in one form or another. With the exception of the hand-pruners, a farmer from two thousand years ago would know them well.
Weeding Finley Lane is like one of those fifty-mile marathons that are popular these days. It’s not a sprint. In fact, much orchard work is like a really long marathon. Time becomes irrelevant. And the race, if you can even call it that, becomes one step at a time. One tree at a time. One breath at a time. On a good day, you might get thirty trees done. Next time you don your HOKA’s and head off for the trail, think of us weeding away at Finley Lane. And like that most famous marathon of all times—The Tortoise and the Hare—guess who wins?
