Although temperatures were down around zero at dawn, it was up above freezing by late morning. Cammy and I spent all day collecting scionwood to send out to enthusiasts around the country. We don’t sell a lot of scionwood, but we do get two or three dozen orders a year for our weirder experimental cultivars. Part of our mission is to disseminate apples that might never be out there otherwise. It’s gratifying work that connects us with the extreme-apple-geeks of America. We’re somewhat limited in our range of influence by plant import/export laws—no sending plant material overseas—but that’s probably a good thing. At least the government makes a vague attempt to limit the flow of undesirable bugs and disease. Maybe it’s time to outlaw shipping pallets. That would be popular!

Collecting scionwood at Finley Lane, February 22, 2026

We spent the day going up and down the rows of trees, cutting selected twigs as we went along, labeling them with masking tape and sharpies and loading them into an ash pack-basket. It was warm enough by noon that we wished we had fewer layers on, but by mid-afternoon we were again glad we had them. We finally retired as it was beginning to get dark. By then we’d cut several hundred sticks. It’s still light until 5:30 now. Spring is just around the corner.