August 4, 2025

Today in the orchard

First Black Berries, August 4, 2025

Raspberry season is winding down, and blackberry season is about to ramp up. The blackberries love it here on the farm, especially out in our wild, Jurassic “BRC” orchard where we allow them to (mostly) do their thing. We do cut them back though you might not know if you were out there today. These are the native, unselected canes. All the named cultivars we’ve tried over the years have flopped here at “Super Chilly.” They died to the ground every winter and—if they came back at all—come back as creepy-crawly, thorny, unproductive vines. The native blackberries are vigorous and incredibly productive. The fruit is not large so picking takes more time, but they are worth the effort. They’re delicious fresh, and they freeze well. We’ll be picking a lot of berries the next few weeks.   

August 3, 2025

Today in the orchard

Although the vast majority of our trees are on full-size, standard rootstocks, we have about thirty dwarfs on Bud9 and G11. Growing and observing them gives us a chance to assess the benefits and challenges of dwarf rootstocks in central Maine. Both rootstocks are productive, precocious, easy to spray and pick. They are also sensitive to drought, require staking and should be kept weed-free. They are more like shrubs than trees. We prefer trees, but I’m glad we grow them. E very few weeks we spend the better part of a day weeding them. Today was one of those days.

In the afternoon we worked on the small cabin we’re building for employee housing. We haven’t settled on a name but have been calling it “Orchard House.” Seems appropriate. There’s at least one other Orchard House, the one in Concord, MA where Louisa May Alcott lived nearly 200 hundred years ago. It’s worth visiting if you’re ever down that way. Ours should be ready for use in the next few weeks. 

Summer Sweeting

I continued the inventory of fruit around the farm. I was joined by our grandchildren and two of their friends, all under the age of ten. The five of us tasted apples from a couple dozen trees, most of them still far from being ripe. That didn’t deter the tasting crew, however. The “greener” the better!One of the favorites was the small, sweet Maine apple introduced to me by Earland Goodhue. It was known in Sidney where it originated as King Sweeting, Summer Sweeting or Summer Sweet. We also found it in the Farmington area where it was called Orange Sweet. They’re not quite ripe, but we could already taste its unique and interesting low-acid flavor. It’s a wonderful summer apple.     

August 2, 2025

A Hummingbird Clearwing Moth (Hemaris thysbe) visiting the Old Orchard. 

Today in the orchard

(Report by Skylar.) The morning was spent on the Orchard House at Finley Lane. We built an oddball railing for the loft. We left the branch stubs on the logs that make up the railing so that there are many hooks for holding hats, towels, keys, rubber bands, Christmas ornaments, the limbs of a pothos plant— the list may be endless. We also brought in a large White Pine slab that will become the kitchen countertop. Later in the day I cut and installed screens on the four windows that didn’t have them. 

I also spent time walking around the BRC and Old Orchard checking out what has changed in the past week while I was gone. Many of the apples and plums are just about ripe. The Yellow Transparents are starting to drop at the lightest touch, and the Duchess apples are dropping with no touch at all. They say these apples are best eaten just before they are ripe and that when fully ripe the Yellow Transparents can be so soft that they are better cooked into sauce. Some apples are best eaten early so they still have their structural integrity, others when perfectly ripe so they have the best balance of sugars, and still others after months in the root cellar to allow their flavors to reach their peak. Really though, who is to say what’s “best.” A wise John Bunker once told me, “If it tastes good, it is good.” If you like apples that make your lips pucker and your gums dry, I recommend picking your apples early. 

August 1, 2025

German Extra Hardy, August 1, 2025

Today in the orchard

August already? It’s time to harvest the garlic. Plant in the fall, harvest in the summer. We grow two varieties: Phillips, a rocambole-type and German Extra Hardy, a porcelain-type. They are both excellent. Although we grow the majority of our vegetable crops down near the house in the Big Garden, we grow a few crops that require lots of space—garlic, potatoes, and winter squash—up the road in the nursery in rotation with our young grafted trees. Hayes, Chance, Cammy and I loaded up the truck with harvest crates and a couple of digging forks and headed up to the nursery. The garlic crop looked great, and in a couple of hours with an amazing team-effort we had a truck-load.

In the afternoon we laid the plants out in one of the greenhouses to dry and cure. Later we’ll snip off the stems and store the crop in the basement. In October we’ll select some of the best heads, divide up the cloves and plant the crop for next year. 

We also dug several pounds of potatoes from in amongst the garlic plants. Evidently we did not harvest all the spuds last year (we never get them all), and they rewarded us with a scattering of potatoes this summer. We ate them for supper. They were delicious. 

July 28, 2025

Today in the orchard

A balm for the bees, July 28, 2025

The native Bee Balm (Monarda fistulosa or Wild Bergamot) is in nearly full bloom. Although it’s spread here and there throughout much of the farm, it especially loves the Finley Lane orchard. We now have thousands of plants. The light-lavender-purple flowers are not the brilliant red of the famous selected cultivars like “Jacob Cline”, but they are every bit as beautiful. The plants themselves are also incredibly rugged, outcompeting Bedstraw (Galium aparine) which has become one of the predominant species in the orchard (as well as one of our least favorites.)  The word balm was co-opted from the French by the English in the Middle Ages. Of its multiple meanings, the one I like best is a “soothing restorative agency.” The orchard is certainly a balm for the soul and Monarda, a balm for the bees. The bloom season comes at a good time, coinciding with Queen Ann’s lace (Daucus carota). The Valerian and the Yarrow are now mostly gone by and the Goldenrods (Solidago) and Culver’s root (Veronicastrum virginicumare) are just getting geared up.

July 31, 2025

Today in the orchard

Overall it’s been a dry summer in central Maine although, fortunately, we’ve been getting some rain. An inch a week is about the perfect amount (not to be too greedy), especially when it comes gently overnight or on a day when we really need to do some inside work. Last night we got an inch in one big burst - too much too fast. It took down one of our oldest and most productive peach trees, one that’s been growing up against the house for the past fifteen years.

Lars Anderson rises again. July 31, 2025

The Lars Anderson peach was introduced to us by orchardist Waite Maclin who went by the name “Pastor Chuck.” Waite’s father-in-law was Lars Anderson, and the tree was on the lawn of their family place in Cushing, ME. Neither Waite nor anyone else knew the origin of the peach. It may have been a known variety though, more likely, it was a volunteer from a seed. In any event it is a great peach: productive, rugged, hardy and delicious. It even has a very decent crop this summer after multiple nights last winter of -20F. So, it was a major bummer to see it down.

But the Super Chilly farm team snapped into action. With the aid of the trusty Kabota, Chance, Hayes, Cammy and I were able to gently push the tree back up, re-tie it to the house and install three new sturdy braces. We lost a number of peaches, but it appears that the tree is fine and will live on. We’ll even get a crop in a few weeks.

July 30, 2025

Today in the orchard

This evening I gave a talk to an enthusiastic group at the Old Town House in Belgrade. The focus of the evening was the historic Belgrade apples and the Belgrade orchardist, Joseph Taylor (1804-1882). In the days before summer vacations, the majestic Belgrade Hotel and the dozens of camps that line the shores of the lakes, the area was a thriving farming community. Orcharding was popular, and Joseph Taylor became famous for his large collection of cultivars as well as his seedling introductions. Beehive, Childs, Columbus, Rome of Maine, Sugarball, Winfred Scott and Zachary were some of his local selections. We think we’ve found as many as four or five of them; but because the descriptions are vague, we’re unsure of which might be which. We’re on the lookout for more information.  

The Smith Hill tree with Great Pond beyond, July 30, 2025

Great Pond, the largest of the Belgrade Lakes, is what I consider to be the unofficial center of the universe (in case you were wondering). To prepare myself for the evening, I spent the afternoon circumnavigating Great Pond in my truck, stopping at the sites of some of my favorite trees. A few of them are still in decent shape, but many of them are completely gone. You’d never even know there had ever been an apple tree there. Fortunately all of them are backed up at the Maine Heritage Orchard or here on the farm. One of those I visited was the tree on the site of the old Smith Hill farm between Long Pond and Great Pond adjacent to the club house at the Belgrade Lakes Golf Course. It’s been DNA profiled, but we still have no ID. Many thanks to whomever it was who didn’t cut it down when they put in the putting green. 

July 26, 2025

Today in the orchard

(Report by Skylar.) It’s time to spray for Fall Webworm (Hyphantria cunea). Their characteristic webs that engulf little sections of various tree species are hard to miss. In addition to stripping the branch clean of leaves, growing, and pooping, the caterpillars perform a dance, which they carry out in perfect unison. Flick! Each and every caterpillar bends their body in one direction, pauses for a second, and then —Flick!— again in the opposite direction. It’s amazing to observe, but I couldn’t tell you why they do it. We use DiPel to kill them. DiPel is a biological insecticide, containing spores of the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki (BT). It is effective against Lepidoptera, the order of insects that includes moths and butterflies. When a caterpillar eats a leaf sprayed with BT, the bacteria destroy the digestive tract of the caterpillar and kill it. Most other insects and larger animals have enough acid in their stomachs to prevent the growth of B. thuringiensis in their digestive tract; thus DiPel is considered safe for people, pollinators, and many other animals that you are not aiming to kill. In addition to the Dipel, we added tansy tea and a quart of each Regalia and Calplus to the sprayer tank. Ideally every tree should get a dose of spray, but our goal was to stretch the tank to the whole orchard. We went lighter on the trees with few fruit, and heavier on those with more fruit. It was really just luck, but we reached the end of the orchard and the end of the tank at almost exactly the same time. Perfect! 

Andy and Polly and old seedling apples, Isle Au Haut, 2019

Later Polly Giragosian and Andy Brennan, the wizards behind Aaron Burr Cider, stopped by for a visit. We chatted about sulfites in cider and painting trees with manure and clay. Then it was time to fill the tank with another round of spray and make our way through the BRC, down the driveway, around the houses, and to the old orchards to spray the rest of the apples, pears and plums.

July 25, 2025

Today in the orchard

Propping up the plum crop, July 25, 2025

It’s time to prop up branches in danger of breaking under the weight of this year’s fruit crop. Peaches in particular are notorious for breaking branches in Maine. Although we have a light peach crop this summer (several nights well below zero last winter), we do have some plums and apples in danger of branch-collapse. Bracing branches with saplings, miscellaneous lumber or even random old broom sticks is definitely worth the effort. Just a bit of artificial support here and there can keep a fruit tree from sustaining serious damage when precious branches break under the weight. Every summer we cut a few piles of saplings (white birch, red maple and red oak) with “Y-shaped” branch structures suitable for propping up sagging branches. Then we custom cut each sapling to length with a small pruning saw or an axe. Today we propped up plums that were seriously drooping and one Frostbite tree that had branches dragging on the ground. The trees look bizarre with all the props, but the props definitely help.

We also continued our inventory of fruit. This year’s apple crop appears to be better than I had originally thought. What’s particularly fun is seeing what’s fruiting for the first time. We even have a few cultivars fruiting for the first time anywhere, ever. Excellent!       

July 24, 2025

Today in the orchard

Training the farm-workers of the future, July 24, 2025

I worked mostly alone on the Farm. I spudded (peeled) logs to be used in future building projects, cut a few dozen “Y-shaped” saplings to use as braces for holding up sagging fruit-tree branches, made some herb teas to spray on the fruit trees, prepared to set out Apple Maggot traps and watered transplants in the orchard.

The highlight, however, was late in the day when I brought out one of our vast fleet of tractors (the Troy-bilt TB30B). I was joined by our latest intern and potential employee of the future. Chance (age 9 almost 10) hopped on the TB30B and mowed a sizable portion of the front yard. He did a great job. We hope to have our grandson full-time in the orchards ASAP. 

July 23, 2025

Today in the orchard

Orange and Green: Hemerocallis, July 24, 2025

Farm work with others provides time to talk. I call it “whistle while you work.” In other words, as long as you keep your hands (and feet) working, it’s fine to talk too. It’s a skill, like walking and chewing gum. Today Skylar and I completed the door we’ve been assembling. We’ll hang it later in the week. One of the subjects in our conversations (whistles) as we clamped and sawed and planed was color. Favorite colors, least favorites, shades, pigments, etc. When you get into apples, the colors are almost endless. Which brings me to today’s orchard report. The Daylilies (Hemerocallis) are blooming. On the roadsides of central Maine the naturalized Daylilies are in full swing, and they are definitely orange and green - my two favorite colors in combination.

While in general, I’m a big fan of Daylilies, some cultivars I love, while many, like the frilly ones, I don’t care for. Very few of the named selections are orange. That’s okay. My favorites are many of the yellow ones, some of the orange and some of the two-toned. Because there are thousands of selections and nearly as many colors, there’s bound to be a Daylily for everyone. 

One of the great things about Daylilies is that they easily transplant all summer. That makes it possible to see the colors and forms and select them right on the spot. I used to go to a wonderful nursery in Carlisle, MA called R. Seawright. Anytime I was in MA in the summer during Daylily bloom, I’d stop by, wander the nursery rows and select a few new favorites. They’d dig them on the spot, wrap them in damp newspaper, and a few hours later I’d have them in the ground. Sadly R. Seawright closed a few years ago.  But there are other Daylily nurseries. There may be one near you! 

July 22, 2025

Today in the orchard

Ike Kerschner’s breeding selection 16-9-81. It’s excellent!

Today Ike Kerschner of North Star Orchards in Cochranville, PA came to visit the farm. Ike and his wife flew to southern Maine in their Piper Cherokee and drove up to the farm with his brother and sister-in-law. I’ve known Ike for about 25 years, having met him while attending the annual “Stump Sprouts” apple meeting in western MA. His fruit CSA was the inspiration for “Out on a Limb.” One year at Stump Sprouts he explained how they organized their CSA, and I instantly knew it was a great model. We started ours a year or two later. Ike is also a meticulous apple breeder. Last summer and fall he sent us fruit from two dozen of his advanced selections to taste and evaluate. That was incredibly fun. This spring we grafted several of them here on the farm for further evaluation. As they are released, we’ll be helping to get them out into the wide world. We topworked our two favorites (16-9-21 and 16-9-81) into the BRC where we hope to get fruit within the next 2 or 3 years. (By then they’ll have names!)

We did get some orchard work done today as well. Laura and Skylar continued to work on “DIRK,” our apple identification key and spent much of the afternoon weeding the nursery.

July 21, 2025

Today in the orchard

The wood that will become the door. In clockwise order (starting at the top and ending in the center); ash, birch, tigerstripe maple, cherry, beech,  red oak, and apple,

(Report by Skylar.) Some days we hop between a number of tasks; other days we focus on just one. Today we spent the majority of our time building a door. This door will live in the little cabin being constructed in the Finley Lane Orchard. Its primary functions are to fit snugly into its frame, to open, to close, to keep certain things out, and to keep certain things in. That said, we’re also treating it as a bit of an art piece. Being nice to look at is another important function of a front door. This door is a celebration of the beauty and diversity of wood. I don’t know how many species of trees’ wood will end up in the final product, but in John’s shop we’re surrounded by at least 11: apple, ash, beech, birch, cedar, cherry, hickory, hemlock, red oak, tigerstripe maple, and white pine. I’ve haven’t learned the types of wood by sight, but I recognize the splendor in the variation that I see. The other day we were talking about a small piece of wood. I asked if it was apple. He said it was cherry. I asked how he knew that. He said “I just do.” I laughed. John is a wonderful teacher, and most of the time he can answer to my questions with clarity and an empathy for the beginner’s mind. However, there are some things that require time and countless encounters with a subject to learn. I’m thinking that knowing your kinds of wood well enough to identify any random piece at a glimpse is one such example.

July 19, 2025

Today in the orchard

Today Alyssa, Skylar and I spent the day inventorying the fruit in the Finley Lane orchard. If you’re going to recommend that others grow (or not grow!) particular cultivars, you have to take the time to get out in the orchard to observe and to write down those observations. We usegood, old-fashioned paper, pencil and clipboard. We looked at about 250 trees today of about 230 cultivars. One pleasant surprise was the Blanc Mollet tree. (USDA PI 162719). The young tree is loaded with fruit. It has more than a bushel on it and it’s not that old. It may be a cultivar to consider for more planting. While we looked for fruit, we also checked every tree for insect damage, general health and for two tags: one with a name on it and another with a number. If you’re going to keep track of the trees and the fruit, you need good tags!  We prefer pencil on vinyl-siding wired onto a conveniently visible and accessible branch.

July 18, 2025

Today in the orchard

Cammy and the resurrected corn patch, July 18, 2025 

Some days you have to drop everything, set aside all plans, change course and do something you never thought you’d ever have to do. Today was one of those days. It was all hands on deck to do an emergency repair in the big vegetable garden. The major winds of the past two days had caused the corn to lodge. In some rows every stalk was on the ground. Cammy, Skylar and I pounded in stakes every few feet down each row and then basket-wove string back and forth around the stalks. It was a huge task. The situation was looking pretty grim at lunchtime, but we were able to resurrect the patch by day’s end. We even got done in time to go off to the film festival in Waterville.

Meanwhile the first beebalm (wild bergamot, Monarda fistulosa) flowers are up in the Finley Lane orchard. Within the next week or so there’ll be thousands of flowers throughout the orchard. The Monarda is a highlight of the summer for us… and the bees. 

July 17, 2025

Today in the orchard

Bracken fern growing on a “path”, July 17, 2025

Today the focus was on clearing around the apple trees in the “BRC” orchard. The blackberries, comfrey, nettles, bracken fern (Pteridium aquilinum) and other companions annually threaten to strangle the apples about mid-July. So they get trimmed back enough to access the impending fruit. The Trailman and the Cole’s Quince are about a month away from harvest. Edges of the paths that suffer from a path-version of atherosclerosis need to be hacked back. In some places you have to turn sideways to avoid the arching blackberry canes. In the process impressive piles of plant matter are generated; they become mulch for the apple trees. In and out, expansion and contraction, round and round. Will the circle be unbroken?       

July 16, 2025

Today in the orchard

Every farm should have (at least one) outhouse, July 16, 2025

Skylar and I spent most of the day at the Finley Lane orchard. We installed a window and hung a door on the new outhouse (very spiffy), repaired an irrigation line (those darn scythes), watered and mulched the squash and watermelons (growing incredibly fast) and began to rebuild the chicken pen door (they keep getting out). It’s endless! 

July 13, 2025

Today in the orchard

(Report by Skylar) Another quiet morning in the orchard— in terms of human voices, that is. In terms of birds and frogs and bugs and dogs, there were plenty of conversations spinning around my ears. I spent the morning at Finley Lane. I first watered the cucurbit and pepper patches. A few days ago I cut the drip tape while scything so we had to turn off the irrigation heading to the melon and pumpkin patch. Watering these plants by hand is even more important right now, as unless it rains, they are not receiving any other water. 

I then scythed another patch of the orchard, the corner called “Emily’s Orchard.” Here there are not only apple trees, but also a few peaches, plums, quinces, and medlars. This was a great opportunity for me to stare at each tree and notice the differences among them. By this point, I have likely spent more time with apples than the majority of people, but I still have so much to learn about these trees (and from them!) What I do know is that even among apples, there is a huge amount of diversity in tree form, leaf shape, bloom, and color. And that’s to say nothing about the fruit. On the other hand, I have almost no experience with quinces or medlars, and in this orchard there are only a few individuals of these non-apples. So while I can say, ‘oh this quince has much rounder leaves than the apples’ or ‘pears look like apples that are angry’, I don’t have nearly a large enough of a sample size to say anything at all with certainty. 

Common Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina) hanging out outside the shop, July 13, 2025.   

In the afternoon we worked in the shop. A snapping turtle passed by and moseyed off into the trees. I carved a sort of ‘button’ to go on the outer edge of the ladder where the rung goes through the rail. It is completely nonessential to the integrity of the ladder, but I’m always a fan of those embellishments that make an object feel like your own. We epoxyed the piece on and now it is a permanent feature. We also epoxyed John’s cherished snath for his scythe. Hopefully this time it will hold.  

July 14, 2025

Today in the orchard

Giant Lichen Orbweaver (Araneus bicentenarius) (We Think) joined the orchard crew today.

Today Laura, Skylar and I scythed, weeded and painted neem on about 70 young trees in our next-door-neighbor’s orchard. It’s a very old and very new orchard. It was originally planted by the Jones family in the early 1900’s. (Actually, the original planting may be much older, but the remaining old trees likely date from about 1900.) The old trees are primarily Baldwin, Ben Davis and Stark. Beginning about 10 years ago, we’ve been filling in the spaces where the trees died with the old historic cultivars of central Maine. As a result, the orchard has become a mini-heritage orchard. The day was hot and dry, but the apple team sprinted into action, and by 5 PM we were done and ready to go home.