May 26, 2026

I spent several hours in the Finley Lane orchard inventorying bloom and looking for trunk damage.

For years we’ve been painting straight Neem Oil on the lower trunks of the young apple trees (1—15 years old) to prevent damage from the round-headed apple tree borer. The treatment has worked extremely well. The “borers” can be devastating to young trees, but since using Neem, we’ve had almost no damage. However, the neem-painted areas look very dark in color, presumably as a result, and some bark has split open. I’ve been concerned that straight Neem Oil may be damaging the bark.

Brandywine in bloom, Finley Lane Orchard, May 26, 2026

Today I checked 350 trees. The bark on most of the trees look fine, but I found 18 with at least some minor bark damage. That’s 1 tree in every 19 or about 5%. In every case all the damage has been on the Southwest (SW) side of the tree. This leads me to believe that the Neem itself is not damaging the tree, but the darkened color of the bark is causing “southwest injury” aka sunscald. SW Injury is caused in the winter when the bark and sap heat up during sunny days and then freeze after dark causing the bark to split. The Neem-blackened trunks probably absorb more sun which could increase the absorption of heat resulting in damage to the bark.

So what to do? This spring I’m painting a paste of clay and fresh manure on the tree trunks. The color is light tan. The tree paste has healing properties and forms a crust that could deter borers. (I say “could.” Time will tell.) Because of the light color, I hope that the winter sun will be reflected rather than absorbed, and winter trunk damage will be reduced or eliminated. Another ongoing experiment.

The hit parade of iconic May birthdays continues today with the 100th anniversary of the birth of the jazz trumpeter, Miles Davis who died in 1991. Although I rarely listen to Miles, I do own a copy of “Kind of Blue” and play it 35 or 47 times a year. All Miles tributes mention the 1959 album as the best-selling jazz album of all-time. There’s a reason for that. The album is superb.

May 25, 2026

Although the first wave of apple flowers is now fading to what we call “petal-fall,” the later cultivars are beginning to open up. The bloom this year continues to be spectacular. We could be thinning a lot of fruit come July. Let’s hope.

The Fothergilla (Witch-alder) is in bloom now, and the Aronia (Chokeberry) is just opening up. Even as the apples fade, we’re still in for some major color yet to come. Speaking of color, the lilacs (Syringa spp) are also full right now. They look and smell great. Although sometimes disparaged, the lilacs are real troopers. We still have the good old Common Purple Lilacs up at the cellar hole on Finley Lane. Those plants were likely planted before Abraham Lincoln was elected. The stems age-out and die once a generation or so, but the root system continually regenerates and lives on for decades, or centuries, sending up new stems that signal to us all that once upon a time, there were farmers here, tending chickens and oxen, scything the fields and picking apples—of course.

Marshall Allen and the pyramids, 1999

The Late-May iconic-birthday parade continues. Today is the 102nd birthday of Marshall Allen. In November 1999 Cammy and I went to see him perform, and he signed a postcard I had brought along of the pyramids at Giza. He chuckled as he signed the card. Amazingly, he’s still leading the Sun Ra Arkestra and playing on his alto sax. He was born in 1924, the year my Mom was born. Happy Birthday Marshall!

May 24, 2026

First spray day his season for the apples and pears. Alyssa Gavlik helped me spray a 2-part product called Blossom Protect and Buffer Protect in an effort to stave off the impending threat of fireblight (Erwinia amylovora). Apples and pears are most susceptible to innoculation when they are in full bloom, temperatures are warm, and moisture levels are above a certain threshold. Like a week ago and like tomorrow. 

Fireblight was never a problem in central Maine until a few years ago. Now it’s an annual concern. Typically orchards spray antibiotics. These are effective, but antibiotic-resistant strains of fireblight are now appearing in apple growing regions across the USA. And there are other concerns about overuse of antibiotics. Blossom/Buffer Protect works differently to ward off fireblight. The product literature says, “It contains microorganisms which block the fireblight pathogen from colonizing the blossoms and nectaries through natural competition for space and nutrients.” It’s considered “organic.” 

Dreams

Spraying in our orchards is a team effort. One person drives, and the other walks alongside with a long hose and a spray gun. The tractor and sprayer can be finicky, but both behaved. Visiting every apple on the farm provides yet another opportunity to observe and, yes, dream. I make notes as I go along, but I also have to focus so I can position the tractor for access to the trees, keep things moving and avoid driving over the hose (which I’ve done).

Lest I forget, today is another dreamer’s birthday: Bob Dylan, who sang many songs about dreams, including my favorite Dylan-dream request, the last line of ‘Talkin’ World War 111 Blues’. “I’ll let you be in my dreams if I can be yours, I said that.” 

May 23, 2026

Sweet Hayes in bloom, May 23, 2026

The apple bloom this year is spectacular. Even for some of our oldest trees, this may be the best bloom we’ve ever had. Steve Meyerhans of The Apple Farm in Fairfield, says it’s one of the best in years across the state. Whoopee!

In our annual daily birthday parade of late May, today is our granddaughter, Hayes’. We have a seedling apple tree right off our porch that we named for her: Sweet Hayes. The tree is 15 years old. We’ve had a few fruit over the years, but this spring the tree is covered.  

As I’ve mentioned before, growing apple trees from seed can be really fun. It does take an added dose of patience. Some seedling trees, like Sweet Hayes, take many years to produce. But I think it’s worth the wait. Every seedling is, of course, unique. Like Hayes!   

May 22, 2026

+30F last night, but it could have been way worse. Thirty isn’t bad. The apple flowers should be fine. 

“full of dreams to come true.” Fedco, May 22, 2026

Today is Sun Ra’s birthday. He would have been 112. One of his songs says, “Magic is the future, full of dreams to come true.”  The orchard is certainly one of the most magical places on Earth; it’s definitely full of dreams. I think Sun Ra would have agree that today was a day especially full of magic and dreams of the future. In the morning I returned for the first time since 2019 to the Fedco Tree Sale where a massive crowd of cheerful, excited Mainers from every walk of life appeared seemingly out of nowhere and bought shopping carts-full of overstock-bargain-fruit trees, including hundreds of apples. It was wild. Visible swarms of dreams of orchards and pies and cider, of climbing ladders and picking fruit filled the air in the warehouse. The dreams were so dense it was almost hard to read the tags on the trees. The dreams pretty much blotted out every bad vibe in the Universe. It was hard to remember we were actually in Clinton, Maine. For a few minutes I could have sworn that we were all on a spaceship heading to Saturn.

The crowd began to thin out about noon, and I slipped away to spend the afternoon alone attempting to perform my own apple magic by hand-pollinating Black Oxford and Wealthy flowers with pollen from the red-fleshed Redfield. Three of my favorite apples and all three, excellent pie apples. If the magic of hand-pollination does its thing, someday the world just might have a fantastic, new red-fleshed pie apple with a clever, catchy name, a super-interesting flavor (a little tart, a little sweet, no spices or sugar required), and the perfect soft but firm texture. By then the world will be a whole new place - gardens and orchards in every yard, Mainers eating home-made, home-grown meals featuring lots of pies. Grocery stores and parking lots will be just a vague, distant memory. Magic is the future...

May 21, 2026

The warm weather came to an abrupt end. Today was cool all day and windy. I sprayed the plums early in the morning. It was nice to be out in the orchards, though I could have used another layer. I sprayed the plums with Surround and Cueva. Surround combats (deters) the plum curculio and Cueva is a deterrent for  Brown Rot. The plum bloom was really strong this spring, and we could have a really good crop. I spent the rest of the day in the BRC orchard, cleaning up pruning-brush, mowing, weeding and cutting out lots of dead blackberry canes. If all goes well, we’ll have blackberry jam in a few months.

One never knows!

In late May we get to celebrate a string of amazing birthdays. Two days ago was Malcolm X. Today is Thomas “Fats” Waller. My favorite Fats recording session is the one from June 8, 1936 which fittingly includes “Blackberry Jam.” The band was in it’s absolutely best form. One of Waller’s favorite expressions was, “One never knows, do one?”

May 20, 2026

The warm weather continues. The apples are responding, and the first wave of cultivars are approaching full bloom. It is spectacular. Cammy and I pruned the peaches which we like to do once they’ve leafed-out. After a winter of below-zero temperatures, we know we’ll have dead branches. Waiting until now, we know what is not going to make it. Some of our trees took a real hit. We cut all that out. Amazingly, however, we have peach blooms on every tree, and that could mean a peach crop even after multiple nights of —20F.

The Maine Heritage Orchard in 2013

The asparagus and rhubarb are up, and we’ve been feasting on both. Rhubarb is better with ice cream. I think we need to go to “John’s” soon.

In the evening I gave a brief talk at the annual apple blossom tour at the Maine Heritage Orchard in Unity. It was warm but very windy. Still it was a beautiful sight.. and site.       

May 19, 2026

Continued extremely warm. Many apples are open with some approaching full bloom. Others still at pink or even just beginning to leaf out. It’s spectacular out in the orchard, and there should be at least another week of this ahead of us.

Wednesday, May 20, you can see the spectacular bloom at the Maine Heritage Orchard at MOFGA. The timing should be perfect. There’s a bloom-tour from 5-7 PM. I’ll be giving a talk which (rumor has it) may focus on the magic of apples. Come join us if you can.

I returned to the governor’s Blaine House in Augusta to graft the last of the 16 apple trees in the Blaine House orchard. They now have an apple from each of Maine’s 16 counties. Governor Mills will leave office in January, and someone new will take her place. I sure hope they love apples.

Do you believe in Magic?

I followed the river down to Hallowell where I topworked the apple and pear we saved from the bulldozers a couple of months ago. Friends had alerted me of the impending demise of the trees and the Save-the-Maine-Trees-Rescue squad rushed over to assist them in collecting scionwood. We’ve grafted them at home and put them in our tree nursery, and today I grafted the pear and apple scions onto older trees in the Hallowell neighborhood. The old varieties will live on. The baton will be passed. As I inserted the scion into the rootstock sprout from the old tree, one of the neighbors declared, “It’s magic!”       

May 18 2026

Warmest weather of the year. The plum flowers are fading. Asian pears are at full bloom. The Trailman, Redfield, Tea crab and Niedzwetzkyana are full , and a hundred other apple cultivars are not far behind. It looks like time-lapse photography out there. New apples opening practically every hour. Maybe every minute.

Collecting Redfield pollen, May 18, 2026

Laura came over in the morning, and we wrestled the sprayer onto the tractor together. A true team effort. Cranked it up, and it works good. Later Cammy and I both planted perennials near the house and out in the BRC orchard. I also moved a couple of apple seedlings in the BRC to “better” locations. (Is that arrogance or what?). One of the two was growing out of the fence, and the other was in a path where it surely would have been stepped on or mowed. Later I grafted onto plum rootsuckers in the old orchard and up at Finley Lane. Ended the day collecting Redfield pollen for the hand pollinating in a few days.   

May 17, 2026

Yesterday (May 16) was a notable day in the universe. It was the new moon and the mid-point between two May full moons. The first of them was on May 1, and the second will be on May 31. May 31st will be the Blue Moon.  

George Copeland c. May 16, 1963

May 16 is also notable for being the recording date of one of my favorite old LP records, fittingly of Claude Debussy’s “Suite bergamasque” which includes “Clair de lune.” The record also includes “Et la lune descend sur le temple qui fut” (And the moon descends on the temple that was) as well as a number of other pieces by Debussy. The pianist is George Copeland, and the recording year was 1963. The record I have belonged to my grandmother. It’s in a plain orange-yellow jacket with no writing. I found it on her record shelf after she died. I’ve listened to the record hundreds of times in the past 55 years, probably more than any other record I own. Copeland was a renowned Debussy interpreter, and his “versions” are fantastic. I don’t know much about the record and why it came in a plain, un-marked jacket. Maybe it was some sort of private recording. Fortunately the record label includes the titles of all the tunes, and there’s a cool photo of George Copeland and his cat tucked inside. 

Thanks George, and here’s to the moon, ever-watching over the orchard with its energy, its power and its light. 

May 16, 2026

I continued grafting in the Finley Lane orchard and the old orchard. The bark is slipping perfectly now, and the short topworking season is coming and going quickly. I’ll do a bit more in the next couple of days and then call it quits.  

Tree paste, May 16, 2026

In the afternoon Skylar and I mixed up a test-batch of Bio-dynamic tree paste. It’s my version of a classic Rudolf Steiner-inspired paintable concoction, typically a blend of fresh cow manure and clay, designed to promote tree health and heal the trunks of apple trees. I hope it will also deter apple borers. I’ve been looking for an alternative to painting Neem Oil on the tree trunks. Neem is definitely effective in deterring borers, but it turns the bark black and may damage bark. Neem is also expensive and from far away (SE Asia). Cow poop and clay are definitely local!

According to Biodynamics, clay is a tissue rejuvenator and fresh manure is a rich source of microbes. Some recipes include other materials, such as sand and wood ash. We used fresh cow manure and powdered clay and added zeolites (aluminosilicate lattices derived from volcanic ash) and rock phosphate. We mixed it up with water from the rain barrels and painted it on about 25 apple trees.

May 15, 2026

Purple Heart plum (and Spy) May 15, 2026

The plums are entering full bloom now. Our oldest Purple Heart tree has lots of flowers. It’s our favorite plum by far. In the next day or two I’ll hook up the sprayer and spray the plums with Surround and Cueva (liquid copper). Surround deters plum curculio, one of the peskiest pests of the orchard. It doesn’t kill the insects; it just irritates them (“bugs them”) so they leave and presumably head back to the forest from whence they came. Cueva is a fungicide that helps reduce or prevent brown rot, a fungal disease that makes the plums useless. We combine both products together in the spray tank and apply during full bloom and after. Surround and Cueva are both certified organic.   

May 14, 2026

Planting newly grafted trees, May 14, 2026.

Yes, still cool. Cammy and I planted 200 young grafted trees. It was a long day, but we finished by late afternoon, just before the rain started. The trees look happy in their new home. They will live there for two years. Then we’ll dig them. That will be in 2028.

The grafts did well for the most part. Nearly everything took. A few did not but that’s to be expected. Some of the scionwood was less than perfect. It was certainlly not the fault of the grafters!

We timed lunch to coincide with a Cornell Ornithology Lab webinar on bird migration. That was worth the viewing. We learned that most birds migrate at night which may help to explain why we’ve been seeing so many at our feeder and hearing them out in the orchard. They’re chilling out at Super Chilly, waiting for the sun to go down and good flying weather to keep on keeping on.   

Many apples now at pink. We’ll have bloom soon. 

May 13, 2026

Yes, still cool. Or maybe it qualifies as cold. But digging weeds pumps the blood and warms the soul. The nursery bed is now complete. We’ll plant 200 new trees tomorrow. Hooray. It was a productive morning.

In the afternoon, as the rain fell, Cammy went to Moose Crossing Garden center in Waldoboro to buy more plants. Some might ask, “Don’t you have enough?” The response is (of course) “Never!” 

Help is on the way (photo from Eliza Greenman)

Meanwhile I made a trip to Two Loons Farm in South China to obtain several buckets of nature’s finest, straight out of their Jersey Cows’ rear ends. As fresh as fresh can be. I’ll mix it with clay and other stuff and paint it onto the trunks of our apple trees. It’s a biodynamic paste concocted to protect and heal the trees’ bark. I’ve never tried it before so I’ll do a test run this weekend when the dry, warm weather arrives. Some of the apple tree trunks look a bit funky, and I’m hoping that this manure/clay paste will be akin to attending one of those expensive spas at some snazzy resort. 

The catbird (Dumetella carolinensis) is back. Nearly all the other birds go home by early evening but not so the catbird. She (he?) was visiting our suet just outside the kitchen window while we were cleaning up after dinner.     

May 12, 2026

When we teach what we know to others, we pass the baton. The scion makes a great baton. 

The cold weather continues - 27F at 6 AM. Feels a bit more like March than May. In the morning, Cammy and I worked in the nursery, continuing to prep for planting this year’s new grafts. It’s a long job, but it feels great to have our hands back in the soil. 

In the afternoon Seamus came over, and he and I topworked together.  After a bit of a refresher on grafting and a lesson in bark grafts, we headed down the rows at Finley Lane to graft over several unproductive trees to some of our recent discoveries. It was fun working together. He’s 13 and a quick learner. He asks interesting questions and makes interesting observations. He hadn’t remembered our collies’ names (Spy and Chaga), so he renamed them. (That was a first. Now, like many of our apples, they have synonyms!) Unfortunately, because it’s been so cold, some of the bark is still not slipping that well. We’ll hope for the best.

May 11 2026

The cold weather continued. Don’t put away the sweaters yet. Even the trees are shivering. The birds are still rallying around the feeders, including a colorful Rose-breasted Grosbeak. They typically pass through the farm en route north just about now.

Apple square, May 11, 2026

We stayed warm by working in the nursery, digging the bed for this year’s new batch of 200 grafted trees and planting asparagus. We also moved one apple tree about 15 feet. It was in a less-than-ideal spot, and it seemed like a good idea to relocate it. I cut a big square, and Cammy and I wrestled the heavy block over to it’s new home. It was relatively compliant, and I think it should be happy. It’s an unidentified yellow and russeted apple from Buttermilk Hill in Belgrade, one the Gawlers call “Sueboo Russet.” We had it DNA profiled and the results came back “unique.” Another mystery to solve.   

In the afternoon we went to friends and did some topworking for them. It really put our grafting magic to the test: despite being May 11, the bark was barely slipping. 

May 10, 2026

I created two new planting beds in the BRC orchard. Both will be sites for new companion plants. At least one will have a new apple tree. Over the past few year I’ve piled brush in the two spots—each about 4 feet wide and forty feet long. Today I laid old rotten hay over the surface, dug the tree hole and then partially filled it with gravel. The gravel will act as a bit of drainage as well as a medium for the tree roots to get established. Eventually I’ll cover the entire surface of the two beds with composted manure and woodsy soil I get from an old pile of decomposing stumps.

Malus hupehensis buds, May 10, 2026

Meanwhile Cammy dug trenches for more asparagus. Love that asparagus!  We have a large bed but one of the three rows has never done that well so we’re adding plants to that row. Plus, another totally new row for good measure.    

The temperatures remain cool, and we had a brief but insistent shower in the middle of the afternoon. Enough to convince us to come inside. Malus hupehensis is at “pink” now, suggesting it will soon be blooming. I’ve read differing stories about its common name: Tea Crab. Some suggest that the leaves make a delicious tea. Other suggest that it was a tree to sit beneath and drink “real” tea. Either way, it’s a beautiful tree.   

May 9, 2026

Today started out clear and cold (24F at 6 AM), then clouded up after noon and began to rain. But that didn’t thwart our annual celebration of Beltane when we mark the half-way point between equinox and solstice. A group of friends joined us, as they do every year, and we shared readings and stories, ate a long leisurely meal and immersed ourselves in the incredible power of friendship and the return of the growing season. 

First graft this spring, May 9, 2026

Beltane is an old Celtic celebration, one that dates back many centuries. We like to honor the tradition because it’s yet another chance to notice the magic and mystery of the Universe. We may not celebrate the way the pagans did in pre-christian days (no sending home the guests with a burning log from our fire), but we do have a riotous evening, and the clock struck twelve long before we hit the pillows. 

Just in time for Beltane, the Juneberries have opened up. I did a test graft out in the Finley Lane orchard. The bark is slipping so I’ll be topworking in the next few days. So much power in this Earth. 

May 8, 2026

Spring farm activity is now in full-tilt swing. Although we don’t get rolling as early in the morning as we did in the olden days (think “the old gray mare, she ain’t…), still we cherish the hours in the gardens and orchards and spent well over eight hours outside today. We could have done twelve.

Prunus ussuriensis, May 8, 2026 

Among other things, Cammy cleaned out the chicken coop, potted on brassicas, transplanted lettuce and weeded various gardens. I dug a few more trees for sale, moved a lot of manure (chicken and other) and cut a bit more firewood. I’m extra careful when I cut trees and brush now as I don’t want to cut down any bird-nesting sites.

The Asian plums (Prunus ussuriensis) are opening up, right on cue. A few of the apples are showing a bit of “pink.”   

May 7, 2026

Young grafted trees, May 7, 2026

Great to be back home and out in the orchards again. I spent most of today going up and down the rows of apple trees, taking notes on their conditions. I wanted to catch up on how each tree is doing and at what stage they all are. Many are at about 1/2 green though others are barely showing any green at all. None are in bloom. I was also checking out potential topworking sites for about a dozen new cultivars I’m adding to the collection. Looks like there will be room for them all. At home I moved the buckets of young grafted trees outdoors where they can harden-off. We’ll plant them in the nursery next week.

The temperature was cool, and I wore a sweatshirt and a sweater all day. The dandelions (Taraxacum spp) and violets (Viola spp) just bloomed today for the first time (presumably to celebrate my return to the farm.) I was also greeted by not one, but two black flies (Simuliidae family) who ceremoniously bit me on the neck.

In the evening Cammy and I went to the Colby College senior art show. We saw several of my “apple students” there, four of whom were showing their art work. Three of them showed us photos of the apple seedlings they started with seeds from the class. We’re changing the world, one new apple at a time.