April 29, 2026

The Forsythia and the Cornus mas (above) are both out in full bloom

We were visited by several Myrtle Warblers. They were right outside the kitchen window at the suet feeder. Maybe “Myrtle Warbler” no longer exists as a name, but if you look at an old bird field guide, you’ll find it. I think it has been renamed the Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata). I may sound like “a broken record” but the birds have just been amazing this spring.

It turned out that I wasn’t quite done planting for the year. I found spots for two more apples: a Hunt Russet and what may be Monroe Sweet. Hunt originated in Concord, MA well before the Revolution. It was one of the first named North American cultivars and is a child of two of the most iconic European apples: Reinette des Carmes  x Drap d'Or de Bretagne. I should have planted one years ago. The second apple is one I was introduced to by Pam and Wayne Sweetser in Presque Isle. It may be the true Hayford Sweet or it may be one of the Monroe Sweets. I say “one of” as there may have been multiple different apples with that name. This one is a true sweet and worth saving. 

April 28, 2026

Pruning has ended for the year. With the buds opening and the trees waking up, it’s time to move on to other activities. That being said, I still had one more pruning job to do. I went up to our neighbor, Bruce Potter’s, and pruned six old trees: 3 apples and 3 pears. They hadn’t seen a saw in so long they didn’t know what they were in for. Bruce said, “a light trim, please.”  That reminded me of 1966 when I went to the barber and asked for “a light trim.” I came out  looking like I was heading for basic training. I did survive that dramatic hair cut and Bruce’s trees will too. Actually I think they look rather good. It was a big job; there’s a lot of brush to lug.

Montreal apple, April 2026.

I had time to cut a bit more firewood before that season also comes to a close. I don’t like cutting firewood when there might be birds nesting up in the trees. Cammy is up in Montreal visiting with friends. She sent this photo. Nice to know the Canadians know which end of the apple (and the world?) is right-side up.

April 27, 2026

Not only are the daffies dancing, the Tree Swallows have been dancing in sky above the orchard. Presumably they’re about to nest. They may be competing with the Bluebirds this year. Saw a male Bluebird this morning up at the Finley Lane Orchard. Meanwhile, the big feeder at the house is emptying once a day. So many birds! It’s been so cold that our various feeders may be the best deal in town. We had a Ruby-crowned Kinglet at the suet feeder this morning.

Emerging leaves on Niedwetzkyana, April 27 2026

Today I planted the last six trees at Finley. We planted 42 new trees up there this spring. I also went to Augusta to deliver trees for the Governor’s orchard at the Blaine House across the street from the Capitol. I’ll go back in May and topwork 3 or 4 of them. When I finish, they’ll have 16 trees, one variety from each of Maine’s 16 counties. Cammy planted peas, early carrots and beets today in the big garden. The first leaves are poking out of the apple tree buds. No more scion collecting this year. Spring is sprung!

April 26, 2026

I’m not sure if the poet William Wordsworth was out in his orchard in April, 1802 when the daffodils were, “beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze”, but he could have been in ours. The daffodils are now dancing throughout the orchards. They are an integral part of the team. We planted them to deter voles, and they do a good job. It’s something about the scent or the vibe that the bulbs emit. We also put plastic “tree-guards” around the trunks of all our smaller trees (up to about 15 years old) to fend off the voles. This year we wrapped about 500 trees. It’s a one-two punch to protect the trees. 

The Winthrop Greening tree, April 2026

The daffodils will stay year-round but not so the tree-guards. They have done their work and will now retire to the barn loft for the next 6 months. In the summertime the tree-guards can attract the dreaded, round-headed, apple-tree borer. The borer loves the protected bark under the tree-guard plastic. It also covers up the sawdust-like frass of the borer when you do get an attack. So we remove many a bag-full of the spiral sleeves every April. all the while entertained by so many waltzing ( or rock ’n’ rollin’) flowers. As old Willy Wordsworth put it 224 years ago, 

 “And then my heart with pleasure fills

And dances with the daffodils.” 

April 25, 2026

This morning and yesterday morning were cold. - both in the vicinity of 20F. Fortunately the trees are still dormant.  No flower damage yet. It warmed up by mid-morning, and the day was glorious. It was the perfect day for a Tree Sale.

Every year we graft back-ups, replacements and additions for the farm. We also graft special orders for enthusiasts and historians, and have been helping to create a Maine historic orchard at the Governor’s house in Augusta. Some of the trees we graft get to stay here on the farm but many are destined for destinations unknown. Today we hosted a Tree Sale in the hopes of selling the remaining extras.

Cammy greeted the customers and guided them through our list of rare, unusual and sometimes bizarre varieties. Then Skylar and I dug trees on-order. We had a steady stream of customers most of the morning and into the afternoon. In the end Maine will have a bunch more delightfully-strange apples to balance out the normality of the Honeycrisps, McIntoshes and Cortlands that have unfairly dominated the orchards of the state for too long

April 23, 2026

Today we received new and exciting DNA results. Two of our submissions—AMAL 082 and AMHO 470—are both Drap d’Or de Bretagne.  Now we’ve found three trees of one of the most important historical apples in the world: the Cloth of Gold of Brittany, famous in Europe and an ancestor of dozens of North America’s most iconic apples.

These new discoveries make sense both geographically and phenotypically. All three trees are within twenty miles of one another. The first Drap d’Or de Bretagne we identified through DNA profiling, AMHO 504, is on Verona Island at the mouth of the Penobscot River. The second, AMHO 470, is right across the river in Prospect, less than ten miles away. The third, AMAL 082, is in Belfast about twenty miles down the coast from the first two. Phenotypically the three apples are identical. 

Until the Verona Island tree was identified, Drap d’Or de Bretagne had never been found in the North America.  AMHO 470 was found in Prospect by Pete Jenkins. Pete has been scouring that area for old trees for many years and has made some wonderful discoveries. I started to suspect that this one might be Drap d’Or even before I got decent specimens of the fruit. It was known locally (and emphatically) as “Old Maine Greening.” That sounded decidedly suspicious. OMG could have been the perfect local synonym for Drap d’Or. It was.             

AMAL 082 was a marvel of good timing and good luck. Hannah Tays from Belfast brought the apples to Common Ground Fair last fall, arriving on Sunday—the last day of the Fair—about half an hour before closing time. She had forgotten the fruit and had to go back to get it. She almost arrived too late to get in. When those of us left at the Apple Tent saw her fruit, I think we all knew. I went to see the tree a few days later. It was the right age, and the fruit was identical to the Verona apple. By the time we submitted leaves for DNA analysis, it was pretty clear that we’d found two more trees. And so a great story continues. We’ve been grafting it like mad and passing around trees. I’ve also started a bunch of Drap d’Or seedlings. (If it produced great new apples a few centuries ago, why not now?) We set out two vigorous seedlings here on the farm just this past Sunday. Who knows what the future may have in store?

The Cloth of Gold! June Tyson and Sun Ra, 1979 (photo by Jared Crawford)

Final word: We all know Little Red Riding Hood with her red cloak and hood. And there’s Dolly Parton (and Joseph) with their coats of many colors. There were those psychedelic jackets worn by the Beatles in 1967. They were wild and I wanted to “drape” one over my shoulders too. Harry Potter wore the invisibility cloak. That was cool. But none of them beats the Drap d’Or—the Cloth of Gold—like the ones that June Tyson and Sun Ra wore.  

April 22, 2026

Calling Planet Earth! Today is Earth Day in the orchard and everywhere on the planet. It’s a day to celebrate the miracle of life on Earth. If you fiddle around with the letters in the word “earth”, you can come up with the word “three” (or close to it). Earth is the third planet from the Sun. Three is also a sacred number in many traditions. Could the word Earth simply be a take-off on the word three?  

Planet Earth: Remove the letter E from planet and you have plant. Earth is the planet of plants. Remove the A from the word Earth and replace it with that E. Get rid of the H. Now rearrange the remaining letters and you have “plant a tree.” 

It’s not a stretch to say that the tree—more than anything else—is what defines the Earth. Trees are the magic creatures that make earth what it is.  And on Earth Day in many locations around the world, it’s the perfect time of year to plant a tree. If each of us planted a tree this spring—just one tree—we’d have 8.3 billion more trees on Planet Earth. 

Apple tree by the sea, Earth Day 2026

Unfortunately we did not plant any trees today. We did plant 34 on Sunday, but we’re out of town today so—I guess—we get a pass. We’ll plant more this coming weekend. But we did spend a bunch of time with trees yesterday and today. Yesterday we were at the amazing Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, MA. It’s an incredible place to go see trees. Today we celebrated in Rhode Island with friends who took us to Blithewold Arboretum along the shore of Narragansett Bay. At Blithewold walking along the shore, what did we encounter? An apple tree of course. Who insists that apple trees need well-drained soil and a gentle slope and a special pH? The apple tree we visited was growing about two feet from the high-tide line in a pile of salt and shells and seaweed. And it looked very happy to be there. 

Later in the day we visited relatives across the bridge in Tiverton. What did we see there? More amazing trees of course. Happy Earth Day!

April 19, 2026

Today was our Spring tree-planting day. It was a fantastic whirlwind of activity, well-lubricated by a whole lot of rain. Skylar, Evacilie and a bunch of their friends from COA arrived yesterday evening and celebrated up in the orchard with a fire, food and Super Chilly Farm cider. This morning Alyssa, Kevin, Todd and I joined them. After the traditional pre-planting Super Chilly breakfast of (what else?) oatmeal and applesauce, we went to work. It was a major team effort all the way. By noon we had planted 34 trees, a quarter of which are grafted selections we’re excited to trial over the coming years. The rest are seedlings grown from some of our favorite “mothers.” All of them are two-year-olds from our nursery: the apples of the future. 

The planting crew, April 19, 2026

The weather was near perfect for planting trees: rainy. It did hold off until mid-morning, but then it came down steadily until after dark. The trees loved it, and despite being rather soaked, we did too. Although it would have been fun to hang out, tour the farm and geek out over all the daffodils, by early afternoon everyone was ready to de-mud, put on dry clothes and find some heat. What a perfect way to spend a rainy day in April. Thank you everyone!

April 17, 2026

Heat came to the orchard today. At 5 PM it was 73F. The apple buds are still locked up tight, but it won’t be long. Farther south the trees are opening up. It’s beautiful there this time of year, but there’s a risk behind that early bloom. April is a month of temperature swings. Here in central Maine, these swings are—knock on wood—not that big a deal. Two or three hundred miles south of here, they are. One night of temps in the low 20’s when the trees are in bloom can wipe out this year’s crop. We won’t be in bloom for another month (we hope). That’s a delay that often works to our advantage. When those inevitable spring swings come through and the temperatures crash to 22F, we’re happy the trees are still asleep.

Old apples trees near Cortez, CO, March, 2020

Orchard friends in in Cortez, CO told me that temps tonight are predicted in the low 20’s in their region. That could be a big bummer for the apple crop out there. Gotta love our late spring. We don’t get too many days like today, and we should be happy we don’t. The flowers and the leaves will come. And we’ll have all of July and August to run around in bare feet and T-shirts and go jumping in the lake. Now is the time to kick back and soak up the cold and damp and dreary.     

April 16, 2026

Wow, this is the quintessential April. Have we got showers for you. Thank you Thomas Tusser (1524-1580) whose A Hundreth Good Pointes of Husbandrie should be required reading for everyone. “Sweete April showers/ Doo spring Maie flowers.”  Now those showers are coming nearly every day. Admittedly the accumulation has been minimal, some might say pathetic, but it’s wet, and we need wet. And the plants are responding. The garlic is up and looking good. The bulbs surrounding the apple trees are beginning to show color. Laura mentioned that some fruit tree buds are beginning to swell. Better cut your scionwood before it’s too late.

Buckets of young grafted trees, April 16, 2026

Got a phone call today from one of those who attended my talk in Woolwich last weekend. She used to live on the Cathance Road in Topsham—right near the old Givens farm—and thinks there’s a chance that there’s a Givens apple tree on her former property. She contacted the new owners, and they are excited. to help. There were four old trees. One died and was cut down in the last year or two. But three remain. Yes!  They will send me photos of the trees, and I’ll collect leaves and submit them for DNA profile later this spring. Fingers crossed.    

Spring is happening inside as well. The apples we grafted two weeks ago are all showing green. That is exciting. Looks like we still know how to do it.  

April 15 2026

It’s Tax Day in the USA. As far as I know there are no apple cultivars with the word “Tax” in the name. Bussey lists three that include the word “Money:” Money Creek Beauty, Moneybush and—my favorite—Money Maker. Money Maker would be a great name for a cider apple. Too bad it’s been taken. When the apples are ripe, you could “Shake Your Money Maker,” just like that famous old blues song sung by Elmore James (and many others.) Maybe we’ll name one of our seedlings Shake your Money Maker.

We already have one apple on the farm with the word Money in its name with another one to be grafted this spring. “Big Money” is one of our seedlings. It’s what our Grandson Chance used to call the quarter he got for doing chores around the house or under his pillow in exchange for a lost tooth. We’re expecting Big Money to make us zillions in the coming years. “Old Money Bitter” is one of the new cultivars we’ll be topworking in a few weeks. It was discovered by Benford Lepley out on Long Island, NY. He describes it as “really elegant, beautiful, complex bitter,” just like old money.

Dozens of other songs have been written about taxes and money. George Harrison’s Tax Man immediately comes to mind which, I just learned, features a guitar solo by Paul (not George). My favorite money song is Woody Guthrie’s. I find myself periodically singing it out in the orchard. In fact it may be one of my all-time favorite songs.

Stever at Finley, Tax Day 2026

If you ain't got the do, re, mi, folks
You ain't got the do, re, mi
You better go back to beautiful Texas
Oklahoma, Kansas, Georgia, Tennessee
California is a garden of Eden, a paradise to live in or see
But believe it or not, you won't find it so hot
If you ain't got the do, re, mi

While others were paying their hard earned do re mi today (or not), I was up in our orchard (a paradise to live in and see) with our friend Stever who came over with his backhoe to “rough dig” forty holes for trees we’ll plant this spring.     

April 14, 2026

I never made it to the thermometer today, but it had to have hit 70F or close to it. I was down to a T-shirt in the morning. It clouded up by mid-afternoon and was raining by suppertime.

Trees destined for far away places: April 14, 2026

One day after the return of the Canada Geese, the Tree Swallows returned to the orchard. As I was marking out spots to plant new trees, they were darting and swooping and diving up above me. It seems a bit early, but it’s a welcome sight. We love them. We don’t get Barn Swallows here, but we do get the Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor). Watching them fly, I always think of them as the Orcas of the sky. 

In the afternoon I decided to clean out the Tree Swallow houses. We have them scattered throughout the orchard. I also dug a bunch of trees to be shipped to customers later this week. Meanwhile Cammy was potting-on dahlias in the greenhouse. As I finished up digging trees, it began to rain. More April showers. We’re glad to see them.   

April 13, 2026

Beagle Bitter, April 13, 2026

Planted the first tree of the season today. It felt wonderful to put the foot to the shovel and the shovel to the earth. There was no frost left, and the tree came out of the nursery with ease. I walked it down to the end of row 2 up at Finley, big clump of dirt still on the roots, and it was nestled into its new home five minutes later. The cultivar was Beagle Bitter, a yellow, 2” bittersweet from New York state, introduced by Jason Mannka and Mike Biltonen. It will become part of our ongoing trial of apples with potential for cider and cooking. 

According to Matt Kaminsky’s Pomological Series Vol II, Beagle Bitter’s “intense sweetness prevails at front, sugars taste almost thick. Mid-palate has a warm spicy quality and features lovely tannin, lightly to moderately astringent. Notes of brown sugar and walnuts. A complex, textural experience!” Jason and Mike have another introduction we’re growing here on trial, one they call Manure Pit. I’ve had the cider and it’s excellent: “barn-yardy” as they say! 

Today also marks the official return of the Canada Geese. They typically fly south over the farm on October 9th and return north on April 10th. This morning they greeted me as I stood out on the porch. They’re three days late. That’s in line with the ice-out on the farm ponds. At least for now, everything is still a bit delayed. But, hey, it’s not too early to plant new apple trees. Dust of your shovels. It’s time.  

April 12, 2026

Although pruning season is winding down, we’re still in full pruning mode. The exceptionally cold January and a scattering of inconveniently placed storms put us behind. But the temperatures have remained on the cool side, the trees are still very much dormant, and it’s fine to keep pruning for now. 

April is beginning its slow warm-up. I’ve resisted test-digging a tree. I’ll do that in a day or two. Frost-free digging will signal the start of tree-planting season. It comes right on the heals of pruning season with not much more than a few minutes interlude. Get out the shovels!

Today Cammy and I finished up the pruning. I’ll do another day or two of looping water sprouts at some point, but for the most part we’re done.

Ara macao (April 2024)

The birds are “flocking” to the farm. New ones daily. I haven’t mentioned the Robins. They’ve been here for a while now. The Goldfinches are here. The Phoebes arrived two or three days ago. The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker is back. Cammy saw a flicker today out on Rte 3 and heard one near the house. We keep expecting the Evening Grosbeaks to desert us and head north, but they’ve stuck around so far. We can wander around in the orchard or sit by the window and stare at the feeder all day and never be less than mesmerized. Who knows, we might even see a Scarlet Macaw perched up there on the gutter! 

April 11, 2026

Although pruning season is winding down, we’re still in full pruning mode. The exceptionally cold January and a scattering of inconveniently placed storms put us behind. But the temperatures have remained on the cool side, the trees are still very much dormant, and it’s fine to keep pruning for now. 

Cut that out!

For the past three days Cammy and I have been going through our older apples up on ladders, strategically thinning out the tops and cutting out (removing) a few large lower branches. (As my father used to say, “Cut that out!”) Our goal is to maximize sun-access to all parts of the tree. With more sun they will thrive and bear fruit. With less sun the lower, shaded branches will suffer, atrophy and—even worse—die. Those vibrant lower branches can provide a large percentage of the fruit, and we want them to do well. They’re not big on shade.

While I’m high up in the crowns, I’ve continued to make loops with the long, flexible water sprouts. The hope is that the loops will reduce vigor and trigger more fruit production. And of course they’re fun to do. Our Stark and Northern Spy trees are frosted with loops.  

This afternoon we took a break from pruning and drove an hour south to Woolwich where I gave a talk for the Sagadahoc MOFGA chapter, followed by a potluck dinner and a lot of conversation. Before we began I handed out 3x5 cards, and asked everyone to write down a question. Then I went through them and did my best to answer them all. The questions were perfect. It was a Q and A extravaganza. And it was still light when we set out for home. It’s spring.  

April 9, 2026

*APPLE TREES FOR SALE 2026 !!*

Super Chilly Farm in Palermo: John Bunker and Cammy Watts

website: outonalimbapples.com email: outonalimbapples100@gmail.com

Highly Rare and Unusual Varieties Including:

CIDER    *    COOKING    *    FRESH EATING

Two-year old trees 4-6 ft tall—Standard rootstock (full-sized trees)

AVAILABLE AT OUR WEBSITE  outonalimbapples.com    $38.50 ea

OR:

Come  to  our  TREE  SALE $30.00 ea

Saturday April 25 from 9 AM-3 PM

Jones Road, Palermo: between Belfast and Augusta

JUST  FOLLOW  THE  SIGNS:  easy  to  find!

April 8, 2026

In case I forgot, winter ended just over 2 weeks ago. This morning the temperature was +16F on the back porch. Ice reappeared on several of our ponds. By early afternoon we were in the most glorious snow globe of the year. A swirl of huge flakes filled the sky, and by nightfall the farm was white.

For the second day in a row, the morning temperature was +16F on the back porch. The ground was covered with a frozen, crusty inch of snow until the sun grew warm enough to melt. things. April is turning out to be a pretty decent month. We’re already a quarter of the way through, and still the air is good. It’s cold and crisp. (Like a good Cosmic Crisp?) I miss March, but being outside at 45F has its attraction.  

I was able to spend several hours in the BRC. That’s our multi-factorial orchard with several dozen other species growing in and around the apples. Pruning in the BRC is really about getting to know the many other plants that grow in the orchard. Some we introduced and many just introduced themselves. We want to know which ones are helpful to the apples. If the apple trees thrive, we assume we’re on the right track. If they die, that tells us something else. Listen to the trees and what they say or, if you’re tree-deaf, use your eyes. Like that old sign by the railroad tracks, “Stop, Look, Listen.”

Today was mostly about pruning blackberries. We have hundreds of canes throughout the BRC. They are the native species--not a cultivar selection--and once they found the BRC, they moved in big time. The old fruiting-canes are dead and long to be cut. The young canes are pushing six feet tall and begging to be trimmed back to a more reasonable height - like four or five feet. I move through the canes, snip, and drop the pieces to the ground. I don’t remove any of the prunings. I just cut them up and let them fall in place. They mulch the trees and act as fertilizer. (Though they aren’t too easy on our barefooted apprentices) 

I also pruned back an assortment of small maples, yellow birch, white birch, sumac, and willows that inhabit the BRC. Cammy joined me towards the end of the afternoon, and we actually sawed a few large branches off the apple trees themselves. Don’t forget those apple trees. They want to be pruned too.     

I read this morning that Terry Goodhue died a few weeks ago. Terry was the son of Earland Goodhue, one of my most important apple mentors. Terry was also an exceptional plant person. He lived out on North Haven Island. I would bump into him every so often. We have one of his apple discoveries growing here on the farm. That tree succumbed to borers last summer, but I saved some scionwood so I’ll topwork it next month and keep it going. Safe travels, Terry. 

April 7, 2026

In case I forgot, winter ended just over 2 weeks ago. This morning the temperature was +16F on the back porch. Ice reappeared on several of our ponds. By early afternoon we were in the most glorious snow globe of the year. A swirl of huge flakes filled the sky, and by nightfall the farm was white.

Give me a Gravenstein anyday! April 7, 2026

After much deliberation and consultation, we are fairly certain that we have a male Pine Warbler (Setophaga pinus) who has at least temporarily moved onto the farm and who spends the majority of his time at the suet feeder. Being only 18” from the kitchen window, we’ve had a lot of time to stare at bird and book. Why are the warblers so hard to tell apart? It’s hard enough telling a Duchess of Oldenburg from a Nutting Bumpus. Or a Deane from a Milwaukee. Or a Brigg’s Auburn from a Northwestern Greening. Argh! Clearly when they made the warblers, it was all about humiliating ornithologists. No question. The warblers make the apples look easy. At least the apples sit still on the table as I stare at them… or cut them up and look at their internal organs. 

Night descended on the farm and it was time to take a walk with our injured collie. She cut her foot on something several days ago. Despite the lack of any moon, there was no need for a flashlight. Just follow the dirt driveway which was just warm enough to melt the snow. Everything else was glowing a magical white.  Sometimes the world is black and white. 

April 6, 2026

Today would have been a perfect pruning day except that the wind was blowing with March-like gusto making the conditions less than optimal. Still it was fun to be in the orchards. I spent all day up at Finley Lane pruning. Cammy joined me for the morning and attended to one of our Collie’s injured foot in the afternoon. We’ve still got another week or two of pruning, but most of it is now complete.

I spent a chunk of time consolidating prunings into piles throughout the orchard. In May we’ll borrow a chipper from a generous neighbor and chip brush for a day or two. It’s a big job, but all those chips go back into the orchard as fertilizer for the future. It’s that circle.    

One of the Easter highlights yesterday was the return of a pair of wood ducks (Aix sponsa) to the pond in front of the house. We hadn’t seen them in several years since they were driven away by our farm ducks who thought the pond belonged to them. It was great to have them back. A few years ago I even built them a cabin on the edge of the pond—correct dimensions and everything—but they apparently wanted more privacy than our front yard. (Who would blame them?) Perhaps now that the vegetation has filled in more along the edge of the pond, our little wood duck cabin will be more hidden and more desirable. We can hope.

By late afternoon the wind had subsided, and the sky was perfectly clear as I packed up the ladders and tools and headed back to the house. Whatever heat there had been in the air was gone, and the evening chill was already descending. Somewhere up in the clear sky, high above the apple trees and the wood ducks, the spaceship Artemis II was circling the moon. On radio the newscasters say that the astronauts are now farther away from Planet Earth than humans have ever been. Of course, we know different. Just ask Sun Ra and his Arkestra.