January 13, 2025

TODAY IN THE ORCHARD

The 2025 orchard season has begun! December and early January is break-time from the orchard. In mid-January we begin cleaning up the edges of the orchard to generate firewood, pruning the fruit trees and collecting scionwood. Cutting firewood along the edges of the orchards helps to get more sun to the trees and creates giant piles of branches that will be chipped in the spring and spread throughout the orchards.  Firewood cutting continues all winter. Today Jacob Mentlik, Laura Sieger and I spent the afternoon cutting scionwood for Fedco while pruning here and there in the process.  Our focus today was in the orchard we call the BRC. It was cold and clear and a perfect day to be out in the orchard.