Fall Color
Here are a few photos of the orchard on a sunny day. The second photo is of our Cameo trees planted in 2007.
Late Fall
When most trees have lost their leaves apple trees will hold on to theirs and under the right conditions will get quite colorful. Here are some pictures of our orchard taken on November 15th in the afternoon when the sky was quite overcast but it certainly was a typical mid-November day.
August Update
The trees are are doing well and with the latest rains and some sun the apples are sizing up and getting red. The crop looks very good and there is going to be an abundance of high quality apples both in the stand and for pick your own. We are not exactly sure of the opening date but will be the latter part of August. It all depends now on the weather and nature.
Below are a few photos of the orchard taken by Herb Crosby. The first photo is of our Zestar trees planted in 2007. Next are some Gala apples, then Paulareds. The final photo is of our trees planted in 2009.
If you are interested in seeing more of Mr. Crosby's photographs you can visit his online gallery. He has taken many beautiful and interesting photos all around Maine. We sincerely appreciate his willingness to share his photos for our website.
Mid-July Update
It is mid-July and the apples are doing well and growing every day. We got off to a good start this year with a late bloom and no frost for the first time in three years while the flowers were open. We also custom fertilized and limed the orchard using the blend recommended by our agronomist. The trees seem to be responding well and have nice dark green leaves. We have included some pictures of the apples so you can see how well they are doing.
The first photos are of the Zestar trees which are one of earliest varieties and were developed by the same people who developed the Honeycrisp. It is a very popular early variety.
The second set are Ginger Gold trees that were planted in 2007; we have a very good crop this year. Ginger Gold is also an early variety and we have heard many good things about them.
Then we have the good old Paulareds which are coming along well. It is an early Cortland type which people really like for applesauce.
Bloom
June 1 - Below are some pictures of the 2011 bloom in the orchard. It is over two weeks later than last year and even though there has been a lot of cold, rainy weather every day, the bees are out working. In the first photograph you can see a beehive in the background. In the last photo if you look closely you can see a pretty bumblebee at work.
Spring Planting
Here are a few photos of John and Casey (and a little helper) planting Cortland apple trees last week. Cortlands are so popular, that we are replacing some Jerseymacs in order to expand our pick your own rows.
Bangor Garden Show
John's presentation at the Bangor Garden Show on April 9 was quite a success. A number of people showed up to learn about caring for young apple trees.
Herb Crosby was also at the show and took a number of photos of the presentation. Below you can John demonstrating pruning tools and techniques to the audience. The final photo is John and Elaine after the presentation. Thanks to Mr. Crosby for sharing these pictures.
Pruning
The pruning is done for this year. We spent half of February and all of March to get it done, working on days that we could. Below are some photos of the pruning help we had outside of the family. These two men are very good pruners and we couldn't have done it without them.
Fall photos
While we are all waiting for spring to arrive, we thought that we would share a few photos from last fall. This is Gabe, grandson to Sharon and David Hansen. As you can tell from these pictures - especially the second one - he really like his apples.
Pruning
We have begun pruning our tree here at the orchard. With all of the snow on the ground, we have have been working on snowshoes - you can see our tracks in the photos below. If you have your own apple trees, you can wait a few weeks or so before you start pruning. Don't forget about our pruning guide, which includes a short video.
For the second batch of photos below you can see that we start our family early working in the orchard and learning everything about growing apples. You'll notice that in the last photo he is peering into one of our wagons; is he wondering where all the apples are now?
