Sick Crop

This is what about 80% of our crop looks like.  It is likely a higher loss, but we are trying really hard to be optimistic.

Gala in the Avery Section

Foliage isn't looking great either, however this is pretty minor compared to other areas.

Noticed some cankering in this tree, but wasn't able to find cankers in other trees.

Still the same Gala tree.  Fruit is pretty small in size.  Trees are not heavily loaded and plenty of rain this year so these variables shouldn't be an issue as far as fruit size goes.

Another canker in the same tree.  Again, while inspecting the other trees, this was the only tree that had obvious cankers.

Jonagold in Avery Section.

Foliage in the Jonagold tree.

Braeburn foliage.  Fruit looks awful as well.

Close-up of leaf in the same Braeburn tree.

Gala north of the windbreak.

Granny Smith Foliage.

Fruit size in the Gala section.

I hear there is money in apple wood...

Clean up! Clean up! Everybody, Everywhere!!!!

You know something isn't right when you've got a hot chocolate mug in the middle of something rather mechanical looking....

Today we spent the afternoon cleaning out 'winter' from the apple shed.  We are expecting a fieldtrip of teens this next week that are taking a horticulture class at the community college during the summer and they want to see what happens at our place.  I promised them that there wasn't a lot to see since there wasn't anything but a bunch of little apples hanging around in the trees.  They were still OK with that.  Which was fine with me, since it got a nice little fire burning under our feathers to get us moving early on our list of chores before apple season!

The challenge of the day was to move the snowmobile from the apple shed, to the trailer.  After it was loaded on the trailer we needed to move it to the machine shed on the north side of the farm.  Easy peasy lemon squeazy, right?  Wrong!  We live on a farm, and therefore, equipment must always be in need of some sort of repair!  Hence, the cup under the lid of the snowmobile...

and the battery charger on the blazer...

And everyone dragging the beastly bear cat out of his corner because he has no intention of coming out of hibernation...

Aha!  Signs of life!

Up!  Up!  Up!

Turns out, it wasn't a very simple matter to park the trailer in the machine shed.  Since someone stacked a whole green house inside, and parked a couple of tractors inside as well, the machine had to be unloaded and parked back in the farthest corner it could get to!

But hey!  We did manage to make some progress in the apple shed after all of that!

4th of July Bash

My dear friend Christine and her three kids came to visit from Kansas. It was so much fun! We promised no projects but we couldn't help ourselves!! Pictures to follow later ;)


I'm so excited that Christine decided to spend her favorite holiday of the year with us! It was great fun! I'm just trying to figure out how the weekend ended without getting a picture of her and I together!

Here are some snippets from the fireworks we shot off with our friends the Blackburns and Frehners.

I dare you to try shooting a few of these off in your back yard in California!

(you know I'm just kidding, right?)

The kids loved it all! Plenty of oohs and aaahs!

Of course the evening started off with BBQ and homemade rootbeer, slushed apple cider (our very own special blend), garden fresh tomatoes and homemade pies and ice cream. We followed the meal with a friendly game of croquet before settling in with the matches and fireworks.

This is what the apple farmer looks like in fast motion!

Oooh! Sparkley!

Laundry Day

First: Get the wash tub and fill it with water

Second: Put your dirty things that need washing into the wash tub that you have filled with water.

Third: Spin Cycle.

Fourth: Dry Cycle

Fifth: Dump the yucky ducky water.

Sixth: Fill 'er up again and start your next load

.

Boredom Buster

As requested by my dear friend Christine, here is my boredom Buster to add to your Boredom Bottle. Good Luck!

Supplies are pretty simple and basic and easy to gather!

I'm just not sure what you would call this! Feel free to add your suggestion to the comments!

To market, to market to buy a fat...APPLE!

Here are the photos of the finished Apple Market.

I will try my hardest to describe what you are seeing so that you don't get lost on our tour!

This is the view as you walk in the entrance. Notice the big mess out on the packing floor. That gets cleaned up tomorrow. The green machine in the back ground is our washer/sorter machine. Do you see the fan in the opening out to the packing area? We are going to go stand by the fan and look in the market area from that perspective.

These are our produce tables. The smallest one is probably going out on the packing floor somewhere. I like the wheel barrow with the bushel baskets in it and around it better. The back wall is where I am going to hang my old red orchard ladder. The wall is the yummy chocolate color that Her Royal Highness painted herself with. Although the color was chosen for a rustic feel, I can't help but think of Hershey's when I see it. Hmmm, maybe I am sending the wrong subliminal messages!

This is the sales counter. Our 100 pound old fashioned cash register isn't up on the counter yet because we need to reinforce the counter to be able to hold its weight. Can you see the antique scale? The wooden contraption to the left is a single barrel apple cider press. The produce tables are on our left. I really LOVE the barnwood look! I love the green that I chose for the floor, but under this lighting I'm not quite so sure. The color card says Apple, but I think Sinus Infection when I see it. Hmmm, not the right message again...

Here are the close ups of the art work. I think maybe these might send a little stronger APPLE message! I am very excited that they turned out as they did. I haven't painted since around 1992. When I began painting these pictures on Thursday late afternoon I was completely overwhelmed with what I needed to accomplish in such little time. The paint brush and paints felt so foreign to me. Despite the race against time, I delayed so that I could ask for divine help and then I began to paint. I know that I received the help I asked for. Both of these paintings were completed in a matter of about 8 hours.

Chocolate Dipped...

My little helper!

The Story of the Apple Market

Here's a story -- of an apple market,
That started off as one big piggy barn...

(Just Kidding - no Brady Bunch music, I will just explain)!

Here is the hog barn that we disassembled. The Apple Farmer has mostly been out of town, so the boys and I took it upon ourselves two weeks ago to begin the demo project because we knew we were in desparate need of establishing a retail area in our apple packing shed. The boys loved tearing the building apart, especially climbing up on the roof (OK - I know its a Mother's worst nightmare to have her sons climbing around on a tin roof - but I was thrilled that they were begging me to go out and WORK)!

Human Resources is proudly standing upon the skeleton of the old building.

Hey - its me working on one of the paintings on the wall. It is supposed to be an apple pie a la mode!

We hired Jonas, one of our Amish neighbors, to do the carpentry work. I assisted him. He had a great time teasing me about being better at driving a vehicle than I was at driving nails. He does fabulous work! This picture shows a lot of a big mess, but the tin from the hog barn roof is on the bottom half of this wall, and above the tin is some of the barn wood. The two paintings are my feeble attempt to send subliminal messages to my customers that they need to BUY MORE APPLES! The pipes and electrical will eventually get covered up, it is just too late now since we begin harvesting apples on Tuesday.

Human Resources is sampling a Honey Crisp (YUM YUM) and Her Royal Highness is savoring a Gala. Doesn't that Gala look beautiful?!

Her Royal Highness is still savoring her apple!

So today, we finished the Apple Market, just in time for next week's harvest. Unfortunately, I do not have a picture of the finished deal! I forgot to take one before I drug my sad tired old body into the house to make dinner. Please check back soon to see!!

Friday's Produce Auction

Friday morning I took some crabapples to the produce auction, along with a neighbor and his sweetcorn. He had 100 dozen ears of sweet corn and got between $2.00 to $2.25 per dozen. Our crabapples did better this time. We got $10.00 per half bushel box and $5.00 per peck box. We are going to try another load Monday morning.

August Fog Blooms Winter's Snow

The Amish often share "old sayings" and this morning was one of those moments. I love hearing them and as of yet, I have not heard one that hasn't proven itself to be true. John Zook was over this morning about peaches when he said, "There's an old saying that August fog blooms winter's snow." Human Resources was quite excited to hear that, since we won a bid on two pairs of cross country skis at a neighbor's auction Saturday morning. I'm just thrilled for the cool, calm and misty morning. It will be nice for getting our demolition and building projects completed.

Catching Up!

I finally have a moment to sit down and update my blog! The last few months have been a whirlwind! The only reason I am sitting here at the computer is because I'm too tired and sore to do anything else!

The following is a quick overview of life in our neck of the woods. The ducks are gone - we launched them on the pond and they refused to come in at dark. We haven't seen them since. The chickens are dead. A coon broke into the chicken house and killed them all. I survived girl's camp. We took a trip to Utah for our little family reunion with my siblings. Had fun. Got home and the garden was overcome by weeds. Still haven't caught up with them. Got a pig - named him Porky - he will be a delicious Christmas ham. Cleaning up the commercial kitchen and disaster from when the pipes broke and the ceiling fell in the winter before last. Currently tearing down the hog barn and recycling the wood and metal roofing to build a retail floor in our apple packing shed (my reason for being so sore). Trying to get school all in order so we will be ready to go on Aug. 18. Apple harvest is late and looking like it will begin at the end of August. Canned peaches and made blackberry jam. Oh - I almost forgot, the Apple Farmer was just called to serve as the branch president at church two weeks ago. He is pretty anxious but I know he will be great. One of the older sisters at church came up to me and congratulated me on becoming the mother of the branch - that kinda freaked me out, especially when she smiled at me and said, "Mommy!"