End of the Farm Year

Then Winter, Again

I have 7 crates of apples on the trailer. Each crate is 18 bushels. Mostly Russets and Dabinetts, with a fair amount of Redfields, Kingston Blacks, Binet Rouge and then a mix of other bittersweets. Will be very interesting to see what kind of cider it makes.

I’ll deliver the apples to the processor, Tandem Ciders, on Tuesday. They’ll process Thursday morning and I’ll deliver the juice to customers the same day. Took 9 days to pick all the apples, going half days and a few full days. We had excellent weather, sunny, even a little warm a few days; t-shirt weather once the sun was above the Maples and Evergreens.

Wednesday’s weather will be warm again, and then, as if the earth is in tune with our little farm, the wind turns back to the north on Thursday, after the apples are done, and we’ll have more days in the 50’s and low 60’s from now on; nights in the 40’s, certainly.

On Friday I’ll take care of the turkeys. They’ve grown quite a bit over the last month and it’s time. Mary and I have both worked in the garden and most of it is done now, put away for the year. There is still some cleanup. We grew some lavender successfully from seed and Mary replanted it. We will transplant it in the spring over by the bee houses. I plan to remove several trees from the orchard that have never done well, and get started on pruning if the weather permits. Replacement trees are on order for the spring.

We started to discuss plans for next year already. Until then, everything must be put away and all the entrances and exits battened down.

Hunting season takes us into the snow and ice. There are a few wood working projects for the winter. I’ll work the ash I recently milled into a credenza and a desk. November’s wind and rain means indoor work only; the farm sleeps until April. Thank God!