Orchard Update

Reader Contribution by Karrie Steely
Published on April 16, 2015
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When my partner and I first started talking about an orchard last year, I had visions of bountiful, overflowing baskets of fruit, lots of pies, canning, and sharing with family and friends. Reality hit quickly when I realized that it would take several years before we could count on fruit production. Undeterred, we decided to jump in and give it a go. But last fall our orchard got off to a rough start.

We had picked an area in town between his shop and our old-church-turned-art-studio to put in fruit trees and bushes. We figured that since we’d be in town on a daily basis, it would be a nice place for the orchard. We bought the plants in containers late in the season, when they were on sale. Most of them were root bound, but we thought we’d give them a try anyway. Two out of six trees survived, and three out of four berry shrubs made it. Good thing most places have a “no questions asked” return policy on plants!

Then, plans changed, and we decided we needed a building for the equipment we use for the wheat cleaning business. The surviving trees and shrubs had to be dug up, which was done in the late fall after they had lost their leaves. We put them in 5-gallon buckets and stuck them in the church basement, where they spent a cool but unfrozen winter, being watered every few months.

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