So, it has been a long time since the last blog post because spring and summer are the busiest time of year on a farm, especially since this was our first spring on the property. We had a ton of stuff we wanted to get done and we are still slowly working down that list. To start we ordered 6 bare root fruit trees, 25 red wine grapes, and 75 baby trees (spruce, fir, and white birch) all of which were delivered in April. Bare root plants need to go in as soon as possible so my husband dug a lot of holes in a short period! We planted 4 apple trees, a cold-hard peach tree, and a sour cherry tree and hope to add 4-6 more fruit and nut trees each year until our orchard is complete. Our biggest concern is our zone; we are in zone 4 which limits our selection of fruit trees that will grow well here. If anyone knows of a sweet cherry tree that grows in zone 4 please let me know! The 25 red wine grapes that we bought are suited to our harsh Wisconsin winters. We chose the Marquette variety as these are cold hardy and although they are a new variety developed by the University of Minnesota, appear to make a nice dry red wine which we prefer. In subsequent years, we hope to add more grapes including a white variety (likely Itasca) well suited for our climate. Before we could plant the grapes however we needed to get the sod in our field tilled under. We also wanted to put in a large vegetable garden this spring and summer so we also needed the sod tilled under for that as well. We do not have a roto-tiller attachment for our little 955 John Deere tractor however a neighbor with a much larger tractor agreed to roto-till our plot in exchange for haying our field this summer for his horses. He has also provided lots of horse manure for compost!
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AuthorIn 2016, my family and I moved from the New York City area to small town Wisconsin. Our move, this website and blog (and our previous Etsy store) is the result of our desire over the past several years to simplify our lives, increase our quality of life, reconnect with nature, and enjoy a more self-sufficient life. I grew up as a country kid in central Pennsylvania working on my grandfather's fruit farm and as a corn "de-tassler" at a local seed farm. My background is in biology where my love of nature originated. I am a former research scientist and professor and have now transitioned to a part-time stay-at-home mom, self-employed tutor, and small business owner. Thank you for taking the time to check out my site. Archives
December 2024
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