Seven Fields Farm & Orchard

May is coming to a close and what a month it has been. Last year at this time we were talking about drought conditions. This year we are begging the rain Gods to grant us some sort of reprieve from the deluge. One good aspect of the recent rain is that our orchards are springing to life. With the grass already at two feet high (and weeds catching up quickly) we made a late start this year with weeding. Our work is now cut out for us!

Our apple trees are now also in bloom. We have discovered that we may have a slight eastern tent caterpillar problem in the orchard which will require the use of Bacillus thuringiensis (B.t.) which is a natural spore-forming bacterium that occurs in soils everywhere and can be used to tackle caterpillar problems. As the spore matures, it produces a protein crystal that is toxic to certain insects. The use of Bacillus thuringiensis is non-toxic to bees and certain plant varieties that are accustomed to this bacterium already. We are always hesitant to use chemicals at the farm, but caterpillar colonies can infest an area for a decade or more.

The walnut trees are shade intolerant so there is a constant need for us to remove the weeds which can grow much faster than our trees. Last year’s drought means the walnuts will grow a little slower this year, so they need all the help we can give them. Here are some photos from the farm for the month of May. Enjoy!

Walnut tree

Grass and weeds require constant weeding efforts

Walnut tree

The grass and weeds have grown almost two feet following record rain fall this month

An expert ‘weeder’ at work. You can see how high the grass and weeds have grown.

Apple trees in bloom

An eastern tent caterpillar colony will require that we use a chemical compound to keep insects away from our apple orchard.

Happy First Day of Spring!

Winter has been dealing its last throws this month with chilling effect. Frigid Artic winds and freak snow storms have made it crystal clear that winter is not interested in going out like a lamb. However, icy winds have not put a damper on our spirits for another amazing year at the farm. The official beginning of spring this week has put some pep in our step. As mentioned in a previous post, more than 90 percent of our trees survived their first winter. In cooperation with Forests Ontario, all dead or sick trees will be replaced.

We are gearing up to begin pruning and fencing our apple orchard bringing it back to life after years of neglect. We harvested approximately 1.5 tons of various types of apples last fall, and efforts to improve the health of the trees and protecting the orchard from the cattle will boost our yield in the years to come.

Other projects include potentially building a storage shed for our expanding arsenal of farming equipment, maintenance of some century old fencing that’s beginning to show its age, building a small test vegetable garden, and having more solar panel arrays installed to offset some of the cost of operating the farm. We have also decided to move closer to our farm to ensure we can devote more time to building our countryside dream so this year will be an exciting one for sure. Here are a few pictures of the walnut trees on the first day of spring.