Little Orchard With Big Dreams

It has always been my dream to have my very own orchard. I have been waiting for so long to make that dream finally come true. When we bought our new house I have to say I was a little bit dissapointed because there was not one big old apple tree on our property anywhere,Kind of unheard of for a 100 year old farm.

It was June by the time we moved in so I didnt get  to plant any trees til fall.I picked up a little bitty Granny Smith apple tree and got it in the ground before the snow started to fly. I worried about it all winter because it is at the far end of our pasture where there was no shelter from the wind. I spent those cold days looking through catalogs and decided I wanted to grow as many heirloom varieties of fruit as I could . I also wanted to be an organic farm.When spring finally arrived so did my bareroot trees I had ordered.

I also purchased a few from our local garden centers.Right now I currently have 15 trees planted.The majority are apple and a few peach. This year I will be adding another row to the orchard and hope to do  that every year until the orchards as big as space allows.

I hope to be able to harvest apples in a few years.

This is a Honeycrisp apple tree and the long path I have to walk to water all those trees by hand.I actually look forward to it because its great exercise and I get to enjoy the wildlife that shares our pasture with us.

This is a Red Haven Peach. Still so tiny but I can almost taste those fresh peaches already.Peach PieYum!

We use to drive almost two hours to pick honeycrisp apples at a well known orchard in our area. If you have never tried one I highly recommend  you do.Honeycrisp apples are wonderful. Not the store bought apple Either,one picked straight from the tree. There is nothing better than that. Apples at the store are grown to look pretty and have a long shelf life.They are also treated with a whole lot of chemicals so that they look perfect. While they may be pretty they sure dont taste like much. I am beyond excited to be able to one day walk out into our orchard and pick my own apple,from my own tree,that I have nurtured and planted with my own hands.

Its probably gonna be the best apple I have ever had.

Some of the types of trees I have planted.

Honeycrisp Apple: Originated in Minnesota 1991

Grimes Golden: Heirloom -West Virginia 1832

Niedzwetzkyana

Wolf River: Heirloom-Wisconsin 1881

Cox's Orange Pippen : Heirloom England 1825

Fuji: Japan 1962

Granny Smith: Australia 1868

Prairie Spy

Duchess of Odenburg:Heirloom Russia 1700's

Redhaven Peach

There are alot of books available on having a backyard orchard.One of my favorites is The Apple Grower

I have ordered most of my trees from Trees of Antiquity and Stark Brothers

So far they are all thriving and I am looking forward to Spring to enjoy the beauty of their sweet smelling blooms.I bet the bees are too!