Work proceeds apace

Yesterday, I was pounding posts into the ground.

The goldenrod is in full bloom. It was filled with pollinating insects gorging themselves on the nectar. I did not get stung. The bugs were too intent on filling their gullets and hives.

As Old NFO commented on the previous post, no plan survives the first encounter. My first issue was that the farm store ran out of 6' T-posts. On Friday, somebody bought 300 fence posts and nearly wiped out their inventory. The clerk and I poked around the corners and behind the racks and found 13. At home, I found another 5 in "inventory". That left me 12 short of the thirty I would need for the two satellite orchards I want to plant.

Approximate locations of the two orchard sites. Standard NESW orientation. Road to the east. The lower site is the first one I put in, the upper is the second.

 The second reality check is that the first site is constrained by a steep valley and trees in the east-west direction. There was only room for two rows of trees. Right off the bat, I had to change three-rows-of-five to two-rows-of-seven.

Other minor inconveniences included dense thickets of blackberries and the compass on my smartphone giving me wonky direction. There are also some small Black Walnut trees at the first location that I will need to deal with.

In spite of the difficulties, I got 18 T-posts slammed into the ground. I left out every-other post so I defined the full foot-prints of the two orchards. I sprayed 6' diameter patches where the trees will go, pacing to estimate the locations where I did not have T-posts. With a 6' diameter patch I don't need sub-millimeter precision.

I used my best judgement to NOT put them on the prime building sites on the parcels. The first site is a wee-bit north of the prime location and the second site is a wee-bit south of that parcel's prime location.

Both footprints start a tiny bit more than 100 feet from the edge of the road.

Apple crop report

Generally, very disappointing.

There are some Liberty still hanging in the Upper Orchard. There is a good crop of what keys out as Jonafree. One tree of Gloster 69 overcropped on one side so those apples are runted. It has almost no apples on the other side. There was almost no fruit-set on the Empire trees.

The two Melrose trees have over 80 pounds each but they will not be ready to pick until Oct 1. 

Today's work-ticket

Pick apples. My goal is to pick 80 pounds. That is enough for 28 quarts of apple sauce. I have a volunteer to help me so that is a blessing.

Work on the deer stand

Buy 12 more T-posts.

Install the belt that powers the mower-deck on the Eaton Rapids riding mower.