Too HOT! First elderberries!

Berry (and 2 apples) pickings

I mowed a bit, mostly around the persimmon trees.  It was too hot to do mush else.  I went out and did a farm inspection and found a few ripe fruits.  Picked maybe 1 pint of strawberries from the ever-bearing plants in the front patch and 1 pint of raspberries from the wild ones along the road.  I picked the remaining two "pristine" (that's the variety) apples.  We ate two of the apples (well one and a half - one was damaged by the birds) and have one left now.

Last year I only got one or two from the strawberries because of weed overload and varmints - we did much better this year.

The "mole spikes" seem to be saving my strawberries!

More raspberries and strawberries.  Raspberries will be coming in fast now - if I can save them from the varmints!

Missing pears!

While doing my survey I checked on the pear trees.  Something removed all of the pears!  ALL OF THEM!   I didn't see any damage to the trees (well, a little damage, but I think that was from a T-storm) and no signs of big animals around the trees.  Damn weird.  Mom says it was probably racoons and/or opossums (which was my guess too).  Those pears weren't near ripe and they were being attacked by the birds like last year so I don't think any human would have bothered (I wouldn't have and they are my trees!).  Its strange though because there are still apples on some of the trees, so maybe the critters didn't smell them or don't like them as much as the pears?  I didn't see any peaches either, but then again I didn't look hard and there aren't many peaches anyway - maybe 2-5.

Pear tree looks ok - just missing all of the pears!

Dying (dead?) plum tree

I noticed that one of the plum trees is dying - or dead.  It is a two-year old, one of the bigger plum trees.  I don't know why its dying - it seemed healthy until recently.  My fear is that it might be dying from exposure to roundup.  I had sprayed roundup around many of the trees to keep the grass down.  I haven't seen any of the other trees looking bad ... yet!  I am scared to death that I will have more dying if its a roundup issue!  The funny thing is that I consciously didn't spray around the smaller trees for fear of this kind of thing - but I just can't say for sure if I sprayed near this particular tree.

On close examination of the tree I found a big split bark area - was this here before I sprayed the roundup?  If so that damage may have allowed the roundup into the tree. Although I didn't think I sprayed close enough to the trees for much roundup to get on them - maybe the surrounding weeds carried some into the tree wound?

See that bark split?  Maybe roundup got in there?  Or is this some other issue?

It sucks!  I will have to replant a plum - need to look up what type this was.

Elderberries!

Some of the elderberries were ripe enough to pick - so I braved the heat and picked!  I split the picking into two days.  All told we got about one and 2/3rds gallon.  We did wash these - submerged in water and skimmed out the trash - then we drained in a colander.  They look good!  Hopefully these will come in gradual enough that we don't get overwhelmed like last year.

Before de-stemming

After de-stemming and washing.

Grape vine status

The vines actually look surprisingly good considering the heat and humidity!  The rust is not running crazy, so far.  Also, some of the wine grapes are finally beginning to look like grape vines instead of small shrubs!

Wine grapes are up to the bottom of the arbor - this one is up to 2nd wire!

The white grapes are looking OK!  I hope they get a lot of growth in this year to catch up.  

Something ate a bird!

Something big enough to take out a crow it looks like!  Found a lot of feathers and some aweful on the one grape arbor.

Deer Damage

I noticed some damage to the beans this time around - looks like deer having been browsing!  This garden is unfenced.  I'd suspect rabbits, but the damage seems too widespread to me; although we do have plenty of rabbits!

See how this area of the beans is thinner?  Looking closer showed the bite marks

They seem to like both kinds of beans!!

Oh, and they trimmed off some of the dill weed up by the house!

Mom's Pretty flowers

We stopped by mom's on the way back to the city.  Her flower gardens are really pretty now!

I think Spring is here!

Pruning and spraying the fruit trees

The snow is almost entirely gone and and I was able to get out and trim the fruit trees!  Whew!  I was getting worried that the snow would run right up against the spring, but we have a few weeks of cold yet I think.  I was able to attack the "big" orchard and trim the apple, pear, peach, and plum trees!  I took the big tree protectors off and discovered many hidden ailments.  Many had some kind of powdery fungus (I think) - either that or some bug webs of some kind.  I trimmed the trees as best I could according to the articles that I read.  Apples and Pears get central leader treatment (and headed off), while the peaches get their central leaders removed (and headed off).   After I got all the trimming done I hit them all with a good dose of dormant oil.  I am hopeful that that will finish off any fungus, mildew, bugs, or whatever was attacking my trees!  Oh, and i dormant oiled the grapevines too.  Looking over that orchard, I think I will need to get even more deer pops and deer bait!

Sorry, but no pictures of the trees - they just look like sticks in the ground right now anyway!

Lathe finally moved off of the pallet!

I had the crane legs positioned a couple weeks ago, but then the snow... anyway, I found some nice 10ft + oak 2x8's and hefted a couple of them on top of the crane legs!  Not an easy job, but i got it done.  Just needed 2 - those things are strong.  Then i chained up the hoist and lifted the lathe off its pallet.   I unbolted it and then slid the pallet out from under the lathe.   Whew.  Was a mighty endeavor!

Here are some pics

Those 2x8's didn't even creak or bend at all when they came under load!

I hope thats was an OK place to attach the chains!

Ta-da!

close up of how little room I had to work with 

Right up against the edge here too!  Amazing that it was this close and that I didn't measure any of this stuff for fitting it in!

Next step is to get some electrical work done!  I need some light circuits and a heavy circuit or two for the woodworking and metal working equipment.   Anyway, the shop is starting to look less junky and more like a shop!

Canning shelf work

Well, the ground was not covered with snow, so i decided to plane some more oak boards for the shelves to my oak caning shelf.  I did up a bunch of the leftover boards from the woodshed.  I also noticed that I have a few boards in the shop under the workbench.  I might need those for the chop-saw station though...  No picture of the shelves yet, but i got a few of the huge pile of saw dust left from planing!

Locust trees and the search for grape arbor posts

I dared to take the tractor up to the upper edge of the field and clear out some fallen trees.  While I was up there I decided to take a couple of the locust trees down that where kind of in the way of where I want to plant my walnut trees.  Since I need the locust posts anyway, it was a good thing.  My chainsaw is still dull as crap, but I managed to get 2 decent size posts - and one small one.  I think I can count on 3 posts total from that work.  Was a mess to clean up in that mud!  The tractor was really making a mess!  I hope it doesn't damage the field too badly.  The ruts should back fall in I think long before they make hay there this year (if they are planning too).