Backyard Chickens & Bees

I think that sometimes it’s OK to be that grumpy old man who yells “get off my lawn!” Particularly when it’s directed at three raccoons that are standing on top of your fish pond, trying desperately to get in for a goldfish feast. I built the grate on top of the pond this past summer [...]

The new apple trees are ordered! I went with Cummins Nursery in New York State, since they have such a wide selection of fruit varieties and are experts with rootstocks (Dr Cummins was a professor emeritus at Cornell University, working on developing new rootstocks for fruit trees). The apples I will get are all dwarf [...]

I went up to Battle Ground, Washington yesterday morning with my neighbor Matt to pick up about 715 lbs of apples from a grower. These were ‘B-grade’ apples, with some worms, some scab, fully organic, and only costing us $0.40 per pound. Nonetheless, they looked fabulous with only a few worms and a few bits [...]

OK, so I guess it is time for something new. This past weekend during the CHIC get-together at our house, V and I were talking with Harriet and others about growing apples, and the difficulties of training grapevines. The subject was broached about pulling the grapes and planting apple trees instead, and since then, I [...]

Ah, last Saturday was the final CHIC gatherings for the year. This month was held at our house, and we had a near-perfect day for working outside (sunny skies, mid 60s temperature). The original CHIC date was set for last weekend, but several schedule conflicts had come up due to the long time in between [...]