It is winter!
A time of rest and slumber— for some, right? And that rest includes our apple trees. So what happens to all these rare varieties that make our ciders and apple brandy special during these winter months? And many of you have asked how is the weather affecting our trees?
During the winter months the trees go dormant. Gradually colder temperatures help the trees enter dormancy and stay there. The increasingly erratic temperatures of this century, however, do not help that process. So the early November temperatures of 8 and 2-degrees were too cold, too early. No one was ready for that, right? The upper 50s in December trick the trees into moving out of dormancy and water can move into plant cells. When that water later freezes, it can burst plants cells causing tissue damage, the most concerning of which are in fruit buds.
So we while we will prune trees this winter, we will scale back our pruning; since the likelihood of bud damage is real, we don’t want to prune off branches with buds unnecesarily. We experienced it last winter when the so-called polar vortex killed buds and cut our yields significantly. What can ya do?
Well, we do everything we can to help mitigate climate change both on the farm and in our home and lifestyle. I’ll be sharing more about our organic farming and land management throughout the year, to include videos and farm tours.
Meanwhile enjoy food and beverage in our Cidery and Tasting Room in Madison. Enjoy a cup of hot mulled organic cider or a flight of ciders as well as our small plates that feature other local and organic farms that care for our natural environment and its creatures!
We’ve got a special Valentine’s Day dinner on Friday, February 14th from 5:30 to 8:30pm. You can make reservations on Eventbrite, in the Tasting Room or call John at 608-217-6217.
We thank you for your interest in our farm, the apple trees, and for choosing a cider that is not only delicious, but from apples grown organically. Let us know your thoughts and questions. We love hearing from you.
– John, Deirdre & Royal