FoodNuts!

Arkansas Black. Origins: From Russia before 1817

Well, moving from a city to a decent chunk of land, one is at first completely overwhelmed with what to do with it all. Thats the first, maybe second year, but you get over it. You start to view things in a different way, a way different from how you thought when you lived in cities, where you were born and raised and developed your sensibilities. And you start to think of all that you can do that you never thought of before.

So, two years ago, while clearing some of the land, I decided to plant a small orchard of plum and pluot trees (pluots are an hybrid of the plum and apricot). I already have an Italian plum, so I wanted to expand it out, so to speak. I planted 6 trees (varieties are Shiro, Flavor Supreme, Flavor King, Santa Rosa, Brooks and Satsuma), a good range of colors, flavors and ripening times. They are now two years in the ground, and should start to produce in quantity this year. I added to the plum orchard this year with the addition of plum cherries (another hybrid, apparently they grow in cluster throws like a cherry, but are larger and taste more like a plum. varieties are Sprite and Delight). All of these are common to each other in pollination, so the bees will have no problem helping me with a crop.

Last year, I continued to expand the concept, and this time it was pears. I planted 6 pears (Bartlett, Red Bartlett, Anjou, Red Anjou, Seckel and Bosc) Hopefully, I get some crop off of them this year, as they usually take 2-3 years to produce after planting.

This year, its apples. Unlike plums and pears, choosing apples can be very overwhelming, as there are thousands of cultivators. When I started to select varieties for planting, I wanted to give up and just go and buy whatever the local nursery had. But I persevered and decided to plant old varieties, varieties that were popular in the past, yet are not “commercially viable” today. Some I selected go back to the 16th century in England and France.

It gets even better. I found a commercial nursery in my area that was selling 5 year old saplings for $15.00. That’s an incredible savings when you consider that most retail nurseries charge anywhere from $40.00-$50.00 per tree! I bought 11 apple trees for under $200.00! And they are very established and healthy! The varieties are Chehalis, Arkansas Black, Honey Crisp, Cox’s Orange Pippin, Gravenstein, Spitzburgen, Whitney Crab Apple, Bramley Seedling, Enterprise, Macoun, Fameuse and Wolf River. This is a great start to a “Heritage” apple orchard. They even had a couple of European and Asian pears that are hard to find, but that may be for next year.

I haven’t posted in awhile, so I thought I would bring you up to date on whats new. I have also been on a program of “Mortification of the Flesh”, in other words, a diet. I am getting down to the weight I consider ideal, so, obviously, I have not been expermenting too much in the larder/kitchen/scullery. Don’t worry, I’ll get back to it in due time.

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