I’ve been sharing mostly about bees, but there are lots of other exciting things happening around here! We usually have our first apricot “harvest” in early May. I put harvest in quotes because our apricot tree is tiny, and it deserves a little more lovin’, yet it has still given us a few apricots each year. This year we got six apricots! HUGE harvest, right? Each one looked almost perfect, and had a sweet flavor.
In February, I was working on cleaning up the orchard from the prune, and things were just starting to bloom. I snapped a few pictures of the early blossoms. In early May, I thinned out the new fruit, feed the trees compost, gave them a much-needed deep water, and looked for any pests and signs of disease. I took some pictures of the cute baby fruit the spring blossoms had grown into. It’s really cool to watch the blossoms turn into fruit!
A few weeks ago, I thinned fruit out on a couple of apple trees I didn’t get to in May, and got a good look how big the fruit was getting. This is the first year I’ve properly thinned the fruit, and our peaches are loving it. They are big, and so far the tree isn’t too heavy. Last year, we almost lost a large branch because there were so many peaches!
Learning to take care of our trees has given me even more appreciation for the farmers committed to organic, bio diverse farming. I’m also thankful for the farm workers that care for, and harvest our food. I wish all farms would adopt Live Earth Farm’s philosophy of how to treat their farm labor staff.
Enjoy these pictures of what’s been happening in the orchard since February. It’s amazing to watch the change! I’m continually blessed, and grateful for our home!
Plum blossoms
More delicate plum blossoms
Apricot blossoms
Apricot blossom with Quince blooming behind it
A lone peach blossom, not the best photo 😦 but it’s the only one I had!
Our huge, overgrown rosemary bush in bloom
A bee enjoying a rosemary bloom.. I didn’t have bees yet, so this was a nice,neighborhood bee.
Brodie enjoyed the dirt pile while I cleaned up after the prune
A cluster of Gravenstein apples from our biggest apple tree. This was taken in early May.
A cluster of apples, from our Pippin apple tree. When thinning fruit, I need to remove all but one from the cluster. It’s kind of sad to get rid of all that fruit!
Georgia peaches from our largest peach tree
More peaches from a smaller Georgia peach tree
A big cluster of Green Gage plums. These are so good and have a cool looking amber flesh!
A lone Meyer lemon blossom.
A couple of lady bugs hanging out on a not so pretty apple leaf!
Three of our apricots harvested a couple weeks ago
A nicely spaced cluster of Georgia peaches. This is how much they grew in one month!
Dandelions in bloom everywhere, and the bees are loving it
The two beautiful raised garden beds my husband made. I can’t wait to get some veggies in there! And yeah, those are all dry dandelions 🙂
One of our several hydrangea bushes starting to bloom
An almost ripe Japanese plum
A ripe plum that wasn’t damaged from the fall. It was perfect!
An apple tree that still needed some thinning. Remember how small they were in the other picture?
Another apple tree that was nicely thinned out
Our Pluot tree, that needs more lovin’ too, it wasn’t planted in the best location. Thankfully it’s still giving us some fruit!
Do you have any fruit trees? Share with me what your growing, and I’d love to see pictures!
Honeychick Homestead 