Photo: Sandisfield Orchard. Used with permission.

Harvest will be here soon.

We may not have quite as large of a crop as last year, but there is still plenty of fruit to be picked for the upcoming pick-your-own season. As the end of summer nears and the fruit grows larger, more apples are appearing on trees that we had previously thought might be bare. Recent cool nights and warm sunny days have resulted in significant color development, and we are now seeing plenty of apples turning red all over the orchard.

This season has been unique in that our weather during the May blossom time was exceptionally cool, wet, and windy. Our rented honeybees had very few windows of optimal weather for good flight activity and pollination. We even kept the hives at the orchard longer than normal to give the bees more time to work.

Luckily, some of our native pollinator species, including bumblebees, were able to fly in poorer conditions. We observed more of them flying around on cool cloudy days, carrying out their work when the honeybees refused to leave their hives.

We were also challenged with the issue of biennial bearing this season.

Photo: Sandisfield Orchard. Used with permission.

Most apple varieties naturally want to slip into a cycle that causes them to crop every other year, called biennial bearing, which is onset by hormonal changes in the tree at active fruit bud sites. This year, we are in what's considered an "off" year, meaning an average or slightly below average amount of fruit compared to the bumper crop we had last year. There were less flowers available to be pollinated than on average, compounding the challenging weather during bloom.

Like anything else, there were some positive aspects of this cool wet spring.

Sufficient rain created optimal conditions to plant almost 500 new trees, adding ten new apple varieties to the farm. We did not have to worry about keeping these watered, and are proud to say that all the young trees have put on plenty of growth and are thriving in their new home. Most of these new plantings are centered around dual-purpose heirloom varieties which can be used for fresh eating, baking, and/or cider making. The new varieties include Golden Russet, Cox's Orange Pippin, Nova Spy, Redfield, Rhode Island Greening, and Golden Delicious, among others.

Unfortunately, it will be at least a few years until these trees have an appreciable crop. The patience will be worth it.

We are also excited that our young peach orchard is doing well. We added more trees to that block this past spring, with more on the way for next year. We hope to have a decent peach crop in two years, barring unforeseen circumstances.

We will also add more apple varieties over the next two years, oriented more towards pick-your-own varieties. While these new plantings will take time, we are excited to expand the variety of fruit over the next few years.

Photo: Sandisfield Orchard. Used with permission.

Swing by Sandisfield Orchard this fall to check out the new plantings and everything else the farm has to offer this year. On Friday-Sunday, until 5:00 p.m., stop at the farm store for coffee and pastries.

Photo: Sandisfield Orchard. Used with permission.