Spring at Lemonrock Farm

Good morning my dear friend!!

I am sitting outside this morning on the screen porch.  It is finally warm enough to do so...at least for a few days :)

Spring is here and that means busy, busy, busy!  We have cleaned out the greenhouse and prepared it to start this year's seeds.  We are a little behind, but that's ok :)

Our fruit trees are (for the most part) starting to bloom and we have started a spraying and fertilizing cycle.  Last year we had a lot of bug and some disease damage.  This year I hope to avoid most, if not all, of that nonsense and have a decent tiny harvest.  Most of the trees are not big enough to produce much, and I would really like them to focus more on being vigorous for this year, but if I happened to get a peach or two, I would not mind :).

Speaking of which, it looks like a few trees have not made it.  Our winter was brutal this year according to locals.  Some of our trees were a bit weak going into it and seemed to have succumbed.  This morning I will be digging out those trees and getting them ready to take back to the stores they came from.  Most stores are good about a one year guarantee, so we will exchange those for some others.  I need another cherry tree to cross pollinate with the black tartarian cherry I have.  I would also like to get more peach and nectarine trees.  I have pretty much decided that apricots are too fussy and will not buy another one.  We have one that seems to be trying not to die, so of course he can stay, but we will not buy more.

Our apples and pears look wonderful!  The asian pears make me so happy because they are large trees and it makes me feel good to have to look UP to a tree :).

Peach tree blooms.  I think this one is Belle of Georgia

Plum tree in bloom.  Bradford pears are in the distance.  They are GORGEOUS in the spring and everyone has them but they smell very unpleasant if you get close to them!

We have a few new projects going on this spring.  We will be planting bamboo.  There is a bamboo farm not far from here that has wonderful specimens.  I have chosen 4 typesK  arrow (for making arrows and plant stakes with), water bamboo (because it tolerates wet), moso (a towering bamboo that has gorgeous canes and is edible and used for making furniture and flooring), and sweetshoot (which is the best to eat for shoots).  We will start slowly as these are pretty pricey, but are making a plan to definitely harvest shoots for our consumption and perhaps to sell at the farmer's market.

We also will be stocking one of the ponds with....CRAWDADS!!!  This has me so tickled, I cannot even tell you!  The pond is pretty mucky and vegetative and not that fun to fish.  I want to work WITH what we have, be it mucky pond or swamp ground, and crawdads will fit the bill perfectly.  I even already have one client lined up who will buy them from me! :)

Speaking of dealing with swampy ground, we are going to plant mayhaw trees!  They are very wet-tolerant, are not very well known here, and mayhaws make the most wonderful jelly ever!  I could very easily see us going into mayhaw production if these first trees do well.

Our farm is all about diversification.  If we have a late damaging frost so that the peach and plum trees won't produce, then we have muscadines and grapes to fall back on.  If there is a virus that attacks the grapes, we have black and blueberries to fall back on.  If we have a bad season for all plants, we have fish and crawdads to fall back on.  Lots of corners and niches that we want to explore so that our farm is well rounded and resilient.

I have not even begun to talk about my strawberries (which have returned and look wonderful!) and my asparagus (which has not returned yet lol) or my ten new rose bushes!  Perhaps soon, my sweet friend, we can chat about those :)

Have a blessed day dear one!