Sunday, October 11, 2015

Postcards from Mendocino: Labor Day Harvest 2015

In the early spring of 2008 Ken and I planted a small orchard at our place near Boonville.  Okay, "small" might not be the right word.  We planted nearly 40 fruit trees.  And for the following several summers we were quite dedicated to the orchard.  In fact, much to my surprise, it became mostly my project and I really enjoyed it. 

Then came Child One and our time outside "in the garden" diminished a bit.  Ken stopped planting his vegetable garden altogether.  Then Ken started traveling for work every week and with my travel too, our trips north lessened a bit.  Then came Child Two and Child Three, and Child One started on the birthday party circuit.  Our trips north lessened further still and our time in the garden become nonexistent.

As you can imagine, the yard has been neglected a bit.  Okay, more than a bit.  And the California drought has not helped   Yet the trees in the orchard have kept on keepin' on for these past several years.  Yes, we've lost several over time, but the majority are still there. 

Over Labor Day this year we harvested three big baskets of pears and apples from an orchared that hasn't been watered in, um, three years.  The kids had a good time picking apples, although we had to keep an eye on Flynn and Margot who tended to take a single bite from the apples and then toss them into the basket.