Notes from Butternut Tree Farm

A few years ago, Roger Mosher gave us a bag of butternuts. We left them in a pot and promptly forgot about them. The end result was a cluster of butternut trees in the front garden.

The blog title comes from Roger Deakin’s Notes from Walnut Tree Farm. Roger was the author of three books. The others are Waterlog and Wildwood. He came to the front of mind this week because of an essay in Emergence Magazine on the History of the Apple. It describes his trip to Kazakhstan, entitled East to Eden, with contribution from Robert MacFarlane.

Later in the day, I picked up a bag of Honeycrisp at Graves grocery store in Bridgetown. Grown locally at Inglis Farms in Tupperville. The Honeycrisp variety is a product from the Kentville Research and Development Centre.

Driving to Kentville yesterday, we noticed that the larger orchards in Kings County were burning their prunings. We checked locally with NS Lands and Forests. Our small pocket orchard, with less than one hundred trees, is too close to the woods. No burning. Instead, I had the opportunity to clear around each trunk and apply several scoops of vermiculture (worm castings).

Later, we received our first online delivery of Brickyard Red beer from Lunn’s Mill. This complemented a couple of episodes of Mother, Father, Son; a BBC2 production, featuring Richard Gere, Helen McRory and Billy Howle, available on GEM. It is set in England and explores the relationship between the press and politics as well as the complexity of family dynamics. A single series with eight episodes.

Today, with snow on the wind, it looks like an indoor day, except for dog walking.

Acknowledgements

Roger Mosher for his enduring interest in fruit and nut trees. Chantelle at Lunn’s Mill, reminding us about online delivery. Heather for her Spring cleaning efforts in the greenhouse.Edward for his earlier blog and the graphics.

References
Emergence Magazine, April 5,2020. East to Eden. Roger Deakin with Robert MacFarlane.
Roger Deakin. 1999. Waterlog: A Swimmer’s Journey through Britain. Random House.
Roger Deakin. 2007. Wildwood. A Journey through Trees. Penguin Books
Roger Deakin. 2008. Notes from Walnut Tree Farm. Penguin Books.