July 15, 2017, I wrote a blog ‘Two Kinds of Thinking’. It described the difference between an academic focused on abstract ideas and the practical, focused on understanding the mechanics of a tractor and it’s related parts.
Move forward to September 26, 2020 we are harvesting a bumper crop of apples. The requirements are the same: pick into bushel boxes; 20 bushel boxes per bin.
I estimate that this year we will fill at least twenty bins. They will be transported to Boates Farm in Woodville. The drops will go to vinegar. The hand-picked apples from the tree will go to brandy.
The challenge is that I only drive the tractor in the orchard season. I need to move fully loaded bins from the orchard to the yard. Brian loads them onto a flat-bed and transports the apples to his farm for processing into juice.
The solution, as mentioned in 2017, is to find a mentor. Neil Bent, from Lawrencetown, has agreed to move the loaded bins from the orchard to the yard. The challenges are uneven ground, the counterweight of the bush hog mower, with the bins on the front fork lift. Plus the fine motor controls to place the bins on the flatbed.
Some new lessons from this year. We have four varieties of apple : NovaMac, Liberty, Nova Spy and MacFree. The Apple varieties ripen in the same order. Interestingly, Raymond Hunter planted the trees in rows But the diagonal follows each variety.
The third lesson is finding the noxious weed, Wild Parsnip in the north east corner of the orchard. This weed seems to have spread from Lawrencetown, along the roadside of Highway #201.
As the reader can attest, it has been a dry, sunny Summer. The result has been a bumper crop. Excellent pollination. The apples seem pest-free and have a beautiful coloration. The lack of rainfall at a critical time may have caused some reduction in apple size.
We are hoping to have everything harvested in the next two weeks. Perhaps a bit later than normal. Partly because we lost a week with the Spray Protest.
Acknowledgements
The harvesting of an orchard requires considerable fortitude from both Heather and myself. We thank Neil Bent and Brian Boates for their practical expertise. Edward for his encouragement and online graphics.
Postscript
Our bushel apple boxes are made by Carrol Corkum in Inglisville
Ernest Blair Experiment 