Ernest Blair Experiment

We can officially announce that our apple harvest is over for another year.

Brian Boates has transported twenty three bins to his processing facility in Woodville. We are left with the final clean up: a few late apples still on the trees, a fair number of drops to be put into bags and given to local farmers for their animals. Perhaps, a few Nova Spy for pies, and some fresh pressed apple cider. The extra large harvest has taken its toll. Now, I have physiotherapy sessions to straighten out my sore back.

With the end of the harvest, I received notice of a new protest against industrial forestry in the Tobeatic region of Digby County. This area forms part of the habitat for the endangered Mainland moose (hear CBC Information Morning podcast interview).

It is disheartening to hear about these Forestry practices, just a few weeks before the airing of the Striking Balance episode on the Southwest Nova Biosphere Reserve (see previous Blog Post). All the hard work to obtain the UNESCO Man and Biosphere designation obviously carries no weight with the Nova Scotia Department of Lands and Forestry. It seems like a life time ago, when we used to meet at the Mersey Tobeatic Research Institute (MTRI). Surely, we cannot allow these forestry practices and retain our biosphere reserve status?

Under the COVID regime, we see a provincial government, and all its departments fixated on the bottomline. This includes forestry, fisheries and mining. The landscape is solely for exploitation. There is no interest in ‘striking balance’ or investing time and money in new ideas that can engage the skills and resources found in the larger community.

Wearing a mask is essential as the province attempts to keep its citizens healthy. Wearing a mask should not be seen as a symbol for not hearing the voices of its citizens. Or conversely, for not providing full explanations of government departments action or inaction. [contact Nova Scotia Deputy Minister Department of Lands and Forestry]

It seems odd. We delayed our apple harvesting because of the threat of glyphosate spraying. Now, at the other end, we see once again, a threat to our forested landscape and associated habitats. Surely, we can do better.

Acknowledgements

Nina Newington for bringing our attention to Mainland moose habitat issue. Heather Stewart and others who championed the Southwest Nova Biosphere Reserve designation. Edward for his support. In memory of Fred Roots, a strong proponent of the UNESCO MAB program.

References
CBC interview Information Morning October 20th. 2020 with Richard Amero

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

For the last twenty-four hours we have had a reprieve from apple picking. Tropical storm ‘Teddy’ gave us high winds and 50-100 mm. of rain. Fortunately, our organic orchard is somewhat protected, but the storm has added to the drops which need to be picked up and shipped to Brian Boates Farm for organic cider vinegar.

In response to Edward’s post on ‘Maps Through the Eyes of Children’, I received the following comment from my graduate supervisor, Mike Goodchild.

“An interesting topic indeed. It reminds me of Allestone, William Blake and Benjamin Heath Malkin, imaginary maps in general and imaginary maps created by children in particular.”

“Grandson Alastair (now 15) has been fascinated with maps from an early age; when he was planting out broccoli in our garden this Spring he called his work Utah because of the shape of the area he filled with plants”

After going to the bank in Bridgetown, Heather and I casually dropped into Endless Shores Books. Within fifteen minutes, I had ‘discovered‘ three books.

1 Tim Smit, 2002, Eden. Edenproject Books

‘In March 2001, the completed Eden Project in Cornwall opened its gates for the first time. Out of a disused china clay pit the vision of a living theatre of plants and people, and refuge for the world’s endangered species, had at last been realized.’

2 Tim Homan (Ed.), 1991, A Yearning Towards Wildness. Peachtree Publishers.

The book is divided into three sections:
In Wildness is the Preservation of the World
Consider the Beauty of the Earth
Let Man tread gently through Nature

3 Gretel Ehlich, 1985, The Solace of Open Spaces. Penguin.

’Ehrlich’s best prose is in a league with Annie Dillard and even Thoreau. The Solace of Open Spaces releases the bracing air of the wildness into the stuffy, heated confines of winter in civilization’

This morning, I checked out the orchard. The branches are still heavy with apples and droplets of rain. On the ground, it looks like another critter had enjoyed the fruit (bear scat).

Acknowledgements
Thank you to Edward on his blog post, and the feedback from Mike Goodchild. I will have to check the references. Heather has been working hard in the orchard picking from the trees, as I attempt to keep up with the drops.

References

Tim Smit, 2001, Eden. Edenproject Books.
Tim Homan (Ed.), 1991, A Yearning towards Wildness. Peachtree Publishers.
Greta Ehrlich, 1985. The Solace of Open Spaces. Penguin Books.