During the long and mercilessly wet winter, we do most of our rose care. Our 500+ rose bushes are pruned hard, dead foliage removed, and fertilizer applied in several forms. After all that, they reward our efforts at the beginning of May with the first explosion of blooms. Welcome to rose season! It’s my favorite time of year.
You Pick Roses Open
Our you pick field is opening this Friday, yay! Come collect a fragrant bucket of roses to take home with you. We will be open Friday, Saturday and Sunday all Spring and Summer and into the Fall. Mother’s Day is an especially fine day here. Even better than a store bought bouquet, buy your mother the experience of you pick roses.
Reservations are open here for the whole season!
https://birdsongorchards.com/products/you-pick-roses
All About Roses Workshops
Come to our fruit and flower farm to learn all about buying, planting, and growing roses as well as cutting roses for bouquets. All guests will have the opportunity to either pick a bucket of roses or take home a potted rose plant from some of our favorite varieties.
Get your tickets here!
May 20th: https://birdsongorchards.com/products/all-about-roses-workshop-may-20
June 3rd: https://birdsongorchards.com/products/all-about-roses-workshop-june-3
Farm Stand Open Friday - Sunday All Season!
We are trying something new this year, an open farm stand. Stop by on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, starting at 10 am, for fresh fruit and flowers. No reservation is needed. If the gate is open , we are open!
Thin Your Trees for the Fattest Fruits
If you have backyard fruit trees, it’s important to thin your fruit for the best crop. Now is the time to start! This practice is especially important for apples, peaches, pears and persimmons. Thinning creates bigger, tastier fruits and prevents branch break. I wrote a post about thinning in detail and you can read it here to learn more:
Watch, Listen, Learn, Dream
The weather has been better, so I have consumed less media, which is probably a good thing. Nonetheless, here are two gems.
Did you know there are rain forests in the UK/ And charcoal can be sustainably produced from them? Neither did I, but this video was both gorgeous and inspiring.
https://aeon.co/videos/in-an-ancient-english-rainforest-john-creates-charcoal-and-cultivates-growth
Ross Gay is a poet and an orchardist. He made a project of writing an essay a day about what he found delightful, and it is an absolute delight. This is the kin of book that makes me look closer and appreciate the little lovely moments of every day. I've been reading it in little sips. It's too good to gulp down all at once. I hope you may enjoy it as much as I have.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38746152-the-book-of-delights
