All Apples & Pears on Sale!
Let's start with the good stuff. Our cold storage is overflowing with the harvest and I need to sell some fruit! All pears and apples are $2 for the next two weeks, or while quantities last. Pick up at the farm only on Saturdays. Please get in touch if you need to set up a different time for pickup.
Everything on sale is available here: https://birdsongorchards.com/collections/fruit
Low Chill Fruit Trees
Our orchard was planted partially to sequester carbon and make our small contribution to counter climate change. One of the reasons we selected so many different varieties of fruit trees, over 200 so far, was to see and personally experience what thrives or suffers from extreme temperatures, too little water, too much sun, etc. If this farm survives beyond us, it will also hopefully provide some guidance around what varieties survive a hotter drier clime in the future.
My initial and naive thoughts were to plant tons of tropicals, but alas, many of them absolutely demand regular water or they will shrivel and perish, and the regular frosts we do get in the winter here will kill them as well. However, many of our common fruits such as apples, peaches, plums, apricots and many more have low chill varieties. Bay Laurel Nursery in Atascadero has published a nice list of varieties here: https://baylaurelnursery.com/low-chill-bare-root-varieties.html
I also enjoyed reading this post from an apple enthusiast in Riverside, California. I suspect over the next few decades our climate will shift to become more similar to what our neighbors a few hundred south experience:
http://www.fruitforum.net/articles/apples-in-a-warm-climate
Low Chill Apples
I am going to plant a new row of apple trees this winter, so I spent some time researching particularly low chill varieties. Here's the list I came up with for planting at our orchard in zone 9b, chill hours marked in parentheses:
* Beverly Hills (300)
* Ghost (3-400)
* Gordon (400)
* Pettingill (300)
* Hawaii (200)
* Pink Lady (3-400)
* Lady apple (300-400)
* Sundowner (2-300)
* White Winter Pearmain (400)
* Winter Banana (400 or less)
* Magnum Bonum (200-300)
* Anna (200)
* Dorsett Golden (100)
Volunteering at the Farm
We are getting closer to launching volunteer days at the farm, hopefully in the next few weeks. You can read more about volunteering here and sign up to join us.
