Maple Hills Orchard, LLC

The harvest season is well underway.   The honey has been extracted & the honey comb cut.   The Honeycrisp and Haralred, late season apples, are about ready to be picked here in northern Minnesota.   The last two years, we had the opportunity to offer our local community a taste of a variety of freshly picked Minnesota-grown apples.   As we continue to develop and experiment, we are excited for the surprises the future will bring like the addition of fall raspberries and a large hoop house to expand our growing season. Our U-pick pumpkin patch is open and with frost predicted for the weekend our Orange House (converted green house) is being made ready to protect a wide assortment of pumpkins.  Our U-pick flower garden has been delightful and cheery full of butterflies and other pollinators.   Weekends have been filled with laughter, energy, and happy smiles as guests visit the orchard bringing satisfaction to two tired but thankful “farmers” who have labored through the year in preparation for fall harvest.

Farming involves a lifestyle and commitment that is challenging.   For the farmer many of those challenges such as the weather, distructive pests, economics, and personal health can make or break the farm.   As I walk through the grocery store, most of the food on the shelves are processed.   Of the fresh fruits and vegetable, I wonder who raised the produce and what were the stewardship practices.   When you buy local, directly from the farmer, you re-establish a connection with the land and those who care for the land.  Support your local farmer!

A near dry March and April gifted us with a shorter Minnesota winter but brought out an early crop of ticks.   I do hope our hens are keeping those little critters in check.   At the end of April, rain showers softened up our sandy soil making it pleasant to dig holes for 200 new shelter belt trees.   With the gracious help of friends the task went quickly.  Next week we will be planting several new varieties of apple trees and at the end of May a patch of fall raspberries will be going into the ground.   This last week of rainy days has provided the gift of moisture to all the new planting.  The apple trees have leafed out and blossom season is near.   The Apple House will open in August but the picnic tables have been pulled out of storage and are ready for use as Spring time in northern Minnesota is a wonderful time to be in the great outdoors.

The snow is gone and the eagles are back in the area soaring the skies.   Our three hens eagerly escape the coop in search of a more interesting diet than chicken feed.   The stray Mama cat has made her home on the front porch.   She accompanies us to the mailbox and out into the orchard.   Gary has completed the pruning for the season.  The apple trees look good.  We are entering the season of miracles with excitement and energy as we watch the orchard slowly come back to life.

The day is bright and pleasantly comfortable at 9 degrees above zero.   The sound of a woodpecker breaks the silent morning pecking for over-wintering pests.  January has come and gone and our nursery stock is ordered along with seeds for the various gardens.  January was a time to read and plan for spring which before long will break out from under our Midwestern blanket of snow.  Plans are laid out for the expansion of our shelter belt incorporating a number of new species of trees to encourage diversity and rectify the future demise of our beautiful ash trees to the emerald ash borer.   The orchard lies asleep for just a little longer.

Our apple & pumpkin season is winding down.  Our store will close next weekend with a bang as we welcome a bus load of visitors next Sunday morning.  We look forward to reopening again in August 2010.   It has been a fantastic season despite the cold rains and snow.   We have enjoyed greeting familiar faces and meeting new friends.  Next Sunday, the grand champion pumpkin prize winner will be announced.  Good luck to all those who gave their best guesses.

On a sad note, our personality-plus black hen, Kluckie, met a sad end in the jaws of an unwelcomed, mangy dog this last Thursday.  Kluckie was our egg layer.   Hopefully, the other three hens will begin laying eggs soon.

This year all our unsold pumpkins will be donated to Second Harvest Heartland.   Remember pumpkins are a nutritious source of food and low in calories. They are also very rich in potassium and loaded with beta-carotene.   Don't forget the dried pumpkin seeds which are high in protein, potassium, magnesium, zinc, iron, copper, and essential fatty acids.

It's been a great harvest season!

The four hens stayed tucked away in their hen house most of the day, venturing out in the late afternoon to explore a new world of snow and ice.  All the pumpkins are picked and scattered around the greenhouse out of the windy, wet cold. The red wheelbarrows contrast the snow as do the amur and sugar maples.  The stray black and white cat and little grey kitten wait patiently for a bowl of food.  The winter coats are out.   There are many things left to do to prepare the orchard for winter.   We hope for a thaw before winter blankets us completely down until the new year.  In the meantime, the Apple House Store is open, well stocked with Honeycrisp & Haralson apples, pumpkins of many varieties & honey.

Pumpkins of all sizes, shapes, and colors are peeking out from under the wilting canopy of leaves in preparation for the festivities of fall.  Corn stalks are being gathered into bundles and a variety of Minnesota mums, in the green house, are begging to be planted outside.  The Haralred apples are nearly ready to be picked with the Honeycrisp soon to follow in October.  Fall is in the air as the maple begin turning color.

April has been a month of uncertainty as winter and spring tussle for dominance.  The last snow fall of early April which dumped over a foot and a half of snow has finally melted and the orchard is filled with the chirping and twittering of birds.  The killdeer, robins, and tree swallows have returned ushering in the celebration of early spring in the orchard.  The orchard floor lies matted and brown, the apple trees are dormant but the irises along the south side of the Apple House are poking through the mulch.   Another welcomed sign of spring.

Spring teases us in the month of March as temperatures flip flop back and forth nearly 60 degrees.  Today is a beautiful sunny day with temperatures reaching the mid 40s.   Gary is out stomping through the orchard with snowshoes engaging in the sacred experience of pruning.   Gary gets so lost in this annual ritual of pruning that time has no meaning.  The snow cover on the orchard floor is still 1-2 feet deep but Winter is losing its hold as the sounds of returning geese and running water fill the air.  Spring is around the corner.