It’s been far too long since we have reported on events at the farm. Cooler temperatures and a few trees with bright yellow and red leaves remind us fall is here and also that we could use a good soaking rain to soften the crisp dryness of the ground and plants. Our pawpaw seedlings are waiting, with a few cultivars we collected from Edible Landscaping in Nelson County Virginia, to be planted out at the farm when a rain is expected next, we will plant them just before.

We hope to plant some around the existent wild native pawpaw patches that we have. These trees are responding well to increased light as we cut back understory trees competing for sunlight under the giant oaks maples and beech. They have greened this year and produced more branches and leaves. We only had a few flowers and one tree that set fruit. This dropped after the second week even though we had good rains in the spring. We are feeding the native trees compost from our home bin. With the addition of the new dna from the seedlings and grafted cultivars we hope to plant within the next few weeks, we hope to see increased growth and fruiting.

We have been busy planning our orchard and structures, collecting seeds from native and select varieties, trailblazing to give us more access to SAFF. And we have also been mushroom hunting of course! We have added a lean-to on to our shed for the tractor.