Young fruit

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Saturday 16 May, 2015 by Uncle Spike

As we move into summer, the farm is starting to quieten down after the departure of a million or so bees who came, did their thing, and buzzed off to the surrounding pine forest clad mountains in search of their next honey-making venture.

Whilst we had that rather ridiculous storm the other day, which decided in its wisdom to throw a few tonnes of small ice chunks at my trees, on the whole the weather is warming up now, with 30C (86F) being considered a ‘cool’ day. The ground will now start to harden up to something akin to C16-18 grade concrete, and the fruit trees will require their regular 8-day cycle of watering via the drip irrigation system, pump fed from 143 metres (470′) below the farm.

For now, the fruit is young, rather delicate and seemingly plentiful. The severity of summer, occasional short storm, and the high heat winds we’ll be expecting in July, as well actions by our native insects and birds will all reduce the number of fruit by some 75% over the coming months. Until then, here are some early shots that try to capture fruit as you may never have seen before.

NOTE: Please excuse the rather grubby digits on display…. They were scrubbed, honest – just ingrained these days, lol. But on a positive side, it gives you some perspective as to size.

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TANGERINE

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QUINCE

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CLEMENTINE

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BLACK MULBERRY

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WASHINGTON ORANGE

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