Stone Fruit Orchard

With continued rainfall, the ground is too soggy to dig holes. Or at least, so we tell ourselves.

We spent yesterday laying out the stone fruit (cherries, peaches, and plums) orchard. The topography of that part of our land is quite rolling, and the shape, too, is not an even rectangle as the upper part of the apple orchard is. So I've been hard pressed to complete even a paper sketch of where the trees will go. However, I think now we've got a rough plan made up, as well as string lines stretched for some of the rows.

Since the stone fruit orchard will also be my garden, and since garden season is kicking in here in zone 7, I also need to know where I can plant, so I don't plant kale and chard where I will need to plant a peach tree. There's always plenty to do.



With regret, yesterday afternoon Phil cut down two remaining oaks. We liked those oaks in our pasture field, but the oaks had no place in the orchard. And, clearly, before we plant little saplings, we need to remove the heavy giants.

In the evening, the air was warm enough, I managed to bathe the children in a washtub outside. Poor Jadon, who went first, got into the rainwater bath with only one pot of boiling water added. He was mighty cold, but a good sport. Every child after that got another pot of water added, as my stove heated the pots, until Joe got in last and refused to get up. He even held on to the sides in protest!

Today I spent a few restful hours in the kitchen. My lard rendering technique is much improved; I can go from globs of fat to rendered lard in perhaps twenty minutes now, and didn't scorch a batch all day. I used the cracklings in our refried beans tonight and Isaiah rewarded me with an enthusiastic thumbs up without any prompting.

Even Phil, who does not like beans, stated that he could eat them like that every day.