One of my favorite plant/tree nurseries tried to retire on
us this past year. St. Lawrence
Nurseries has been a favorite for fruit trees and berry bushes for as long as I
can remember – my dad ordered from them on an annual basis I think for years
before I even moved out of his house.
When the owners announced it we
put our heads together and decided what we would need in case we weren’t
able to order from St Lawrence ever again!
We better get while the getting was good! We got a number of apple trees that we were
interested in having (I got 10 for the farm and 2 for the school) and dad got a
number as well – I don’t remember what he got since they weren’t going in my
yard! We were so disheartened by the
possible closing of the nursery but – we are Northerners and they are East
Coasties – far far apart! So we did the only thing we could do and made our
orders.
One of the trees I got was a Westland apple. We have been ordering from St Lawrence
because it seems to be the closest mimic of the agriculture zone for us as far
as length of winter and cold/wind chill, etc.
Most of the apple and a few of the Cherry trees have surpassed our
expectations for hardiness. We have had
very few duds! The Westland apple I got went out in the area near Reeds
garden. We are trying the permaculture
system for fruit trees here in which you don’t really “orchard” your trees as
build more of a food forest out of them.
In that way you have a separation and diversity among them so that if
one group of apple or cherry should get a disease or blight it might not wipe
out your whole orchard. Although I have
not perfected the system or placement of the trees we have fruit trees spread
out over a large area on the farm so as to take advantage of the system the
best we can.
It seems to be working as
long as we keep all the critters out of the yard – moose, rabbits, and my sons
dog! He has a delightful pit bull mix
dog named – aptly – Brix. Brix is a bit
of a blockhead. He is the nicest, loving
and fun dog – loves people and to play all day!
He will wear the kids out and still have energy! One of the problems with Brix however is that
he apparently cannot tell the difference between a fetch stick and an entire
apple tree! The Westland apple was
happily living at the end of the section of fruit trees near Reeds garden and
we agreed to dog sit the Brix-head. One
day a few days into the sitting job as we were out doing yard work and prepping
the garden areas for planting, and of course before I got any fencing up around
the fruit trees (witnessed in an earlier blog)
Brix ran by the Westland grabbed it about halfway up (it was a 4’ tree) and
took off at a dead run with it in his mouth!
He pulled the whole tree up by the roots and was off like a shot! What did I do? Tried to chase him down and get the tree back
– what else! And of course he thought
this was just so much fun that his grandma was chasing him that he ran all the
way to the lake (full length of the property) and deposited it there for me to
find.
The tree was badly broken at
the top from about half way up where he had grabbed it it was just in splinters
and there was no saving any of that part of the poor tree. The bottom of the tree was still in one piece
and but for a few broken roots where it have been ripped out of the ground it
appeared in good condition. I was
heartsick about it. I thought “there is
no way this will ever live” but also not
wanting a hole with no apple tree in it in the yard I carefully placed it back
in its spot and left it at that.
When the time came to start
doing the fencing around the apple and other fruit trees, I didn’t even bother
to go inspect that poor tree – I just didn’t even want to look at it and become
disheartened all over again. I had been
making sure the water would get to it but other than that I hadnt been taking
any care of it at all, and didn’t bother to fence it or moose cover it.
When the guys got back from
moose hunting a few weeks later, Reed came in and said – “Hey – why arent you
fencing the tree that Brix ripped up?”
And of course I said “Seriously?” to which he replied “Its coming back
out!” I ran down to the garden and sure
enough – it was coming back out – not from the bottom but from about 4” below
where Brix had chewed it off! It looked
great and will make a fine apple tree when it grows up a little more! It must be hardy – which brought me back to
my sadness at St. Lawrence closing down – how would I get some Westland for the
school? We need the super hardy trees
there too – and my dad had not ordered it before so he didn’t have any either!
An then a Fruiting
Miracle! A young farmer who had been
working at the nursery came back from college and learned that no one had
stepped forward to take over the farm, so he did! They sent out the order form and let us know
what they will be carrying (we had to order early) and it is with great
excitement that I will order some more of the great and mighty Westland! Thank you Conner for helping usher in a new
generation of farmers and letting us oldsters know that it will be OK! We all wish you great success and more
customers than you want but as many as you need!
Ill keep you posted on how
the Westland does over this winter – its first full winter with its top ripped
off! I did go out and mooseproof and
hopefully Brix proof it too before the snow came as well as add a little mulch
around the bottom! Stay tuned – spring
has not quite sprung!
For more information you an go to http://www.sln.potsdam.ny.us/ and check out St Lawrence Nurseries for yourself! Have fun!