Homestead Orchard Tour: Growing Bounty on our Small Farm
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- Опубліковано 23 лис 2024
- Welcome to our homestead orchard tour! 🌳🍏
Join us as we explore the lush and fruitful landscape of our homestead orchard. In this video, we'll take you on a guided tour through the various sections of our orchard, showcasing the diverse range of fruits and nutswe're growing, from apples and pears to cherries and berries.
📋 What to Expect:
An overview of our orchard layout and design
Tips and tricks for planting and maintaining fruit trees
Insights into our favorite fruit varieties and why we chose them
Seasonal highlights and what we're harvesting right now
Challenges we’ve faced and how we’ve overcome them
Whether you're an experienced gardener or just starting out, we hope to inspire and educate you on the joys and benefits of growing your own fruit. Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more homestead adventures and gardening tips!
just my 2 cents on your apricots I grew up in zone 7 and we had a huge apricot tree we could and did climb, it had the most amazing fruit about every other year, it looks like you picked your fruit to soon, as we would say ...if it does not go" splat "when you drop it it is not ripe....as for preserving...it was all hands on deck to wash gently, and can in 1/2 gallon jars, dad did not even remove the pits just canned them whole, then at meal time we would open a jar and have apricots and peanut butter and bread, a quick meal for mom to feed all 10 of us, we were raised in the 80s but dad raised us like he was raised in the depression..it was an amazing childhood , also I have made jam, and fruit leather, a nice snack while doing chores. side note - have you looked into jujubes? my children love them.
We had to pick the apricots because the birds were already nibbling on them. I hope we get enough next year to preserve in some way. We ate ALL of them this year. All of the grandkids loved them. I've never heard of jujubes. We'll have to look them up. Thanks for the idea.
Roasted hazelnuts are amazing and to use with cocoa powder and sugar/honey to make homemade Nutella and your grandkids will love them!!!So incredibly jealous of your farm/orchard what a charmed life!!!! Making apple cider WOW!!! Sooooo wonderful!!!!you are well and truly blessed!❤️🥰🇨🇦🍁🙏🏻
Oh, that sounds wonderful...homemade Nutella. I can't wait until we get some nuts. (I might have to buy some because it'll be a while before our trees produce. We are truly living a charmed life....it's a lot of hard work, but so rewarding. This farm has been wonderful for our whole family. The grandkids just love being at the farm. Thanks for watching!
@ thanks for sharing it on UA-cam if we ever won the lottery that’s the exact type of farm I’d love to build for my family and granddaughters! I can imagine it’s a lot of hardwork and likely never ending but the rewards would be so worth it and I think why we are truly put here. ❤️🥰
I've been homesteading for decades. However, my property is very challenging, and thus, very inefficient. We hope to buy a better homestead in the future, similar to what you did.
As for trees; I have switched over to standards. I simply prune them to grow low. The roots are much stronger and I need trunk height to get above the deer's browse line.
A better nursery than Stark's is Cummins in NY State. You can pick your rootstock. Trees are smaller, but ship with more roots and grow up faster.
On that note, I developed a method to self root some trees. These are always hardier.
Mulberry trees are wonderful! However, it is nearly impossible to find the ones that bear good berries. I found a person with a good tree and took berries from it to get seeds. I grew a bunch of seedlings and have wonderful berries (if I keep the birds away).
Tompkins County King is a wonderful apple. They can be used for everything. The workhorse of apples is Cortland. Always comes through. Empire and Macoun apples are good tasting. If you want a late apple or to make apple ice wine, the Criterion will work. It is almost snowing when it ripens.
Contender is a very good peach variety.
In regards to leaf curl, spray in the late fall and early spring. You must do both!
I hope to do a giant fence like yours when we find a new homestead. I have fences around trees for 5 years because of deer.
For rabbits and voles, paint the trunks with a whitewash of 1 part water, one part white latex paint, and one part drywall spackling. They simply will not chew on it.
I feel your pain trying to get fruit. I lost all my Summer Crisp pears (loaded) to 9 squirrels, one racoon, and a possum. The birds are impossible to beat without netting. Feel fortunate if you never get a sapsucker.
We just had peach cobbler from our peaches today. I also pressed 3.5 gallons of pear juice to make wine.
I will check out your other videos.
Nice tour!
Good point on the leaf curl....I have not been spraying in the Fall. Thanks. We have one old full size apple in the farmhouse backyard. Our soil is very fertile and this tree grows huge suckers and the growth each spring is overwhelming. I don't think I could deal with that for 60 trees. Maybe it is just the apple that grows so much every year. I have never heard of the Peach variety Contender.....I will check with our local orchard supply nursery. Next year I need to go to the nursery earlier in the year. Adams County is a huge fruit growing region here in PA. Thanks for your comments and encouragement!
Just in case you are not aware the Butternut tree or White Walnut produces Juglone which can be toxic to other plants. There are only certain plants that can be grown by the White Walnut just like the Black Walnut. It's not only in the walnuts that drop to the ground but the roots of the tree as well. We have a large Black Walnut so we are limited to what we can grow even in the vicinity of the walnut tree because many plants, shrubs, bushes are juglone sensitive and will not thrive as the juglone also leaks into the surrounding soil. I just discovered your youtube channel and am loving your content. Your farm is beautiful. I hope you continue to share what wonderful progress you are making.
So glad you found us....welcome to the farm. Thanks for the info. We do have quite a few black walnut trees around the perimeter of the farm. He did plant the white walnut trees a distance from other plants trees so hopefully they will be ok. Thanks for the kind words and encouragement. Thanks for watching.
Thank you so much for sharing your videos with us! My husband and I look forward to every one, and we’re always learning something new! Thank you, too, for always sharing the wins and losses. You don’t shy away from telling us that you lost trees. That is so encouraging!
We're so glad you enjoy them. We try to share real life...good and bad. Things don't always work out with gardening/farming. Thanks for watching!
Another another great video. What a beautiful archer those peaches. 🍑 are gorgeous. I bet they taste absolutely delicious.😋 Thanks for the tour.❤
Those peaches were scrumptios. We're already looking forward to enjoying them again next year. Thanks for watching.
Hello! I am really enjoying your videos and learning so much! I live in PA .. on the southern end in Hickory PA. I have a 70 acre farm and we have been here for 30 years. Now that my daughters are raised I feel like I have time to start a Market Garden. I have always had a family garden. Your solutions to the weeds and your realistic views of farming really gives me an opportunity to plan my garden based on my resources. Thank you so much! I hope to take a trip to Gettysburg and would love to stop at our farm stand❤
Hello to a fellow Pennsylvania farmer. We're so glad our videos have been helpful to you. Let us know when you're in the area. We'd love to show you around and share farm/garden stories.
@@waardenburgfamilyfarm4764 Thank you!!! I will definitely let you know when I am in the area! I would love to meet you both and see your lovely farm. Same here on my end. If you are in the Washington County area please let me know… I can show you my beginner progress❤️
Lovely orchard. I always wanted and Apricot tree, I just love them.
@@whitestone4401 Yes, the beautiful apricots were the delight of the season. The grandchildren are now hooked on them. Thanks for watching.
Really enjoyed the tour. Hazelnuts are great, I’m from Germany and we use hazelnuts in baked goods a lot.
We'll be looking for some recipes/ways to use hazelnuts. (when we actually get some....gonna need some patience)
That is an amazing setup. I’ve been growing fruit trees in swales in subtropical Queensland Australia. Your setup is absolutely fantastic. I just stumbled across your channel and so glad I did. Now subscribed and looking forward to go through and watch your videos. 😊😊😊
Thanks! We watched the video about your swales...impressive. I'm sure it's a very different method of gardening in subtropical weather. Each area has it's challenges, but the swales seem like a great idea!
Amazing. Those peaches are a gorgeous color.
They are gorgeous and delicious. I think it's the beautiful color that attracts the bird too.
Love your orchard watching from northern Florida we are growing oranges pears,, mulberries, bananas, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, pecans . We have some young Granny Smith apple trees and Florida prince peach trees but have not gotten any fruit from them yet
Hello to a fellow fruit-grower. It must be wonderful to be able to grow oranges. YUM! Best of luck with your orchard this year.
thank you very good and useful video
Thanks...glad it was helpful.
Thanks, I’m also in zone 7 . Great video.
Thanks!
We are in zone 8.
Peaches and dandelion jelly 🎉❤
That sounds like a WONDERFUL combination. I'll put that on my list for next year. Thanks!
Thanks for sharing all you are doing! I can imagine there has been a great learning curve in all of your endeavors, but how rewarding!
Yes, there has been a HUGE learning curve, but we're enjoying the fresh fruit.
Hello, when i sit to watch your videos, i dont get tied. Thank you.
Thanks for the kind words. We're so glad you find them interesting.
I'm from the UK and hazelnuts are really popular. They'll grow multiple trunks and branch out, they're often used as part of hedgerows here. The nuts are delicious, it's the nut used in Nutella spread. Try them roasted and chopped in cookies with chocolate chunks! Love your wholesome videos!
We have had Nutella....I think he forgot that is hazelnut. That is delicious. We're looking forward to all of the ways we can use them in the future.
So beautiful and informative!! Thank you so much, this is so helpful as we plan an orchard on our new homestead. I was hoping you'd have the fruit crisp recipe in the description...I would love if you'd share it! Thank you!!
Thanks!! I actually made the fruit crisp in this video and the recipe is in the description. ua-cam.com/video/jN2GmzM5ahc/v-deo.html&t
If you aren't able to find it, let me know and I'll get it to you another way. It's really easy and very yummy.
A happy and meaningful life is so wonderful
That is very true.
If you want to try a delicious apple plant a sweet tango its a mix of honeycrisp and zestar they are so good and the apple cider is awesome ❤❤
That sounds yummy. We'll definitely keep that in mind.
Thank you soooo much for sharing. .. this is soooo helpful! xoxo
We're so glad you fund it helpful. Thanks for watching.
@@waardenburgfamilyfarm4764 By the way, what is growing between the trees. . .In the row. . .
Another great teaching video! It makes me wish it wasn’t too late thank you
We're glad you found it helpful, but hopefully it's not too late. If things didn't work this year, we just try even harder the next year learning from mistakes we've made.
Love your orchard and garden area!! I see all the Comfrey you have between trees, I also love comfrey for my trees. Watching from western Canada 😊
Yes, Comfrey is AMAZING! Thanks for watching.
Far as the kaolin clay, a NJ Gardener name James Periogi has a vidoe up and I am sure if you reach out to him he will tell you how to use it throughout your orchard. Great tour--thankyou
Thanks for the info....We've seen him, but will have to watch the one about the kaolin clay.
More sweet cherry trees or filberts (hazelnuts). I just picked my first (avalon pride) peaches on my new trees tonight and the fragrance and flavor is incredible...nothing like grocery store peaches.
More sweet cherries would probably be a good idea. Thanks!. Yes, there is nothing better than a home-grown peach. We are enjoying them immensely.
Amazing to see you work so well togheter and the result you accomplish😍
Thanks! We have fun working together and are both thrilled with the fresh fruit.
Thank you
Thanks for watching.
I have had peach trees for ten years and have not had one peach make it to the ripe stage, I am so-o-o-o jealous!
Oh, I'm SO sorry. We had a hard time waiting 4-5 years for peaches...I can't imagine waiting 10 years. Hopefully next year will be your year for peaches.
Your orchid looks amazing and has grown so fast unlike mine, we have so much wind and 8 months of rain out here along the coast of Australia but I'm not giving up. My latest idea is planting my trees into baseless planters and it's working out well. I'm going to watch your chicken video again as I bought 2 jostaberry plants as I had not heard of them before seeing your video. I'm so looking forward to tasting them when the plants finally produce. I bought a few hazelnut plants to make a small hedge and they do send up suckers so I just mow over them as it's just the nature of that plant. Have a great day.🙃😉😊
@@christasmicroflowerfarm2695Thank you for the encouraging comments! We think you will love the Jostaberries. Truthfully, learning the care of fruit trees has been challenging and we lost a few trees along the way. Australia...you have a beautiful country. I assume you are on the East coast. We visited the SE....Sydney and a few sheep farms ( also the beach). Take care and you will see the fruit!
Love this video. We are adding to our small orchard in the fall.
Having an orchard is an amazing way to grown your own food. Best of luck with your additions this fall.
Pecans are a wonderful nut. Mt. Vernon had a 200+ year old tree right next to the porch. Do you have grapes/vineyard plans? I love apricots too. Dehydrated/dried are the typical way to preserve, but jams are amazing too.
We had never considered pecans thinking we were too far north. Upon researching, there are pecans that grow beautifully in our zone. I think the new section will definitely have pecans in it. Thanks! We don't have any vineyard plans at the moment. The apricots got eaten so fast there wasn't any left for jam, but maybe next year I'll be able to give that a try.
@@waardenburgfamilyfarm4764 i hope you can grow table grapes and concord grapes for juice and jellies.
Very nice!
Thanks!
Awesome video! What a wonderful assortment of trees. I bought a peach tree this year that I have so far managed to not kill. It's planted in a big pot right now only because I didn't get the fence up prior to its arrival. I would like to have a couple of apple trees but not sure on their care yet (like how to keep worms from infesting them). Perhaps you will do videos in the future about each type of fruit tree and how you care for them?
James Prignioni has a youtube channel where I've seen a couple of videos that he has done on kaolin clay. He uses the brand, Surround, which I think he said is a little bit finer so when mixed it produces a product that is less likely to clog the sprayer, I believe. Look for a video on his channel - This Magic White Powder Eliminates 95% of Garden Problems.
Butternut trees are trees you don't see every day anymore because some sort of canker took out a lot of them. My dad has told me his grandpa used to collect the nuts and his grandma would put them in chocolate chip cookies which were delicious. There are a few right on the other side of our property line in a field. The squirrels love the nuts. I would love to have a few of my own.
SUNY ESF has an American Chestnut restoration project going on. They have crossed a chinese chestnut with an american chestnut to get the blight-resistant qualities from the chinese chestnut, and then have kept crossing it back to an american chestnut so it can have the taste and other qualities of the American one. They may be available to the public or close to it. Google American Chestnut Foundation for details.
The only other wisdom I can share is I saw a video where they planted some fruit trees. They were in blossom and the area was going to get hit with a 27° frost. Someone at the local farm store suggested they use a wetting agent to spray the trees with, and it worked. It was called Eden BlueGold. Though the peach tree I bought is supposed to be a later bloomer to prevent getting nailed by a late frost, I thought about getting some to have on hand. Perhaps you have found something like it? You know what they say about an ounce of prevention.
Thanks for all of the info and suggestions. There is so much to know when growing fruit/nut trees. We are always learning. We bought kaolin clay and will be giving it a try next year. We joined the Pennsylvania nut growers association and found a nursery for specialty nut trees near our farm.
Thanks for watching!
I love my fruit. Awesome orchard ❤❤
I love them all, but peaches and strawberries are my favorites.
Beautiful orchard!! I can tell you from experience that Japanese beetles love Juneberries (and elderberries, fruit trees, rose bushes, etc...) and that Japanese beetle traps don't work well. I'm planning on trying to cover my berry bushes with netting next year but this year they were bad! If you're looking for suggestions for orchard trees, might I suggest Chicago figs and/or pecan trees? I think they would do well in your growing zone. Thank you for sharing your journey with us!
Thanks! We haven't had a big problem with Japanese beetles the last few year. I'm sure there will be rough years in the future. Thanks for the suggestions ...especially pecan trees. Don has done a lot of research and there are pecans that grow well in our zone. He's probably going to be planting some of them in the open section of the orchard. He would never have thought of pecans so we really appreciate the suggestion.
Uau…amei…gosto muito de frutas pêssego 🍑 maçã 🍎 🍏 etcetera…amei o vídeo…!!!parabéns, grande abraço desde Brasil 🇧🇷…!
Muito obrigado! Estamos entusiasmados por ter pêssegos e ansiosos por todas as outras frutas. (Os netos também estão muito felizes.)😁
That's a beautiful orchard! May I suggest a honey crisp apple. Can you grow lemons and grapefruit?
Thanks for the suggestion. We are too far north to grow lemons and grapefruit. Some are able to grow lemons if they bring them inside for the winter. We don't really have room to do that. (I wish we did)
I love the orchard and how many varieties that you have. I have one apple tree and I get fruit but like you, i have to beat the animals to it. My problem is squirrels. I have tried hanging up the silver CD's and even the old pie pans like grandma used but to no avail. They still win out:(
Squirrels are the one animal we don't have a problem with ......yet. It's so frustrating when you see beautiful fruit and then it's suddenly damaged or gone. I hope you can somehow win out over the squirrels. Best of luck!!!
Thank you for your great tour. I really enjoyed the orchard tour. What are the low plants growing in-between your trees? Everything looks amazing.
The plants between the fruit trees is Comfrey. It's a great plant for orchards. It had a very deep tap root which can accumulate minerals and other things that the trees don't reach. The comfrey can be 'chopped and dropped' several times a summer. We simply cut it off and lay it around the trees or other places in the garden as a fertilizer.
I love this video! I see you have plants growing in between your peach trees low to the ground. What are those plants?
Those plants are comfrey. They are an amazing plant. They are considered a dynamic accumulator because they have a 3 ft. tap root. They can take up minerals and things that other plants can't reach. I chop the leaves 2-3 times a summer, chop them up and use them as mulch which is also fertilizer. You can also make a tea with it to water/fertilize plants, but I haven't tried that yet.
Fantastic, this is so helpful - I just learned something new today! Thank you!
23:47 getting the drone close to those power and communication lines!
@@AlexWaardenburg yes, but there was a pro operator, so no worries!
What were the plants that were between all the fruit trees?
@@LorySnyder-r8i Those plants are Comfrey. They are considered a 'dynamic accumulator'. They have a deep tap root that can bring up all kinds of good minerals. We 'chop and drop' them around the trees and other plants several times a summer. They are a wonderful fertilizer.
Where are you guys at? What part of the country?
@@Omar-td2gl Our farm is in South Central Pennsylvania zone 7.
Didn't see any fig trees. There is a variety for zone 4. For the bare lot, I recommend grapes. We have concord, niagara, and seedless candice reds. What are the plants in between the fruit trees? I may have missed what they are.
We have two little fig trees in pots in the high tunnel. We bring them into the garage over the winter. The plants between the trees is comfrey. It is a great companion plant in an orchard. It had a 3 ft. tap root which can gather minerals that the fruit trees can't get to. We chop it off and drop it around the trees and other places in the garden as a fertilizer. It's also a compost activator.
@@waardenburgfamilyfarm4764 WOW! I missed that!! What a great idea! I wanted to plant some this year, but didn't get around to it. The seed is hard to find. At this point, we will do almost anything to reduce the mowing requirements for the orchard 😉
@@ChrisCalmtheCrazy I started my comfrey from root cuttings. You can buy some on Amazon. After that it's easy to propagate from your own root cuttings. When you plant it, make sure it's where you want it. Since they have such deep tap roots they are almost impossible to dig up once they are established.
Whatablessing
We are definitely blessed. We are very thankful for our farm.
Maybe I missed it, but does anyone know what the plants are between each tree?
The plants between the trees are comfrey. They are considered a dynamic accumulator because they have such a deep tap root that they bring up wonderful things from the soil that fruit trees and other plants can't get. We do what's called 'chop and drop' several times a summer. We simply chop off the leaves and drop them around the trees or other plants. It mulches at the same time as fertilizing. We're going to do a video on that next summer. A lot of people were intersted in it. (On a side note, I also have it growing around the chicken yard because they love to eat it.)
What zone are you in?
We are in Zone 7A
Thanks. Great video.
Fig trees and mulberry would be added variety
I have two small fig trees in the high tunnel...they are doing ok so far. We have 1 mulberry in the chicken yard. (to give them some free food). It might be nice to have more of those for us to use. Thanks!
Figs trees
We have small fig trees started in pots in the high tunnel. We've been bringing them in over winter....not sure the can survive the winter here in Zone 7A. We'll have to look into it.
My fig trees froze back to the ground last winter here in Houston zone 9B. It came back, but no figs this year. @@waardenburgfamilyfarm4764