I've recently moved to Maine, located in the central coastal region. We bought a parcel of land(approximately 45 acres) The propety came with an already somewhat orchard. The apple trees look okay, but are not producing apples. Some of them have a few but not a harvest full. There are trees that are ancient and are loaded with apples, not healthy though. The young trees are not producing any apples. We have about 20 young trees and they seem to be doing nothing. I want to know if there is anything to do with the trees in the winter/spring to help them along Also, I would like to know of any organic methods to growing fruit trees? What do you spray them with organically? Rotenone? Also, I am interested in getting a dairy animal before winter. I am seriously interested in adairy cow but do not have the barn yet. I have had dairy goats before and the milk was absolutely horrible. I shy away from goats because the milk is so goaty. My goats were fed on a cow quality hay and does that have anything to do with taste of the milk. I would imagine that it does. Now, I have 15 acres of hay pasture for them to graze on. Would that have an effect on the taste of the milk? Goats would be perfect for me right now, as i have two cashmere doelings and a lot of pasture to be eaten. What I really want to know is how do you get fresh goats milk to taste like fresh cows milk? They eat the same things(almost) Also,. if I decide to get into goats again, does anyone have a foolproof recipe for goats milk mozzarella? Also parmesan? Also, any Mainers out there that are willing to share their homestead secrets? I've only been here for 2 weeks but it does get lonely and I need to find some people with the same interests. Thanks alot!!! Cara Lewis cnllewis@email.com

-- cara lewis (cnllewis@email.com), August 07, 2000

Answers

Ok, here goes!

1 - Orchard - Get a good book on pruning, because your trees are probably desperate for some care. For organic bug control, I fenced my orchard in and pasture my chickens there. They clean up the apple fall, and any bugs trying to overwinter in them, and get new bugs as they emerge in the spring. They aren't totally bug free, but they are quite usable, unlike my first few years when they weren't fit to bring to the house. 2 - Nasty goat milk - If you don't chill the milk down in a big hurry, something in the fat starts breaking down, making it taste like an old goat. I chill mine by sitting the metal can in an ice water bath as soon as I can get it to the house, and my city friends had no idea what they were drinking. Also, milk can pick up flavors from the air, so be sure to keep your buck as far away from your milking area as possible. 3 - Cheese - These links will hopefully be of help http://www.cheesemaking.com/ http://www.lunehaven.com/cheesemaking.html http://www.leeners.com/cheesemaking.html http://www.egroups.com/group/Artisan_Cheesemakers http://www.egroups.com/group/Cheesemakers

Hope this helps,

-- Connie (Connie@lunehaven.com), August 07, 2000.

Re: Apple trees - PRUNE! Prune some more! If they haven't been maintained in a while, you are going to have your work cut out for you. We didn't raise our apples organically, but I did look into it a few times. Can't remember the names of any of the books, but I know one was put out by Rodale Press. You could probably do a search at their web site to get some ideas.

As to pruning... you will need a good pair of loppers, a pruning saw, and, from the sounds of it - a small chain saw. First - go through and cut out all the dead wood. Haul the dead wood out of the orchard and cut it up and burn it, either in a wood stove or have a weenie roast or whatever. Part of your insect problem is snoozing away under the bark on the dead wood. Second - go back through and look for damaged wood - for instance, lots of small slit like healed (or not) wounds are bug damage (locust). Take off all the damaged wood, haul and burn. Third - go through the orchard again and look for weak crotch angles - anything that looks like it would split off the side of the tree with a heavy load - apples or ice - on it. Cut 'em off, or if you must, prop them. Props make it hard to mow under them. Fourth - if you aren't ready to call in the bulldozers yet - go back through and look for water sprouts (get a book on pruning - it'll have pictures, I'm not good at describing things) and shape your trees. Cut what you think you should, then go back and cut 1/3 as much more. Unless you create bad angles, or cut the tree off at ground level - you aren't going to do any damage that can't be repaired. The tree will grow new branches. Take a drive by some commercial trees and see what they look like - pretty bare! I can't repeat often enough that you need to get the prunings out of there and burn them.

Sheep will mow your orchard well, just remember that if you're going to spray anything, you'll be spraying your sheeps innards as well. Ditto chickens for the bugs. Just because a spray is "organic" doesn't mean that it isn't a killer. Some of the organic sprays are far more deadly than the chemical companies (Nicotine, for one). Be darn careful when handling any spray dope - gloves and goggles and protective outerwear are uncomfortable but beat the heck out of cancer.

As far as insect damage, go through your orchard after blossom drop and start inspecting your fruit. Remove bad fruit when you see it - don't let it hang there and attract more bugs. If you get a bad infestation and can't keep ahead of it, your stock will enjoy the bad apples - cattle hogs, sheep, goats and chickens have all been grateful for our culls. If you get a good crop set on, you will need to go through and thin them - you're way north of me, so I can't give you a specific date, but around here (E. Central IL) we have what we call "June drop" - which means that sometime in June, the tree will mysteriously drop some of it's fruit. We would thin the trees post drop, leaving one apple to every 6 or 8 inches of branch. You'll feel like you're throwing away your whole crop, but if you don't thin, you're going to get a lot of little apples rather than nice big ones. Pick up the drops and thinnings and get them out of the orchard if you don't have critters there that will eat them. It's really better to get them out of the orchard anyway - some critters can make it through animal intestines unscathed.

I'm sure there are a lot of things that I am forgetting, but this post is too long already. If you have any specific questions, you are more than welcome to e-mail me, but you might do better with someone from your neck of the woods. Good luck with your trees! (And if you need any apple recipes......)

-- Polly (tigger@moultrie.com), August 08, 2000.

This is graphic to some so don't read it! However, it brings new life and spirit too old fruit trees. If you do this remember,Young trees takes time and pruning. The new life for old trees, after pruning, dig 2/3 of the distance from tree trunk to drip line, a shallow pit. Three of them equal distance apart in circle around tree trunk. Shallow is about 2 feet X 3 feet X 18 inches deep. Place dead animal, any kind, a loved pet, dog, cat, goat, or field dress gut pile etc. Fresh road kill is good. The local City Animal Humane Shelter has fresh kills on a weekly basis. Cover each carcass with about 3 pounds of quick lime. Loosely cover with earth. Don't mound it up as in a grave, although it is, it isn't. During the dry season you can pour a five gallon bucket of water in each of these shallow pits. Do this now to three of your trees and next spring the blossoms will come. The following year you will have more apples than the whole neighborhood can handle. Why so long? This years Blossom is next years Apple Bud.

-- James (triquest@about.com), August 08, 2000.

Hunt down Eliot Coleman who lives in Maine as he is an organic grower of renown or get his two books on organic gardening. He has sections on reviving old orchards. He also bought an old farm in Maine and had to rejuvenate the old orchard. If you can't find him in the phone book, try calling Johnny's Seed Company as he is associated with them.

Mary

-- Mary (barnwood@preferred.com), August 08, 2000.

The old trees will need pruning, but don't try to do it all at once - you'll most likely kill the tree. In general, only take 1/3 of the tree (live growth - take off all dead wood at once) per year. Yes, it will take some time to get them back into production - but full size trees take 6-8 years to produce from newly planted trees, so you are still ahead. We've used chainsaws on ours and next year expect to take out one more large (10") branch - last year and this year we have had bumper crops of very good apples, from a 40 year old tree (my grandfather planted it). We probably could have trimmed a little more each year, but the tree looked practically butchered as it was - it is still quite large, but now less than 1/2 the size when we started (and when it didn't produce any edible apples - small size, buggy and dropped practically all of them in the june drop).

If the older trees are peaches, you might not want to bother - they are not as long lived and all of our original trees eventually succumbed to old age - just plant new ones (dwarf or semi-dwarf) close by and be ready to take out the old when it is time. Expect starting harvests in 2-4 years (longer for standard sizes) and about 20-25 years before they'll need replacing (about the same for apples, but closer to 40-50 years production on the standard size trees).

A good book on pruning should show you what to look for and have detailed drawings and pictures to get you started. Check your local used bookstore or library, as these techniques haven't changed (much) over the years. For organic controls, try Rodale's books (many are now being reprinted) on fruit production.

-- Karen Oland (koland@staffingtech.com), August 10, 2000.

Organic Orcharding - Gene Logsdon has a book on the subject - that may be the title, can't remember for sure.

-- Polly (tigger@moultrie.com), August 10, 2000.

Cara, I posted my mozzarella recipe back in April and it's still in the old posts under Country Kitchen, something about why my mozzarella won't get stretchy. The recipe came originally from United Caprine News back in '87. If you can't find it, feel free to email me and I'll send it directly to you. Good luck on your new place. It sounds like a real find.

Marilyn

-- marilyn (rainbow@ktis.net), August 10, 2000.

GOATS: The biggest contributor to good flavored goat milk is the breed of the goat. Nubians have a higher butterfat content than other breeds and are usually good, although there can be variations in breeds. A Nubian/Sanen cross is a good bet for a milker. Also, goat milk is better from goats fed high-quality alfalfa and sweet feed (horse-type feed with oats, corn, molasses). My husband swore he would never drink goat milk (although he was used to drinking raw cows milk), so I set a glass of high-quality goat milk in front of him with dinner one night without telling him what it was. He never knew the difference and was a believer from then on. Cashmere goats are not likely to give sweet milk. And your pasture may not produce good tasting milk either.

-- lynne atencio (lynnie70@juno.com), August 13, 2000.