April Update - Baby Peaches!

We've been thinning the peaches now for about a week. They are in various stages of growth. We are so excited to see the little swells at the base of a shriveled flower! This is especially true after the early April freeze. We narrowly escaped those cruel low temps... our thermometer in the barn showed a low of about 35, so we were definitely in the clear. I've read reports though, that the Hill Country was not so lucky.

I don't know if I'll ever be comfortable with this fact of life as a farmer. It seems so cruel that the success or failure of your whole year's crop comes down to 2 hours or so of freezing temperatures at the wrong time. I know it's reality and it's best to take it in stride, but I think I will always bite my nails with worry.

At least for now we are planning on a good crop! We've started the rounds of spraying for pests and weeds and the trees are getting a consistent supply of fertilizer and water through the irrigation system. We are also tidying up the orchard, picking up the pruned limbs and stacking them for a burn at a later time. There's always work to be done in the orchard while we wait (and hope) for the "fruits" of our labor.

Early Bloomers

We finished the pruning just a week ago, and not a moment too soon! We've had blooms for over a week now on some of our trees. About a third of our orchard is in bloom. We haven't had the bees today because of the cold snap we have had, but a lone butterfly made the rounds this afternoon and posed briefly for the camera.

We awoke this morning to a low of 32 degrees, and we hope it doesn't get any lower tonight. The blooms seem OK, but we won't know if the low temps will affect peach formation until later on... so we keep our fingers crossed for now.