A few of my trees

[subdood_ky_z6b]

The corn doesn’t look like it’s got that frozen crispy curled look to it, but we’ll see. Usually you can tell immediately after a freeze if it’s damaged, and it doesn’t appear to have that look.

We’ve grown our tomatoes and peppers indoors under lights, so they’re OK. Just want to get them in the ground, have been setting them outside a few hours to harden them off, but can’t really do that when it’s raining.

Last year we planted out the 'maters and peppers about May 10, so glad we didn’t do that this year, or we would’ve lost them all.

I’m not adverse to buying a big tree from a BB store, we have a couple of them. Both of them said they were semi-dwarf, so that is good, but I would like to know the rootstock. They both seem to have taken the move from pot to ground pretty well, except for being attacked by those infernal deer. The trees had a tag saying they came out of a nursery in Smithville, TN.

I hope to limit next year’s tree purchases to no more than a half dozen or so. I have lots of room for more trees, but don’t need to fill it up. I do like to look at a nice green lawn, too.

[subdood_ky_z6b]

OK, here are a few pics of the farm and some of our new trees.

This is a shot of our south pasture. Obviously really green with all the rain we’ve got. Our 3 foot pecan trees are out there:

A pic of the Moonglow pear we got from Lowes, with the old barn behind. The tree has a bit of a tilt to it, will prune it next winter:

A pic of our Winesap apple, before the deer ravaged it. Just about all the new leaves and buds from the lower few branches were stripped. It’s since been caged, along with the other 5 trees in the corn patch, The big tree behind to the right is one of our huge old Milam apple trees, it’s got tons of fruitlets on it which I tried to thin out this weekend.

Shot of the Winesap with the corn patch and barn in background:

Here is our main apple and peach plot.The black tubes are to protect from mice/rabbit gnawings.

A pic of our Goldrush whip, with new leaves and sprigs:

Some pics of buds on the whips:

And some dogwood blooms:

And some shots of the farm after a little winter storm, the last one is the county road below the property, makes me cold just looking at them:

OK, that’s all for now. I’ll try to get some more when the weather fairs up some, and the trees have filled out a bit more.

[BobC]

Very nice! Looks like you have a really nice setup.

[tomIL]

Cityman,

You have a piece of heaven. I would love to have something like that…

Tom

[thecityman]

Wow. Just wow. You really have a magnificeint looking place, my friend. Its especially nice for me to look at those photos because it looks so familiar- thats EXACTLY what the countryside looked like where I grew up in TN. Where I am now is as flat as the midwest and even though its only 2 hrs from my hometown, it looks completely different. Same thing with many photos I see here. Almost are are beautiful, but we all think our hometown area is the best in the country, so I love your pictures because they remind me of that. I’m jealous of you and all you have there! Also, the deer hunter in me can’t help but think your place must be LOADED with nice bucks. You’ve already mentioned being aggravated with them, so when you reach the breaking point I’ll be glad to come thin the herd! haha (kidding).

BTW, I didn’t realize you had so many trees when I saw the stand of new trees. How many fruit trees do you have total?

[Derby42]

What a nice looking place. I can imagine how nice the orchard will look in a few years.

[subdood_ky_z6b]

Yeah, it’s a real blessing to have such a nice place, although it’s still in need of a lot of work. The barn is a mess, it really needs cleaned out, and water seeps into it during heavy rain, so we need to resolve that issue. We have other old buildings that need to be cleaned out, or just bull-dozed, really.

Believe it or not, the old family outhouse is still on the farm, although it’s not been used for prob 20 years. They haven’t had city water out in these parts until 13 years or so; they got all their water from a well, and pump house. The well is still there, and the pump is still in the cellar, but doesn’t work now. I’m working on getting a new handpump down into the drilled well, so we can have water if the city lines go out. My wife has asked if we could build a new outhouse, which I’ve considered, maybe after other things have been dealt with. She’s much more motivated than me to get things done, that’s for sure.

Yeah, there’s lots of deer around here, back in the winter they would be in the yard just about every night grazing. Mostly does and fawns, I rarely saw any bucks in the yard. We had so many deer raids in our tomato patch last year we called the game warden to see if we could take a few out. But, he said only if we could prove they were damaging our crops, and then if we did so, we might not even get to keep it. We put up some semblance of a fence around the patch, but it obviously was not much of a deterrent. This year I’m planning on putting up barbed-wire fencing around it on T posts.

I went rifle hunting for the first time last season, but didn’t get any. I didn’t scout out the hills behind our land before the season started, so I really didn’t have a good idea of where their migration patterns were. But, I have a better understanding of the terrain and their movement patterns now. We’re lucky that since we own the land, we don’t need a hunting license or permits, even though we do have to tag and call in anything we take. Last year we could take up to 4, with one buck max.
Since I like to sleep in, I never got out into the woods until after daybreak, so that prob didn’t help my chances.

We just have 14 apple, 8 pecan, 3 pear, and a couple of peach trees, with a few old apple and cherry trees on site.

[subdood_ky_z6b]

Thanks @Derby42, @BobC

Bob, you prob have similar terrain where you’re at? SE Ohio is really hilly from what I remember, and we’re not that far from there.

Derby, hope it works out. I look at all these new trees and wonder what I’ve got myself into. But, hopefully, we’ll be blessed with all kinds of delicious fruit a few years from now. I know we could never eat all that fruit in one year, so I imagine a lot of it will be given away. Until that time comes, I guess we’ll have to visit some local orchards that have similar varieties to get kind of a “sneak peek” of what we’re in for.

I’ve been thru your part of the woods a lot over the last few years. We pass thru Springfield on our way to OK to see my kinfolk. The drive from Springfield to Branson is very nice. It’s like being on a big roller coaster, up and down, up and down those huge hills. Since we’re into growing heirloom veggies, I always wanted to stop by Baker Creek on my way thru those parts to pick up some good old style seeds. Just didn’t make it there. Driving US 60 thru the Ozarks is a very scenic drive.

[thecityman]

Great place, I love it. Even though I live near a town (albeit a small one) and in my heart I know its just a fantasy, I like to tell myself I could be self-sufficient if the rest of the world went to h#ll. I have goats, chickens, a huge garden, fruit trees, bee hives, and enough land to support all that and more. SO I’m really attracted to your description and photos of your place- and having a well makes it even more attractive in that regard. But on an even more practical note, a well could be a very, very big asset in dry years by providing free (except the electricity for pump) irrigation water. If I water my garden just a few times during the month my water bill will be over $100 and has even been over $200!!!

Good luck with the deer. I hunt with rifle and bow. And you are right…you need to learn the patterns and you almost have to be in place when the sun comes up, though I’ve got a rare few on afternoon hunts.

Nice place.

[Derby42]

Yes there are some big hills between my house and Branson, lol. I live just at the edge of where the hills start. Just a few miles north of my place the land is flat. I like the hills but the dirt is better on the flat land unless you are in a creek bottom. I really enjoyed the photos of your place. It looks like a very quiet place.

[BobC]

We do have very similar rolling hills, hardwoods, and crops. Thanks for sharing your pics.

[subdood_ky_z6b]

Thanks @tomIL,

Ten years ago, living in Dallas, before I met my wife, I wouldn’t have ever thought I’d end up on an old family farm in Kentucky. My wife, lived here for years, but when we got married 7 years ago, I wanted her to be with me in Texas. I thought it’d be better for us to be there employment wise.

So she did come to Texas, but always wanted to go back to the farm, which I resisted for many years. But in 2013, I thought we needed to make the move, to take advantage of having our own land to grow our own food, have fresh water, privacy and a less hectic lifestyle.

It was a huge step of faith for me, as I enjoyed the 30 years in Texas, but I felt compelled to go. It hasn’t been easy by any means, but I think it was the right thing to do. I feel very blessed to be able to call this place home.

Thanks for the kind words.

[BobC]

Did some grass cutting and finally a nice day in Ohio.

[warmwxrules]

Beautiful pics. Awesome to see so many people take up fruit growing.

Wow…i wish i had more room. I have to cram stuff in to make it fit. Not that i’m growing to feed an army, but it would be nice to have a little breathing space…oh well… the grass is always greener and all of that.

[thecityman]

Those photos are just breathtaking! Beautiful. I always love when I finish mowing my orchard because it always looks so great…tho not as great as yours. It’s also fun to see some more mature trees. For whatever reason, it seems like almost all the photos that get posted on this site are 1-4 year old trees, so its fun to see some “grown ups”. Nice orchard, nice photos.

[BahamaDan]

Mr Kevin if I only took and shared pictures when all the stuff on the to do list was done, I’d never take any! Your trees look really verdant, keep up the good work

[thecityman]

BTW Dan- What are the fruits shown in your hand in your profile photo? Also, and if you have already said this and I missed it then I’m sorry, but I’m curious to know where you are if you in the Bahamas- i.e. which island? I’ve been to 19 islands in the Caribbean and want to visit 1900 more! I also dream of living there some day. You are so lucky.

[BahamaDan]

Mr Kevin those are Purple Tomatillos I grew about two or three summers ago. Very productive plants, although I had them in containers that were too small so they needed a lot of water. I don’t think I’ve every been asked this on here (lol) so no I’ve not said as yet; I live on Grand Bahama, the northernmost island for all intents and purposes. It’s 60 miles east of West Palm Beach, FL if that gives you any reference. Which islands have you liked the most that you’ve been to? It is lucky to live here in some ways but I do wish sometimes I had the benefits of living some other places, like more choices or potting mix or fertilizer lol. I also really like the phenomenon of seeing the leaves change color but they’re evergreen here, and the temperature doesn’t get too cold

[BahamaDan]

I don’t have any recent full body pics but thought this photo of some new growth on my Oroblanco Grapefruit I took a couple nights ago was nice enough to share

[thecityman]

The grass does always seem greener on the other side, doesn’t it. No matter what we have, we always think maybe something else would be better. You think about some cooler weather, changing leaves, and maybe growing some fruits like apples or cherries that you can’t grow. I have that, but I think how nice it would be to have warm winters, tropical fruits (mangos, pineapples, bananas, etc) and, of course, beautiful beaches.

I guess my favorite island so far are Culebra (just off coast of Puerto Rico Mainland). Close behind it is St. Martin, mainland Puerto Rico, and Isla Mujeres (Off coast of Mexico near Cancun). Probably my favorite place in the Caribbean isn’t an island at all, and some don’t even consider it the Caribbean- but it the Yucatan in Mexico. I specifically exclude Cancun from that because its a huge, awful, Americanized tourist trap. But the rest of the Yucatan is my heaven, especially south of Playa Del Carmen all the way to Belize, and also Merida. My heaven will look a lot like that.

I’ve been to Grand Bahama, but only for a few hours and never made it beyond freeport. I’ve stayed on Paradise Island (at Atlantis, even though I usually prefer small hotels and undeveloped or less-developed areas). Also been to Nassau of course. I’d like to go to Bimini and live like my hero Hemingway for a while. I’d love to go to several of the outward cays, as well. and great Exuma. Oh heck, I’d like to go to every island. Do you get to any other islands much? Are you from down there? If not, how did you come to live there? Sorry if I’m being nosy…its just I’m interested in all things Caribbean and its fun to meet someone who lives there!