A Grand Duchess

The Duchess of Oldenburg
significant because it's the first fruit of our tree grafting efforts

Development of our apple orchards includes a grafting program. For the past few springs, Arthur has set up shop in "the shop", surrounded by buckets of grafting sticks and root stocks. The rusty one-burner propane stove (used to heat water for morning coffee on long-ago camping trips) sits on the workbench to warm up the grafting wax concoction he uses.
One major goal of his grafting program is to identify and save trees that populate the back yards and fields of our neighbors.  These old trees have been bearing fruit that has been finding its way into pantries and pie crusts for generations.
Some of these trees are varieties that are not identified by names, such as the one we've tagged as "Snyder Milk House Apple." This early apple grows on a gnarly tree in the pasture of Paul and Cathy Snyder down the Dingman Run Road from us. Paul's father, Steven, referred to it as "common fruit" and the family has used it for applesauce for generations.
Our fledgling nursery has grafts for the Snyder Milk House Apple as well as the Tucker apple from Colesburg, Kenyon's Sweet Apple and Strawberry Apples from the Kidney farm and many more.
In the picture above, Arthur holds the first fruit of a tree he grafted three years ago. It's an old variety called Duchess of Oldenburg. The scion for the graft came from the Sunset Valley Farm of John and Karlene Peet.
The Oldenburg “kept up the hope of prairie orchardists in times of great discouragement,” according to The Apples of New York, Volume II, by S. A. Beach (J. B. Lyon Co., 1905).
And so today, the Oldenburg is keeping up the hopes of the Metzgers on our heritage farm on Crandall Hill, Potter County, Pennsylvania.

The Bounty

It is so very satisfying to put a meal on the table that is nearly completely locally produced. Last night we enjoyed a pork roast (from a local farmer), roasted multi colored potatoes from our own fields, applesauce from our own Northern Spy apples and buttercup squash grown in our garden.
This year, we are also enjoying the wild harvest including elk (harvested from the National Forest in Oregon where our daughter lives), venison and turkey from Potter County, wild Alaskan salmon and halibut.
The Christmas tree still stands in the "red room" on the Metzger Farm but this morning, Arthur and I shared coffee and farming plans for 2012. I think it's time to get out the flip chart we bought last year to plan our long visit to Oregon! Part of the plan for 2012 is increased networking and cooperation with other local farmers. Stay tuned for details.

Gray Skies and Rain - Again!

Even I have to acknowledge that summer is long gone! Having been away for most of September, I was kind of pretending that time had stood still while I was gone and I would come back to tomatoes still growing on the vine, sweet corn on the stalk and fresh basil in the garden. Alas, it was just a daydream. We're working furiously to get all the potatoes harvested. Our new (old) one-row potato picker, purchased at auction from the Amish community here in Potter County, has met with limited success and the persistent rain (where were you last summer when we needed you?) hasn't helped much.
I still have carrots (planted late in the season) and shallots in the ground and will hold off on harvesting them until a real freeze is imminent. I should have quantities available for sale.
We made a small batch of apple cider on Sunday using our Northern Spy apples combined with Yellow Delicious. It is superb! More about apples and cider in future posts.