Twas a rainy day in Seattle’s Carkeek park…
It started off sprinkling… when the spawning salmon, spent and not spent, were clearly visible in the stream…
Four folks altogether raked the leaves down the hill, shown as it was before:
Halfway through the raking, it started to rain, really hard. We finished the one swath and wrapping up as quickly as we could.
Coming down the path, it was apparent just how quickly, and how muddy, the creeks rose…
I hope the salmon eggs will hatch OK!
The weather was great today, people showed up and walked and sat and climbed and picked from the hillside.
An orchard in summer is more special than a grocery store to kid and grandmother alike!
Without the help of don’s survey, the party picked some nice ripe kings, down there by the bottom quarter. Near there is the fruit litter garbage can that people would put fallen fruit in.
Most of the fruit is small and scabbed, but there are gems! You might need a pole picker to get ’em down.
Kudos to footies and people in the orchard!
Orchard hygene really recruits. I saw lots of folks drop an apple in the bucket.
Imagine that, fresh fruit comes from a tree!
Several family groups enjoyed the orchard for the eating, the climbing, or just the wandering around on this Saturday.
Say …..
It looks like those footies are miracle workers.. Was there less suffering from Black Spot, Apple Maggot, Coddling Moth..?
scab cleared up?
In other news jump lively … or look close:
Snakes like orchards too!
Don reports:
Today I collected a record of just how the apples and pears are doing in the Piper orchard and I can compare this to last year…..I have made a record of it for two years now.
I believe that overall, the apples are a little bit bigger, but they seem to be more scarce. I think the July rains helped the sizing….as did the general moderation in abundance (last year was huge).
The pears are essentially absent from the trees, however.
The apple scab problem seems to be much less than last year….which is encouraging.
I am most happy with the Yellow Transparent tree which was covered by mosquito netting…..the ten to twelve apples on this tree all nicely sized on this little tree appear to be blemish free and actually quite tasty….they are coming into ripeness now…..this tree actually can be showcased.
Most of the trees, of course, look good, tree-wise, but apple-wise, still won’t compare in either taste or quality to fruit in a good Farmer’s market.
final note: You have a little Spitzenburg apple tree (you mentioned this Jeffersonian variety to me) that is a recent planting near the trail head and it has one little apple on it now…..
We also have a garbage can for people to throw the “grounder” apples in and R. will periodically clean it.
There were several volunteers this month but few tools so the party took a tour of the orchard, which is in fine full green dress around now…
Down the piper’s creek path, a ravine in full spring rush.
Many trees on the orchard hill fall down and keep on growing, tricky for the tractor mower to get close!
Dave from Seattle Tree Fruit talking about an apple tree.
The Bartlett Pear looking a mite hairy on top.
The Orchard Sign is holding Up.
Overall glade of lush, some leaf rollers, nary a sign of tents compared to last year.
The Pipers Orchard annd Seattle Tree Fruit people toured the orchard..
Looking at the apples
Ron is with us in the orchard.
The orchard looks good from above too.
the orchard takes a prisoner!
This month the volunteering structure had a goodly showing of new sap, the group profitted from a new requirements for high school kids to put in volunteer hours in order to graduate. That might just have have seemed like a real good idea to everyone on this beautiful day!
Reeeaaach with those loppers!
And or, use a ladder.
Its been a warm winter, these daffodils are playing catchup to some already in bloom!
Woodpeckers at work! Looks like a lot of work, but the tree is healthy.
The Bartlett Pear that Will will climb all the way to the top of, some day.
Lots of volunteers!
The view from the top of the hill
Another healing day in the orchard!
You know that apple high in the center of the orchard that is falling down the hill and is so easy for kids even to climb or sit in? David did a great job cleaning it up last month, its well worth checking out.This month he did some major renovations on another apple further down the hill.
Will did a bit of pruning in a small apple, then cleaned the yearly shoots out of the big Bartlett Pear.. and again didn’t dare climb into the very top. He didn’t take very many pictures.
Ron helped out all over as usual…
Don worked on this tree then took a lot of wood out of the big apple? way up on the hill to the South. Despite a lot of tent caterpillar hosting in Spring it looked great.
David’s dog Honey helped keep things lively on this fine sunny day.
Its very nice to go down to the orchard to enjoy…
the fruits…
of your labors…
in Summer.
This work party was all about reducing the number of living Western Tent Caterpillars in the orchard.It looked as though we arrived in between mows…
The cut grass was not a very effective moat, alot of the trees were quite infested.
Ideally we would have arrived before breakfast
So the critters would all be home.
We got to quite a few though either by squishing them with our hands
where we could reach,
Or using the pole to clip tent hosting branches…
and drown the inhabitants in soapy water
By the appearance of some nests, we were being assisted, either by self defense chemicals from the apple trees, or wasps or?
Notice the little dried up carcasses.
Just another beautiful day in the orchard for the big Bartlett Pear.
One of the best trails in town…
Leads to Piper’s Orchard..
Where from a distance Ron could be seen…
Providing for the future
No doubt too for the future of …
Tent Caterpillars
It seemed to be a particularly good year for them..
But plenty of blossoms survived.
The work party, Ron and Will, took turns clearing paths around the bases of the trees to make it easier for the park folks to mow,
greening themselves in the process.
Friends of Pipers Orchard 