"Give them fruit, they will eat for a day. Give them a tree, they will eat for life."

The Shire in Lord of the Rings was a fruitful land, beloved by it's inhabitants.  Our initial hope for Redwoodshire was to GROW... fruit, vegetables, plants... anything and everything we could learn to grow.  Little did we know, someone else had previously had a similar vision.  The previous owners gave us a tour of the property, and much to our surprise there was a fertile foundation to build upon.  Near the house, is a very old orchard of cherry (both sweet & sour) trees, an asian pear tree, bartlett pear tree, & an apple tree.  These fruit bearing trees are HUGE!  I don't even know how we will pick the cherries or asian pears.  Unfortunately, those large cherry trees have grown so big and prevented the apple and Bartlett pear trees from the sun- thus making them unfruitful.  

Cherry Tree in early Spring

The Laird has researched pruning techniques online and applied what he learned by pruning that old apple tree.  It will take a few years, but hopefully we can get it to produce quality fruit again.  As the leaves grew back on the trees, we discovered 3 more overgrown apple trees along the borders of our woods.  The Laird's father, a retired history teacher, explained that in the time when the house was built (1860) drinking cider was common place, which would explain the collection of apple trees around the property.  

Cherry Tree full of blossoms

Flowering Cherry Blossoms

Cherry Blossom Buds

We planted 2 baby apple trees for a better guarantee of future fruit:  a Macintosh for the Laird, and a HoneyCrisp for me.  The Laird will try to resurrect those old apple trees along the wood,s and we will see how that goes.  But for now, we will patiently wait a few years for these baby trees to grow up and produce some juicy apples to enjoy.  

When planting fruit trees, it is important to have at least 2 in order for cross pollination to occur.  Oftentimes, there are varieties that do better paired with some than others.  For example, my HoneyCrisp apparently pairs well with Fuji.  Though not necessary, it may produce a more prolific fruit bearer.

This new Macintosh apple tree has tiny red budding flowers!  We look forward to the day it will produce wonderful, juicy apples for all to enjoy when they come visit Redwoodshire!