Orchard
Orchard Update
As you likely know – the orchard has been one of my primary focuses since we bought the farm in 2022. Over the past 3 years, I’ve grafted apple trees to start expanding the modest orchard at the farm. In Read more…
Bees
Birch Bend has bees!
I’ve known for a long time that if we are going to have a large orchard, we’d eventually want honey bees to help pollinate the apple trees and many of the other things we’re growing. With the orchard planting coming Read more…
Maple Syrup
Maple Syrup 2026
Maple Syrup season has once again come and gone. One of the things we really love about the farm is that every season brings something new. The one exception, of course, is the heart of winter here – roughly December Read more…
Cider
Hard Cider Round 2
The first round of hard cider making we did in 2025 went better than I had expected and I really enjoyed the process. So this year we decided to roughly double the amount of cider we’d make. The process I Read more…
Garlic
2025 Garlic at the farm
We’ve learned a lot in the last 3 years of growing garlic. What started last year as a bit of a disappointment with the curing process ended up with my Jumble Garlic planting and a really successful harvest for 2025. Read more…
Vineyard
The Vineyard
Looking back at the pictures, I’m realizing now that the vineyard planting we did this year (2025) was a long time in the making. While I mentioned the vineyard in my Getting ready for spring blog post earlier this year, Read more…
Maple Syrup
Maple Syrup Research
Long before we started making maple syrup at the farm (or before we even owned the farm) – our good friends Dan and Jackie told us stories of this incredible maple syrup shack that Jackie’s dad, Scott, worked at every Read more…
Cider
Wrapping up 2025
It’s hard to imagine that the last post I made here was in April. I guess it goes to show how fast time flies these days. I can’t believe 2025 is almost gone but I’m also looking forward to things Read more…
Orchard
Apple tree grafting 2025
I had intended on writing some more blogs about apple tree grafting this year but I’ll admit that between family, work, apple tree grafting, and maple syrup production I haven’t had as much free time to blog. I spent a Read more…
Maple Syrup
Maple Syrup finishing and bottling
Maple syrup season had a slow start for us this year. Last year the weather was right where we tapped the trees at the end of February and we did our first boil on March 3rd. This year we tapped Read more…