PRUNING ALMOST DONE

We have made a lot of headway in the two months since I last posted.  Most of the pruning is done – in  the photo below we are working on the Zestars up near the road.  Many things need to go well to make a good harvest, but there appear to be a good quantity of fruit buds which is the first step in getting a good crop. Once the pruning is done, then the next big task is picking up all the brush and feeding it thru the chipper. 

Yesterday for PI day Sylvia baked one of the dozen Zestar pies that we made in September and froze for use over the winter.  The early ripening Zestars  spicy flavor make them our favorite pie apple.  Watch our web and Facebook in late August for date of early apple weekend at the beginning of September because Zestars get picked out quickly.

In addition to orchard work, I have made very good headway with the immunotherapy treatments at the Dana Farber in Boston.  CT scans at our February visit indicated very good progress – the Doctor showed us impressive side by side comparison views with scans from last September.  So our next visit to Boston is not until June and I am thru taking the long infusions – four daily pills with will continue until fall.

Hope all of you are able to deal with the coronavirus challenges well – we are fortunate to be able to do our work outside our front door.

 

PRUNING IS UNDERWAY

We are taking advantage of any days when the weather is reasonable to get some pruning done.  There are good fruit buds on the trees as we start a new crop year.

November and December have been busy with continued weekly trips for chemo at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.  My SSL (small lymphocytic lymphoma) is responding well and I continue to tolerate the treatments ok.  We are now down to monthly trips.  Our two daughters (and their families) who live in Walpole MA have provided lots of help with transportation and a place to stay.

Today we enjoying a beautiful fresh six inch  snowfall while watching the woodstove and celebrating almost 21 years back in Vermont.  Pruning will resume when the sun comes out.