Mad Tom Orchard

We had beautiful weather for opening weekend – our biggest opening weekend yet – saw lots of good folks – virtually 100% of them wore masks at entry and check out and practiced social distancing – I was able to recognize a good percentage of them with the masks.

100 % of the Sansas and about 80 % of the Ginger Golds and Zestars were picked – the remaining ones will probably be gone before the weekend.  Macintosh and Galas are coming along well for the upcoming weekend.

Sylvia made 1200 donuts – all day Saturday and Sunday in the kitchen – more donuts next weekend.  We hope to be resupplied with cider on Wednesday afternoon.

Come see us for a respite from the lockup and enjoy some more good apples!!

Most folks figured out our new one way entry and  exit system.

We will start our normal hours 9:00 to 5:30 on Saturday & Sunday, then closed Monday and back open Tuesday thru Sunday.

Zestars , Sansas and Ginger Gold all look good (see photos).  MacIntosh in the old orchard are very tart – OK for baking – they will be riper in a week.  Galas are getting good color, but like the Macs, they need a week or ten days more before they get better flavor.  Honeycrisp and other varsities need more time yet – I will post as they ripen.

I picked up 50 gallons of cider today.  Zechers are bringing syrup tomorrow afternoon.  The trial run on donuts worked well last week – grandkids were pleased to find fifty donuts when they arrived.

Please check our safe picking policy – come help us start the season.

We are starting with the early apples – Zestars, Ginger Gold and Sansa all look good – there will be plenty of tart Macintosh as well.  As varieties ripen, I will post.  Honeycrisp and other varieties will be later in September.

We are setting up for a trial run on the donut machine and hope we can remember how it works !!  Hopefully we will have donuts on Saturdays and Sundays (only) until they run out.

Photo shows some nice Zestars ready to pick soon.

Please check our Safe Picking Policy.

Look forward to seeing you.

We are cleaning out the barn and setting up checkout stations so we can operate safely – I will post more details in about a week.

Apples continue to grow well AND grapevines also. Lots of work pulling vines out of the trees and getting the mowing done.

The young crows are sitting on the fence posts waiting for the Honeycrisps to ripen. The old crows know that the Zestars come first and the Honeycrisps will be later in September.

Look forward to seeing folks soon.

Apples are up to an inch or more in diameter and growing well.  Our irrigation system has been working overtime – rainfall for all of June and July so far is under 3 inches.  We reduce competition for water for the trees by keeping the grass mowed – yes it still grows even when it is dry.  Most of the crop has a good balance of fruit set on the tree, but we are having to do some hand thinning.

We are making plans on how to safely run pick your own sales this fall – we will have customers enter thru the gate beside the barn and check out going thru the barn.  We will ask you to use face covering as you enter and check out – there is ample room for social distancing in the orchard.  I will post more info as we get closer to harvest.

We (and our family) are all weathering the lockdown ok – we are fortunate to live in Vermont with relatively low levels of the Corona virus.

The photo shows some of the same Zestars with nice apples that were in bloom at the time of my post in May.  Put us on your calendar for the fall.