I started a small orchard a couple of years ago but, after a horrible spring last year, it hasn't produced a crop yet. The older trees will be 3 years old this spring and I'm hopeful that they'll set fruit. I have apples, pears, plums, sour cherries and a peach/nectarine or two. There are about 50 trees in the ground now but I'll plant two dozen more this spring and will probably top out at about 100 trees next spring.
I think that there are some government grants available for commercial organic farm operations around here and I'll probably check into it but I'm not interested in a lot of government rules/regulations that I have to follow and I'm not convinced that I want the bother of proving that I'm a commercial operation.
So far I mostly have varieties that are best suited for fresh eating, at least with the apples. I have Honeycrisp, Jonagold, Empire, Gala, Spartan, Northern Spy, Pristine and a probably a few others that I'm forgetting, mostly on G16 rootstocks. I also have Aurora, Bartlett, Collette, Harvest Queen and Seckel pears, Balaton and Surefire sour cherries and Longjohn, Greengage and Stanley plums along with Saturn peach and Fantasia nectarines.
I think that there are some government grants available for commercial organic farm operations around here and I'll probably check into it but I'm not interested in a lot of government rules/regulations that I have to follow and I'm not convinced that I want the bother of proving that I'm a commercial operation.
So far I mostly have varieties that are best suited for fresh eating, at least with the apples. I have Honeycrisp, Jonagold, Empire, Gala, Spartan, Northern Spy, Pristine and a probably a few others that I'm forgetting, mostly on G16 rootstocks. I also have Aurora, Bartlett, Collette, Harvest Queen and Seckel pears, Balaton and Surefire sour cherries and Longjohn, Greengage and Stanley plums along with Saturn peach and Fantasia nectarines.