The morning staff meeting.

Life on the Farm

The morning staff meeting. Most mornings the management staff meeting consists of Dad sitting at his desk, then I walk in and lean on the door frame to his office with my insulated coffee tumbler. I'll ask, "Anything special going on today?" and we'll talk through his list and mine as we endeavor to pilot the Maple Lawn Farms ship through the season.

We're soon joined by Dad's farm staff, one by one, looking for their assignments, but I like those first few minutes. Today we were talking about the apple crop and how we can continue our transition from producing for packing houses to producing for you, directly.

We discussed the loss we took on our peach crop, burned up in the July sun and heat. It seems, though, that this will be a good season for pick your own apples. The weather already feels like fall, especially in the mornings.

Branches hanging low. As farmers, we have had a lot of challenges this season with a big winter, late spring, hot July, blah, blah, blah. BUT, I'm telling you, it warms our hearts to see branches hanging low, loaded with fruit!

Record picking times. I think you know that our dwarf trees are low to the ground, seldom are ladders needed. You might be surprised to know how quickly you can pick a basket of fruit.

If you wanted a 1/2 bushel of apples from one of our trees this year, it will take you about five minutes - picking all by yourself! That's fast. You might want to slow down on purpose to sample an apple (yes, samples are allowed for pickers.)

The orchards and market are open M-Sat 8AM-6PM, Sun 1PM-7PM.

The weekend weather looks absolutely gorgeous! After last year's rained-out October, don't hesitate when a good weekend smiles upon you.

You never know what tomorrow (or next weekend) may bring.

Talk to you next week,
Farmer Hugh

PS If you know of a Preschool class that might like to join us this fall, find all the information on the web site.