Meeting Place Organic Farm

Huron County, Ontario

The apples in full bloom (May 28th this year). We inherited this small semidwarf Mcintosh and Spy orchard, planted in 1960 and have diversified into scab resistant varieties like Nova Mac, Nova Spy, Freedom, Liberty, Priscilla, and Prima which are just starting to bear. Mcintosh is a poor choice for organic management as it is highly scab susceptible. Orcharding is very labour intensive with peak periods being pruning in March, periodic pasturing with sheep all summer, and harvesting in late September and October. This area has already been pastured once by the sheep.