Fruit Trees
Well in the last three posts I have talked about some of the different livestock we will have on the homestead but it takes more then meat and eggs to keep us going (there is probably about half the members of my family who and having serious doubts that it is really me writing that!). We have decided to plant fruit and nut trees for various reasons, as I mentioned in an earlier post I would like everything we do have multiple uses on the homestead. The fruit and nut trees are no exception. I am going to go off subject here to tell you about the area where we are setting up our homestead but rest assured I will circle back around. My wife's parents have a little less then 320 acres total. We will be getting a little less then 40 acres of that. A lot of that land years ago was farm land but there is also somewhere about 60 acres that is native prairie and woodland. The tract that we are planning on building the homestead on is a good combination of all three. A few of the family members including myself like to hunt deer on the woodland and I like to walk it looking for small game on occasion as well. That being said, something that is also going into my plans is a way to help sustain and invite more of that wildlife into the area. The key word for both my table and homestead is variety, everything sustains and supports everything else. Now back to the fruits.
Apples
Apples will fit into numerous parts of our overall plan. The apples will supplement food for the pigs well into the winter months (some apples will kept up to 8 months in a cool environment). The pigs will of course not be the only ones the apples will supplement of course. I am sure we will find them very tasty as well. The wildlife, especially the deer will also enjoy a tasty treat in the applies as well as birds. Fallen applies that are not scooped up will attract insects that the chickens will feast on as well as serve as treats for the birds. Now a challenge in Minnesota is of course is to find fruit trees that can do well in the Minnesota winters. Surprisingly there is a wide variety of apple trees that do well in fruit hardiness region 3 where we are in the middle of. We will actually plant about 9 different variety of apple trees that should produce fruit from late Aug to the November time frame. The apple trees will also help provide pollen to the bees which do need a variety of pollen sources to stay healthy. We will probably plant about 24 apple trees in total to start in 3 groups of 8 trees each.
Cherries
Cherries are another fruit great for wildlife to include birds and small mammals. Cherries are also one of the few fruits Terri enjoys so this was kind of a no brainer for me. The downside with Cherries are that the trees need to be kept away from the Cattle as the leaves can be harmful to them so these will probably be in the back yard rather then out near the woodlands. Cherries also do not seem to have the same variety that can handle the cold weather so we are limited to only a couple varieties and most of those are more the sour variety. On the good side the sour varieties are self pollinating so not having a variety does not hurt so much. We will probably go with a total of 4 trees in 2 varieties for now. The two varieties we are looking at is the Bali cherry and the Sweet cherry pie cherry.
Pears
Pears are the fruit I am most concerned about in Mn, I have read there are a couple of varieties that do ok in zone 3 however most blogs I have read with actual experience has the jury still out. I am going to go with three pear trees of different varieties to see how each of them survive. The Ure pear and the early gold pear both produce small fruit that ripen in the Aug/Sept time frame. Unlike Apples pears do not seem to keep as long, even under ideal situations they will only store for 1-2 months in a root cellar. The other type of pear I will be trying I am pretty sure will not survive and it is the Starling Hardy Giant Asian Pear. I do love Asian pears so I am just trying this one to see if it will work. Pears are also another favorite of deer and of course will supplement the piggies.
The fruit trees are actually the one part of our plan we can start sooner rather then later. We will procure the trees from a local nursery in fertile rather then order them from elsewhere as we want trees that are already acclimatized to the MN weather. We are actually hoping to put the trees in the ground this coming April, that will give them 2 full years before we return to retire. A couple of the apple varieties will actually already be producing fruit by the time we return with the remainder producing within 3-4 years we return. We will be limited to the areas we can plant in this Spring as a portion of the land is still in CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) and we can not plant on it until it comes out about the same time as my retirement. So if all goes to plan we will probably plant about 30 trees this spring! Wish us luck!
Well in the last three posts I have talked about some of the different livestock we will have on the homestead but it takes more then meat and eggs to keep us going (there is probably about half the members of my family who and having serious doubts that it is really me writing that!). We have decided to plant fruit and nut trees for various reasons, as I mentioned in an earlier post I would like everything we do have multiple uses on the homestead. The fruit and nut trees are no exception. I am going to go off subject here to tell you about the area where we are setting up our homestead but rest assured I will circle back around. My wife's parents have a little less then 320 acres total. We will be getting a little less then 40 acres of that. A lot of that land years ago was farm land but there is also somewhere about 60 acres that is native prairie and woodland. The tract that we are planning on building the homestead on is a good combination of all three. A few of the family members including myself like to hunt deer on the woodland and I like to walk it looking for small game on occasion as well. That being said, something that is also going into my plans is a way to help sustain and invite more of that wildlife into the area. The key word for both my table and homestead is variety, everything sustains and supports everything else. Now back to the fruits.
Apples
Apples will fit into numerous parts of our overall plan. The apples will supplement food for the pigs well into the winter months (some apples will kept up to 8 months in a cool environment). The pigs will of course not be the only ones the apples will supplement of course. I am sure we will find them very tasty as well. The wildlife, especially the deer will also enjoy a tasty treat in the applies as well as birds. Fallen applies that are not scooped up will attract insects that the chickens will feast on as well as serve as treats for the birds. Now a challenge in Minnesota is of course is to find fruit trees that can do well in the Minnesota winters. Surprisingly there is a wide variety of apple trees that do well in fruit hardiness region 3 where we are in the middle of. We will actually plant about 9 different variety of apple trees that should produce fruit from late Aug to the November time frame. The apple trees will also help provide pollen to the bees which do need a variety of pollen sources to stay healthy. We will probably plant about 24 apple trees in total to start in 3 groups of 8 trees each.
 |
| WODARZ Apples |
Cherries
Cherries are another fruit great for wildlife to include birds and small mammals. Cherries are also one of the few fruits Terri enjoys so this was kind of a no brainer for me. The downside with Cherries are that the trees need to be kept away from the Cattle as the leaves can be harmful to them so these will probably be in the back yard rather then out near the woodlands. Cherries also do not seem to have the same variety that can handle the cold weather so we are limited to only a couple varieties and most of those are more the sour variety. On the good side the sour varieties are self pollinating so not having a variety does not hurt so much. We will probably go with a total of 4 trees in 2 varieties for now. The two varieties we are looking at is the Bali cherry and the Sweet cherry pie cherry.
 |
| Bali Cherries |
Pears
Pears are the fruit I am most concerned about in Mn, I have read there are a couple of varieties that do ok in zone 3 however most blogs I have read with actual experience has the jury still out. I am going to go with three pear trees of different varieties to see how each of them survive. The Ure pear and the early gold pear both produce small fruit that ripen in the Aug/Sept time frame. Unlike Apples pears do not seem to keep as long, even under ideal situations they will only store for 1-2 months in a root cellar. The other type of pear I will be trying I am pretty sure will not survive and it is the Starling Hardy Giant Asian Pear. I do love Asian pears so I am just trying this one to see if it will work. Pears are also another favorite of deer and of course will supplement the piggies.
 |
| Asian Pear |
The fruit trees are actually the one part of our plan we can start sooner rather then later. We will procure the trees from a local nursery in fertile rather then order them from elsewhere as we want trees that are already acclimatized to the MN weather. We are actually hoping to put the trees in the ground this coming April, that will give them 2 full years before we return to retire. A couple of the apple varieties will actually already be producing fruit by the time we return with the remainder producing within 3-4 years we return. We will be limited to the areas we can plant in this Spring as a portion of the land is still in CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) and we can not plant on it until it comes out about the same time as my retirement. So if all goes to plan we will probably plant about 30 trees this spring! Wish us luck!
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