Trimming the Orchard

Pruned to Perfection!

With the rapid warmup of the weather all of our snow has done a  nice disappearing act which forces a person to just do more work!  Spring is the time to trim my apple trees and usually the earlier the better so it became my project for the weekend.  Apples love to be trimmed as it helps in preventing diseases by opening up the inside of the tree for better air circulation, helps in turning the apples read as they receive more sunlight, and it makes spraying and harvesting the apples much easier.  If you look at the orchards, they really trim the trees down for exactly the same reasons. Last year's late snow cover and very wet spring was hard on the trees as the are in low spot by the pole shed.  I had 2 full grown Fireside trees that I left planted close to each other to the point where it was getting difficult to deal with them.  Never wanting to cut anything living down, one of them slowly wilted until all the leaves were gone, I guess Mother Nature did what I couldn't do until the tree was dead!  I do think the other tree is happier now, we will see.  The other thing that pruning the tree accomplishes is it helps to even out the every other year cycle of lot's of apples, not so many apples.  2013 was a banner year for my trees with more apples than I knew what to do with.  Combined with the wet spring and a cold start to May, 2014 was a total bust for apples, enough to stop spraying them, it just wasn't worth the time.  This year should be a great one as we are back on the good side of the cycle.  One other thing that I did was finally cut off any branches that interfered with my head while mowing.  Sometimes I'd go along on my mower, not thinking then WHACK, sometimes almost getting thrown from the lawn mower, and I can guarantee that it doesn't feel very good at all.  Those bottom branches never produce much anyway!  I have 12 full grown apple and pear trees and it takes about 45 minutes to complete one tree.   Our friend, Bruce Amundson's daughters have been putting honey bees in the back of our property for years and I was glad to hear they called and asked if we were interested again.  Not only are we interested but for years I have been offering to pay for the bees as I know they are not cheap and I really get the benefit.  This year they agreed to allow me to help which I think is perfect.  With all of the trees pruned and the bees verified, all we need now is the weather to keep moving in the right direction.  As for Dewey Ness, my friend in NW Wisconsin, I will make sure there are enough apples for you!

Fort Sumter Cannon

My friend Pete wanted me to take him on the Mississippi River on Sunday but even with the 55 degree weather the ice was still pretty thick and besides, it would take me a day to get the boat ready anyway.  I was thinking about going ice fishing but instead spent most of the day doing a few minor repairs to my Salem like fixing the electrical access cable hatch then insulating it from the inside, replacing the removable shackle pins with stainless steel ones, and thinking about putting mud flaps on the fenders to prevent so much salt from hitting the lifting jacks.  As well, there is a lot of things to get packed before this weekend's trip to Charleston, especially finding everything.  Cleaning the coolers to bring my Walter's beer and cheese with to digging up my summer fishing clothes as the forecast for Sunday is 75 and sunny.   Charleston is a very historic city and is where the first shots were fired at Fort Sumter which started the Civil War.  We arrive about 4:00 in the afternoon on Saturday and leave on Monday morning with an 8:00AM - 4:00PM charter on Sunday.  This should leave some time to visit some of the historical sites around town and enjoy a little southern hospitality.  I am planning on taking my GoPro camera and hopefully get some good action shots of our fishing trip on the inshore reefs.  It is interesting that our fishing license is covered by the captains charter license so it's great that we don't have to spend any more money on that.  We all have to be back in Charlotte, North Carolina for our annual APEC conference which is the premier event for our company.  It's a good opportunity to see all of my friends in the business, both competitors and our raw material suppliers.  I have only been to Charlotte once in my life, it was in the 90's and I spent a July weekend with my good friend Rick Semingson at his place in Blue Ridge, Georgia.  Flying into Atlanta, he picked me up and toured the countryside as we made our way north.  The next day we headed across the Blue Ridge Mountains through Highlands before heading to Charlotte.   Having never been to this area of the country it was beautiful to say the least.  Although very hot in Atlanta, Rick's place was 2000 feet higher and cooled down at night very well.  I was really taken back by the Cicada's at night as the noise was deafening yet charming.  Rick's retired now and maybe with a little luck we can get together again sometime.
Hopefully next weeks adventure lives up to my expectation, which is nothing more than to have a little fun.

Pickin' With Dave

 My weekends are consumed with spending as much time with my dad as possible.  Time is against us so I am making the best of it.  This weekend also marked the opening of Blueberry Ridge Orchard, where you can pick your own blueberry's by the truckload if you so desire.  My brother Steve and mom have been picking here last year and claimed it was pretty easy to fill up a 5 quart ice cream bucket full of beautiful blueberries.  Sunday morning I headed north towards Eau Claire on Hwy 93 to the old Darrell Hageness farm.  When I lived in Eleva and worked for Vic, Darrell was a good friend and a very nice man.  He had suffered quite extensive burns while working at the Paper Mill in Eau Claire and he was going back to school for accounting at the same time I was going there for electronics.  The farm is visible from Hwy 93 and he often had a word cut into the hay field for everyone to read.  Darrell has since passed away however I was delighted to find out that his daughter and family were still on the farm and had started the orchard featuring U-pick blueberries.  And pick there is!  My brother and mom had been there on Saturday morning picking 8 ice cream buckets.  Parking in the field, I was pointed in the right direction and picked 6 ice cream buckets in about an hour.  The berries were huge, some as big around as a quarter.  I have a number of blueberry plants, the same variety but nothing like these.  Sweet and bursting with flavor, I ended up going back in the afternoon to get another 2 buckets worth.  I thought the prices were very reasonable as well.  At $1.85/pound, an ice cream full of berries weighs about 6.5 pounds and cost about $12.00.  Comparing to the bland berries you buy at the store for $3.00 a pint, the equivalent amount would have cost you $30.00.   The picture on the right gives a great example of how loaded the bushes are with berries.  If you are in the area check out Mark and Andrea Nyseth's Orchard and pick a few pails (they freeze really well!).  They are the nicest people and you will leave very satisfied.   You can visit their website at http://www.blueberryridge-orchard.com/

So, weekends back home has left little time for fishing.  With the Mississippi River finally settling down to a manageable level (it is still pretty high and fast), my neighbor Lory and I decided to try out the Jon boat for the first time this year.  Loading up the boat and using my ATV, we simply drove to the neighbors house, through the horse pasture, and used his landing.  This take all but 5 minutes before you're in the water.  With the current still fast and 2 guys in the boat, we hit a whooping 10 mph running upstream.  Zig Zagging the river, looking for holes, our strategy was to run upriver as far as practical, drift back down fishing the rivers edge before anchoring close to the landing and trying for catfish, carp, or whatever enjoys a nice nightcrawler.  About 3 miles up we stopped, put on a couple of artificial lures and started casting.  My first choice was a shallow running Bomber A crankbait in fire tiger.  On the very first cast a small smallmouth bass inhaled it.  A nice start.  3 minutes later and 200 yards downstream I casted in front of a downed tree and this nice 17 incher grabbed the lure and put on an aerial display.  Lory finally got it in the net after about a minute and was taking my picture.  Releasing the fish we proceeded to follow the shore, casting tight and bringing it back.  With the water high and fast current, the fish were hanging tight.  By the time we arrived at our designated catfish hole the total was 6 smallies caught and released.  Not bad!  Our catfish hole was located where a side channel met up with the main river and formed a large current slack.  The edges of these slacks can be super productive.  The hole itself was about 14 feet deep so once anchored I rigged my casting reel with a 3/4 ounce bell sinker, snap, and a 2 foot leader with a circle hook at the end.  A fat and sassy crawler threaded on the hook I casted into the current edge.  It wasn't 5 minutes later when my pole almost went over the side.  Grabbing the rod I could tell it was a nice fish and within a few minutes the catfish showed itself.  After netting, unhooking, and snapping a picture, I released it back to fight again.  Because the line broke at the hook I retied, rebaited, and back out to the current break.  This time I wasn't going to chance losing my prized rod so I hung onto the pole waiting for that tell tale tug.  It wasn't long before something was yanking pretty hard.  The reel was in freespool so I let the fish run about 6 feet before reeling straight in, the proper method for circle hooks.  Well this fish was significantly larger than the first catfish however after about 10 seconds the line broke.  Although I did retie again it was getting late so we left.  The river is an exciting place to be.  We saw 2 immature eagles perch right above our heads while an osprey screeched it displeasure with our presence another half mile down stream.  It a great resource, one that is close to home and provides excellent fishing.

I will be heading back to Eleva this weekend to see dad, pick some more blueberries, and my good friend Rick Semingson from Blue Ridge, Georgia is coming home for a wedding.  Rick was a class mate of mine and I am always excited to see him.  He's lived in the south for over 30 years now and has developed quite a Southern Drawl.  My friend Charlie is suppose to be here for my annual trip with him and as well I am scheduled to go to San Francisco.  It's looking to be a busy next 10 days.