cider apple orchards

Cider Apple Harvest 2014 Begins!

September 3, 2014

We’re busy here at Redbyrd these days; preparing the press for another season of apples coming down from the hopper, getting our Ag&Markets required washing machine hooked up, helping with the planning of another fantastic FLX Cider Week upcoming in October, and of course, beginning to pick those absolutely gorgeously beautiful apples! So busy, in fact, that rather than craft our own musings on harvest, we will borrow from our dear friend and fellow organic apple orchardist, Chris Negronida of West Haven […]

The Poetics of Fruit Thinning

June 19, 2013

It’s hard, but somebody’s got to do it!  Oh how easy it would be to let all those gorgeous fruitlets grow to fruition, smile smile.  They look so beautiful and full of potential.  It seems to go against nature in a certain sense to not let them fulfill their destiny, but alas…we are growing for great, intensely flavorful, and optimally healthy fruit.  Which means, with deep regret and the sincerest of apologies , not all them apples are meant to make it.  […]

Spring in the Finger Lakes

March 29, 2013

Here is where we were a year ago today… New trees already in the ground in our new orchard, grass turning green, the skies sunny and the air warm. Last year the daffodils were fully opened to the sun by March 17th… This year though, winter just does not want to let go. Here’s a photo of the new orchard taken just a couple of weeks ago. And we still have to wait a few more weeks before we can even think […]