2022, 2023 Fruit seasons

[Mooseherder]

The Moose have eaten 6 of the 7 Apple trees I planted a year ago.  I dunno why the 7th tree was spared.   There was practically no Raspberries this year also.   

[newoodguy78]

Picked up some of these the other day when grabbing seed. Not sure how I'd never crossed paths with them before as I really like fresh peaches.
 Donut peaches , whole lot of peach flavor in a little package. 

[SwampDonkey]

Sure love peaches here. Been eating 2 basket fulls a week now for 3 weeks. :D

Last year the new raspberries canes were hit hard by a shoot moth. They don't hit the fruit barring canes. But last years canes are what bares this year so we had a low crop. I did notice a small number of new canes that grew fast and bore fruit this year. Probably not unusual, but I have not took notice of it in the past. But this year the canes grew nice and tall and no shoot moths. So next summer will be the mother lode. :D Plus my patch is just starting to get going, new rows I transplanted 4 years ago. They produce huge berries on the bigger stronger canes. Black berries got hit to by the moth and winter kill. But I don't have many of those, just enough for maybe a large ziplock freezer bag. I like to use them in the elderberry juice.

Never bothered the rhubarb this year for juice, I let them rest this year. And they have never put up a seed stalk. I suspect some plants are sterile and never seed. They never have since I started the patch in the garden. And they get all kinds of manure as well as a good weeding in the spring and a cup of triple 15. And I have had to water them, not this year. They definitely get attention. ;D

Grapes? I've got the mother lode on them. Be picking in 4 weeks. No frost damage this spring.

[SwampDonkey]

Another 4 lbs of elderberries this morning. I think another 4 lbs next week will finish up the crop and let the birds have some. The blue jays and wax wings are sure active this week around the yard. ;D

[bigblockyeti]

The Moose have eaten 6 of the 7 Apple trees I planted a year ago.  I dunno why the 7th tree was spared.   There was practically no Raspberries this year also.  

That's unfortunate but at the same time when I see a tasty animal eating my future harvest it reminds me there is a way to grow meat on a tree.

I took my wife apple picking in western NC yesterday on Thursday and the weather couldn't have been better.  We went to one of the orchards we've gone to a few times in the past.  McIntosh & honey crisp apples were ready to go so we picked a peck containing both for an obscene price I have to remind myself is 30% fruit and 70% agritainment.  The apples were very good though.

[SwampDonkey]

Concord grapes. Not long now, a 2-3 weeks probably for them to ripen and sweeten up good.

[SwampDonkey]

Those Cortlands sure made a nice pie. The apples I thought would not cook up to a sauce-like mixture, but was surprised they did. Must be that Carleton county soil. ;D Mother said when it was warm out of the oven yesterday she had a compulsion to eat the whole pie herself. :D Served with ice cream on top. ;)

[thecfarm]

That would be my serving a few years back, half a pie.
Wife use to make one about 3 inches high.

[sawguy21]

I am addicted to apple pie   8). Spartans seem to do best, they are a firm apple that don't turn to mush when cooked. Also, one of my favorites for eating fresh. They don't seem to be doing well this year, fruit yields are down due to a hot dry summer. Neighbor got 40 lb of prune plums compared to 150 a year ago, another got ONE apple off his tree. :-\
  

[Jeff]

Bluejays decimated my wolf river apples. Pecked the tops out of almost all of them. 

[newoodguy78]

Once birds get a taste of something they like they've got nothing but time. It's incredible what a flock of birds will do to a field of sweet corn. Absolutely devastate it. 

[SwampDonkey]

There are truckloads of wild apples around here. There is an old farm down the road that grew up mostly in apple trees. I even see a wild crabbe apple beside the road, little red apples. Every line fence up here on these old farms has apple trees to no end. The New Brunswicker apples I planted 35 years ago were loaded. One tree had to be pole pruned, because the limbs got heavy and broke a big limb to the ground. You could probably have filled 4 cribs off them 2 trees. Been a normal summer here, no scarcity of water. Just had 2" this week. But nowhere is there muck holes, they have been bailing straw this year like gang busters. Even the neighbor, who has never made straw since he's been here, bought the choppings from the farm around the house and has put up round bailed. Most straw I have seen elsewhere is still doing square bales. Big stacks all tarped.

[SwampDonkey]

Picked the last of the elders this morning, probably a lb. Birds ate a lot of what I was thinking would be 4 lbs. Doesn't take long with blue jays, robins and cedar waxwings. Anyway, thawing 8 lbs to press for syrup. They don't make a lot of juice like say a raspberry would. We'll see.  I reduce it a little and she thickens up. If I reduce it more it hardens to jelly. Good either way. ;)

[SwampDonkey]

Two half pints of black elder syrup from 8 lbs of berries. Cold pressed from thawed berries by hand before cooking. The tomato press idea did not work. After the juice is extracted about 3.5 pints: Cinnamon stick, a 1/4 cup lemon juice, 1/2 cup of sugar and reduced.

[SwampDonkey]

The elderberry syrup pour. ;D

https://youtu.be/NEDL_9n29h8

[SwampDonkey]

Picked, stemmed and froze 34 lbs of concord grapes for juice and jelly making later.

[SwampDonkey]

Black elderberry and concord grape.

10 long neck bottles sealed for storage and one 2 quart jar to refrigerate for now.

[kantuckid]

My experience as a winemaker is that concord grape wine is drinkable for sure but has a whang I dislike. There is one commercial brand, Olivar in IN, that is the best I've found. They found a way to bring out the best flavor from Concord wine. It's not just a me thing, it's been discussed on winemaker forums. 
Elderberrys are the other fruit I've not cared for the aftertaste. 
Call it my tastebuds but I don't make it either. 
One of our sons who a vegan makes a tincture from elderberries will live to be a grand old age huh? :D 
I like frozen grapes eaten out of hand, including concords. Grandkids eat frozen blueberries often. 

[SwampDonkey]

Concord are too seedy to eat out of hand for me. Elderberries have to be cold pressed and not cooked with the seeds in. I freeze them first and then thaw and use one of them perforated cones with wooden paddle you roll around to squeeze out the juice. I find no after taste from concord grape juice. I thaw frozen berries on the stove but don't cook them. The juice isn't hot, barely warm. When boiling the juice, I add some sugar, but not making it sweet like soda pop. I throw in a piece of cinnamon bark when boiling the mixture up. ;D Like anything else, soil it's grown in affects flavour.   Some people sell it around here at farm markets, upwards of $16 a 750 ml bottle. I'd never pay more than $6, so I have to make my own. :D

Elderberry syrup looks like dark choc syrup with a berry taste. Liquid black gold. Mine is more concentrated that you can buy. The regular stuff costs a fortune.  Tedious berry to pick. I just cut off the umbel and sit at my lawn chair to remove the berries. Might as well be comfy.  ;D

I have 5 cups of raw grape juice for jelly making sometime soon.

[Magicman]

 Looks like @Marty is gonna have some Blueberries so helped him out by picking a hat full for my breakfast cereal for the next few mornings.  

[SwampDonkey]

Edited title to carry on as suggested by the MagicMan.

I'll be picking raspberries in 4 weeks. Tons of flowers and lots of canes this year. Blackberries had some winter kill on some canes, dead tops. But I see blossoms on the survivors. I don't want a lot of them, just a couple small patches.
Had lots of blooms on the currants and plums, we'll see how they make out. And the grapes are going gangbusters now, flowers out and some shoots are already 3 feet long. Also the elders are just beginning to bud for flowers, by the end of the month of first part of July they will be in full bloom. There is already lots of new long shoots.

[Downstream]

We have picked about 6 gal of strawberries this season and we are just about done for the year since we have June bearing.  Half are in the freezer already and a quarter have been turned into jam and the other quarter have been consumed as a constant string of strawberry sundaes.  We pulled the netting system that I used to keep the squirrels out so they can have a few of the leftovers.  Next up is black raspberries and then shortly after that the new blackberries we planted this year are starting to put fruit on.  It was dry up until yesterday and then we got about 1.75 inches of steady rain over the day so we should be good for near future.

[SwampDonkey]

Raspberries in bloom and honey bees everywhere today.

[SwampDonkey]

I've jarred 4 bottles of rhubarb juice this month, one jar is a gallon. Enough for this season. The older plants are gigantic this year with flower spikes now over 6 feet tall. :D I could make some more but don't want to stress them out. ;D

[Wlmedley]

SwampDonkey,what's the rules on picking rhubarb?I set out two plants this year and it's doing good but I don't know if I should pick any stems off this year or wait till next year.