08/27/2025
Almost the end of August and Facebook tells me it's actually been 92 days since my last post 😮! What a different year it has been.
As some of you may be aware, farming in Nova Scotia has been increasingly a challenge financially, so I have been working towards a university degree and working off farm more and more to meet the challenges - side note, highly recommend university in your 50's; it's a blast! But that does come with significant demands on my time, hence the decision to end the adopt-a-tree program; the amount of personal time for each tree is more than most people would realize. Part of me was sad to see it go, but part of me was sure it was time to do so.
Turns out I was right! This year would have been extremely difficult to run the program given the weather conditions we've been dealt!! With the extremely dry conditions, no significant rain since June and even that month was below average, couple with the extreme heat events we have had, has been a huge stress on the apple trees, and makes me very concerned for the crop overall.
I've attached a few pictures to try and give a glimpse of what is happening with the orchard, though it isn't really adequately captured in a picture. Essentially, the trees are going dormant, putting their resources into self preservation, stopping the growth of their fruit and dropping their leaves as though it is fall, though I suspect there will be some dead trees at the end of this huge stresser. Weather conditions this fall and winter will have a huge influence on tree survivability into next year.
So what does that mean for the crop? Time will tell in the end, but early varieties certainly are affected. I do have a few Gravenstein trees whose roots are close enough to a water source that they may give me a few apples, but time is running out. For later varieties, if we're were to start getting steady rain, and enough of it, then varieties such as honeycrisp have a chance, though there has been no real growth since late July on them and they have a lot of catching up to do.
Basically, it is a wait and see game and the apple industry is not alone. Every crop grown in the Annapolis Valley is being hit hard. Many farms have the ability to irrigate, especially for ground crops such as vegetables, but even those water sources are running dry. And if a farm didn't already have irrigation equipment it isn't the kind of setup you can run out and easily install.
So, as we move closer to harvest, we'll just face the challenge that comes and I encourage all of you to visit your local farm markets; some local grower are doing a great job in a really challenging time!
You may also notice the odd look to the colour of the photos attached; they were taken with the glare of the Long Lake fire behind me. Makes harvest troubles seem a little trivial really.
