June 2, 2010
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The Fruit Tree Stripping Begins…..
TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM
Today we had to start the sad job of taking all the fruit off the trees. The Beast isn’t leaving for North Carolina until Friday morning so we hope to get the trees in the back done before he goes. So far, we got three trees done, including cleaning up the fruit underneath. I even found some of the stones and mummified fruit from last year.I read the information the Beast found about the problem and it just made me nauseous. The wet weather from last year started all this off and the fact that the Beast just left the rotten fruit on the trees and the fruit that fell off lay down underneath. That gave the fungus food to grow on. As we were picking off the fruit, I found branches that are just black with the fungus. Those will all have to be cut off and thrown into garbage bags and trashed (or burned they suggested). I’m sure large orchards would have to do that if they got this since there would be a heck of a lot more trees to deal with.
What really got to me was the fact that we have probably 20# or more of fruit that is no bigger than a quarter, most smaller. That’s from three trees. If they had been healthy and gotten to normal sizes, it would mean more than 100# of fruit I could have canned. If you could see all the other peaches, the cherries, apples, pears and plums, you would cry. It’s just so damned sad. I can’t even imagine how a farmer that had this happen to his orchard could stand it.
I will work on the other trees while the Beast is gone. It’s mainly because I truly WANT the trees to survive and be able to produce good fruit for us. But for now, all the fruit must go. *Sob*
Sheepie was helping strip the fruit and one of the nectarine trees is located at the corner of the wooden fence. To get at some of the fruit in the corner, she had to break up a spider web. She looked around and couldn’t see the spider so she took a stick and knocked the horizontal web down. She started to duck under the branches to get at the fruit she could see when, suddenly, the spider ran out from the corner towards her. Well, you would have died laughing to see how fast that girl can move, screaming all the way. I cracked up because she thought it was HUGE and it was really just about two inches (legs included). That was it for her….no more corners.
If we can get the trees in back before the Beast leaves and a couple of the ones out front, it will be a big break. The Beast is spraying the trees after we strip them along with the ground underneath.
We might have gotten more done today except the baby got sent home from pre-school. No, she wasn’t bad. She had a low-grade fever and they have something called Fifth’s Syndrome going around. It’s also called *Slapped face fever* and there is often a low grade fever that comes and goes for a few days then a rash that is mostly on the face (hence, slapped face). Until they break out in the rash, they are contagious. However, some children don’t get the rash so they say they must be fever-free for a full 24 hours before coming back to school. I guess that means I get the baby tomorrow. If the weather is good, she will just have to join us outside.
Sheepie is over at the Princess’s house now helping her pack up some things for her move next week. It’s not something the Princess enjoys (and she’s really bad at packing, too) but she will learn. With the many times Sheepie has moved, maybe she can teach the Princess a thing or two. Who knows?
I love you all and hope you have a great day. Wish you were here to give us a hand. Too damned many trees to do. *Sigh*
