Updates From The Farm

Notes from the Field: Week of July 8

Notes from the Field: Week of July 8

This week we’re harvesting currants, working on grape canopy management, continuing pest management in apples and pears, rennovating June Bearing strawberries, weeding and applying mid-season foliar and drip irrigation applied fertilizers.  Fruit/Bud/Tree Development...

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Notes from the Field: Week of July 1

Notes from the Field: Week of July 1

Methley plums sized and showing the very first signs of ripening.This week we’re beginning to harvest a few new crops on the farm – ribes and cherries! We’re balancing harvests with weed management (strawberry weeding post-harvest, and lots of weedwhacking and mowing...

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Notes from the Field: Week of June 24th

Notes from the Field: Week of June 24th

Ripening Pink Champagne currants.This week top of mind is summer pruning on pome trees (especially apples), fungal and insect pest management, fertility management in young trees and grapes especially, and preparations for more harvests to come. While things are all a...

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Featured Fruit: Ribes

Featured Fruit: Ribes

Some of the more unusual and delicious fruits we grow at Cloud Mountain Farm Center are those belonging to the genus “Ribes”. Pronounced rye-bees, we use the term “Ribes” to refer to the many varieties of currants, gooseberries, and jostaberries that grow here on the...

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Notes from the Field: Week of June 17th

Notes from the Field: Week of June 17th

Fruit Set on Kiwi BerriesThis week we’re coming through yet another cool wet period. There are some warm dry days in the forecast for later this week which will be much appreciated, but it looks like we will continue to have relatively rainy and cool conditions...

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Notes from the Field: Week of June 10th

Notes from the Field: Week of June 10th

Kiwi berries in bloom.This week we’re keeping busy with fruit thinning, strawberry harvest, starting some summer pruning on young apples, and doing some burning of left-over stone fruit prunings before the weather turns too dry for such things. We’ll also be doing...

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Top 5 Tips for Pollinator-Friendly Pest Management

Top 5 Tips for Pollinator-Friendly Pest Management

 Metallic green sweat bee pollinating Douglas' meadowfoam in Nursery Co-Manager Edward's Bellingham gardenPollinators are some of your greatest allies when it comes to your home garden and orchard – not to mention the essential role they play for the whole ecosystem....

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Notes from the Field: Week of June 3rd

Notes from the Field: Week of June 3rd

Gravenstein apples sizing quickly.This week we've got fruit set and sizing on the brain - we'll be doing our first harvest of the season (June-bearing strawberries are right on time) and working to get quickly-sizing apples and peaches fruit thinned. The wet, cool...

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Notes from the Field: Week of May 27th

Notes from the Field: Week of May 27th

First red strawberry off our June-BearersThis week we're back in the prolonged PNW spring with plenty of rain holding off the need to irrigate. We started this early spring about 2 weeks ahead of last year in terms of tree development and degree days, but the cool...

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Notes from the Field: Week of May 20

Notes from the Field: Week of May 20

An impressive fruit strig on a Rovada Red Currant.This week top of mind is managing early season fertility, pest and disease, as well as catching up on mowing, cover crop seeding, and understory management. With trees leafing out we’re seeing signs of spring insect...

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Notes from the Field: May 13th, 2024

Notes from the Field: May 13th, 2024

Rapidly sizing Methley plumsThis week we’re getting after the early summer blitz of tasks brought forth by the beautiful weather we had last weekend. Grape shoot thinning, irrigation setup, weed management, hydromulch application, foliar fertilizer sprays and cover...

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