Trees

Real quick I wanted to "document" the trees that we ordered this year for our orchard. I got a catalog from St. Lawrence Nurseries after reading lots of good things about their trees from places all over the internet. They seem to be the best cool weather nursery out there. From them we ordered:

3 Pear trees: Glden Spice, Hudar, and Patten Varieties. Those trees all have different ripening times and reportedly good flavor and differing uses (canning vs fresh eating)

2 Bali cherry trees: this is a natural dwarf variety that is considered a sour cherry but a couple different sites say they make good fresh eating as well - the only semi sweet cherry that will grow in our climate

1 apricot tree: it's called Adirondack Gold apricot tree and is one of the most reliable to set fruit in cold climates. When Mamma comes we plan on making a trip to Ogden to get 2 other varieties that should do ok in Heber

2 Hazelbert "trees": the description says its more like a tall shrub if you can call 10ft a tall shrub. The nuts are basically hazelnuts but the tree is hardier.

2 Bur Oak trees: these will give us acorns for our pigs one day. It also says the mature trees look like "spooky old trees" which is fun because I loved that book growing up.

2 American Chestnut trees: when I asked if we were planting these for future pigs too Nate said "yea, and for me" so I guess he likes chestnuts :)

2 Shagbark Hickory trees: I looked these up and hickory nuts are supposed to be pretty tasty, I've never had one but I'm willing to try it.

The Nut trees will go in the very back of the pasture to give a little shade in each section while still being out of the way of the wheel lines. We had to buy 2 of each so they could pollinate eachother.

 The fruit tree orchard will be right along the fence dividing the pasture from the back yard with trees about 3 deep. I think we have a 50 ft width to work with and as long as we need to fit them all. In Ogden we are also getting a nectarine and 2 peach trees that claim to be cold hardy, so we'll see how it goes. Yay for fruit in 5 years...

And... Betty let Blain pet her today for the first time. I was holding him and she just stuck her nose out like she always does to me and didn't try to head butt him or anything else aggressive. Blain was really happy and excited to pet her!