Week 14 - Pruning Fruit Trees

Time in: 10am

Time out: 12:15pm

Today I had the opportunity to prune a few fruit trees at The Ranch. Since it was my first time, it was quite an exciting endeavor. Scott had to go to some meetings so he equipped me with a "How to Prune" book and his pair of clippers. The rest was up to me and my common sense.

Out of all the pictures I found on the web about pruning, I like this one the best because it gives you a few rules of thumb to go by:

1. Lop root suckers close to the ground
2. Trim limbs growing too close together
3. Lop water sprouts ever with main branch
4. Clear sucker growth from crotches
5. Lop weak under branches from limbs
6. Remove lower branches from forks
7. Remove "crows feet"
8. Eliminate crossing branches
9. Remove branches that turn back into the tree

Can't say I followed all these rules perfectly, but it was a good first try.

Week 12 & 13 - Seeding

This post is for November 24th...
Time in: 9:30
Time out: 12noon

...and December 4th
Time in: 9:45
Time out: 12noon


My first and second assignment at The Ranch was to fill up numerous seed trays with a wide array of mostly organic veggies. We then laid the trays in the hothouse. Most of the trays that were seeded a week before have already sprouted.

So far, so good. I've met some nice people who are also volunteering and interning there and am getting acquiainted with a new area of the Huntington. Looking forward to see what else is in store...