Blue Spring Orchard, Ojo Sarco, New Mexico

Springtime in the orchard

2011-05-15T11:56:00.005-06:00

Spring finally arrives at Blue Spring Orchard after a long cold winter. A late spring frost killed the apricot blooms, but it looks like we will have plums, pears and apples this season. Apple blossoms are shown below.

Two calves were born this past month, and Rio inspects the new members of the herd.

Making sweet apple cider

2009-10-19T13:08:00.000-06:00

In our last class thru the Permaculture Institute we pressed cider from our orchard's apple harvest. It was a beautiful day and we spent the afternoon at Mergirl Gardens in Alcalde, NM. Before pressing our own cider we tasted a variety of cider concoctions thanks to instructor Ron Boyd. We had a great time- we learned alot and made delicious sweet cider.

2009-08-19T09:08:00.000-06:00

We are excited to host the Permaculture Institute's "Organic Orchard Management" class on summer orchard care. This Saturday the class will spend the day at Blue Spring Orchard. The topics for the class include: Summer Orchard Care, Identification of Diseases, Insect Damage, Deficiencies, Leaf Analysis, Sap pH, Stress Indicators and Summer Pruning. It should be a fun and informative day in the orchard.

Gordon Tooley teaches class at Blue Spring Orchard.

Ron Boyd opens a top bar beehive.

Apricot Harvest Time

2009-08-06T16:03:00.000-06:00

Blue Spring Orchard is celebrating its first-ever crop to market! Our tree-ripened, hand-picked, all natural, pesticide-free and chemical-free heirloom apricots were sold to markets in the Taos area. The apricots were delicious and beautiful!

The very first load of apricots being prepared to go to market.

BeeKeeping 101

2009-07-07T14:45:00.000-06:00

In our most recent "Organic Orchard Management" class (taught by Gordon Tooley thru the Permaculture Institute), we covered "Beekeeping 101". We were lucky to have beekeeper expert Les Crowder show us the basics of beekeeping. Les is known for his expertise in topbar beehives. In the future we hope to take more intensive training on beekeeping and add beehives to our orchard. The following photos show the opening of a top bar hive to reveal the honeycomb and the bees. Photos taken at Tooley's Trees, Truchas, NM. May 2009.