A Noble Pursuit
6 Sep 2022
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The end of summer is always an interesting time for farmers. We begin the slow descent into autumn, and then winter, as the fruits ripen and the leaves change colors. We sense the days shortening even if it’s still hot and memory. Nonetheless, our focus changes from growing to harvesting. But as that last apple is picked we switch back once again. As I’ve always said, “next starts when the last apple from this year is picked.” Meaning, of course, that it is never too soon to start thinking about next year. The lessons we’ve learned, the things we’ve seen, the people we’ve met always add new dimensions to our thinking and how we’ll approach next year based on we’ve learned this year.
My good friend Matt Kaminsky (aka Gnarly Pippins) just published a new blog in which he touted the benefits of growing bioregionally adapted or ‘local’ varieties to overcome the problems associated with climate change and pest issues. To state the unstated, one could (and some have) make the case that we shouldn’t even be growing clonal varieties of apples – of any type – since the genetics are static and unchanging. But nature has provided those in the Malus world with the ability to work with vast possibilities of cross pollination within a bioregion to discover new varieties suited just perfectly to our unique growing and ever-changing environments. We don’t need to wait eons for evolution to show the way, the path is right in front of us!
But there are still those (including me) that like some of our ‘named’ varieties. The ones that are susceptible to apple insect, fungal, and bacterial pests, not to mention myriad abiotic issues including anything associated with climate change. We never know what each year will bring and for this reason we also need to focus on our cultural practices to limit the extreme impacts of whatever climate change may throw at us. But spraying more is not the answer – at least not in the way many traditionally think of it. Unfortunately, many are still stuck in an allopathic mindset of ‘spraying more’ to solve our problems. And while spraying will always be with us in some fashion, how we approach that important practice needs to change. There can be no more recipes. We must become more observant of everything going on around us and adjust on the fly, accepting the challenges and likely failures we will encounter. That means we need to better understand everything as best we can before forging ahead with “solutions.” Success is just around the corner if we open our mind’s-eye to what is going on around us and work within the sphere that nature has given us.
2023 portends new and expansive ideas for Know Your Roots. To build on the idea of working more closely with and within nature, we plan on expanding our research and education projects, approaching scouting and spray recommendations with a new perspective, building a base where we can move forward in a conscious and conscientious way towards a new “management” paradigm – as if we can manage anything. Control is an illusion. We need a new paradigm that goes beyond mere holistic thinking and immerses ourselves – one and all – into the nurturing world that the trees grow in, to better understand the nature of nature and how we can work with all elements that both confound us and provide us with profound solutions for a truly sustainable apple-growing future.
And since this harvest season has barely started, and I don't want to get too far in front of myself, I'll save the ideas and plans I have for 2023 until another time. Relish in the hard work you've put in - and the hard work left to be done - for there is no nobler pursuit than the care and nurturing of Mother Earth.
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