Happy last Sunday of 2012 everyone!  I’m guessing you’ve noticed that I have not been a very diligent blogger for the orchard lately.  I tend to find myself slacking on this blog after apple season but I am going to try really hard from now on to do at least one post on Sunday’s to let you all know what’s going on over here.

Some folks think that we’re only busy over here between August and October but it turns out there’s a lot of work to do in the ‘off season’.  Right now Jared is trudging through the snow so he can prune the 3,000ish apple trees we have.  The guys have lucked out in past years when there wasn’t much snow on the ground.  This year – they’re not so lucky.  They have to haul their chainsaws and pruning shears all around the 20 acre orchard to get the job done.  On the plus side, I’m going to have a very in shape, buff hubby after the next weeks.

Also during off season we try to add a new thing or two to the orchard so each year you can all see that we’re trying to make the place even better for you and your family to visit.  We wouldn’t want you to get bored year after year now would we!?

Well…this season we decided to take on a slightly bigger task than normal.  In October, I headed outside to see what Frank and Diane were discussing by the fairy garden.  Well – it turns out Frank decided it was time to add an addition to the store!  If Frank wants to do it – I’m definitely not going to stand in his way!As soon as we sold out of apples on October 28th, the guys cleared all the gardens out of the area between the two sheds, graded it out and put up the poles to support the addition.  After talking to quite a few contractors to get estimates we decided to go with the Amish again (they helped us put up our other shed addition a few years back before we moved the whole operation to the Kroncke Road location).  They were able to start at the end of November.  The two guys that helped us are farmer’s normally but take time to do carpentry on the side when they need some extra money.  Frank and Jared drove them too and from Amish Country each time they came to work.           The first day they came they were able to put up the trellises for the building portion of the addition.  I was impressed with how quickly it all came together. The next day they came the steel went up on the shed roof.  My dad and Uncle came down that day and framed out our doors and windows for us.   The weekend between Frank and Jared managed to get most of steel on the sides of the addition.  With just two more days work the trellises for the overhang went up and the rest of the steel covering went up too.  Now there is at least an enclosed building for our guys to work on when they’re warming up from pruning or in the evening after the girls go to bed. 

Once the snow melts (or when…) I’ll take pictures of the overhang for you to all see.  We put some thick transparent plastic up so it will be sort of like sky lights instead of just steel.  I think it’s going to be pretty cool.  We did need to maintain our ‘fairy’ feel so our apple fairies don’t get scared away!

If I don’t write again until next Sunday we want to wish you all a Happy New Year!  We look forward to a normal apple season in 2013!