Join Val Steinmann and Brent Klassen of Heartwood Farm & Cidery for the third of their Orchard Care workshop series: End-of-Season Care. When we grow fruit trees organically, we know that “active soil is the whole ballgame.” But contrary to what people often think, there’s a lot of activity going on beneath the ground during the dormant season. So in this workshop, they’ll use the Heartwood orchard to explore how to put the orchard to bed in a way that promotes dormant season soil activity. This will include tips on soil testing, wood chip and mulch applications, and of course, rodent protection.

In addition, we’ll talk about the harvest: how pest and disease pressure shows up in the quality of the fruit; picking, handling, storing and processing. And of course, since we want to eat fruit all winter, they’ll talk about some of the ways we can preserve it, and spend a bit of time making apple sauce and workshop participants will take some home to enjoy!

As always, the workshop will run from 10 until 3 and will feature a farm-fresh lunch. We hope you can join us!

This event is run by EFAO members at Heartwood Farm & Cidery. EFAO is a partner on this event and members receive a discount, but registration will take place through a third party platform.