Blue Hills Orchard

A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF AN ORCHARD

January---Pruning.  All of the over 60,000 trees need to be trimmed and trained.  Machines need repairing.Apples packed, sold, shipped.

February---clear out old trees.  cut and chip the wood.

March---Prepare land for planting.  Open 'sealed' rooms to pack and sell.

April---Planting.  Each year the orchard plants thousands of young trees.

May---Bloom!  Watch out for frost.  It could take all your crop.  Bee hives come!

June---Mowing....Over 300 acres take a long time to mow.

July---Peach, Nectarine, Plum harvest begins....Early apple harvest begins.

August---HARVEST BEGINS!  Seasonal pickers are brought in to help.

September---Harvest continues with an eye to to the sky because hurricane season begins.  Packing and selling apples, repairing machines, etc.

October---Harvest continues.  Every7thing is picked by hand.

November---Harvest shows a bit now, but still goes on.

December---Harvest has ended.  Time to clean up the orchard and repair equipment.  Packing and selling apples continues at a fast pace.  Apples are put in storage rooms and 'sealed' up up for the winter months.  Seasonal pickers return home.