Home Orchard Society Scion Exchange. 3.10.19

 Today was the Home Orchard Society scion exchange.  Hundreds of varieties, apples more than others but zillions of pears and grapes, as well as a few others.  I brought some scion from my apple trees and another member from my area, gave away some scion to other members, and gave away the extra fig trees that I've been nurturing for the past year.

 I did pick up some scions to graft, nothing major.  A male fuzzy kiwi, some quince, a couple of other things I will document when they are grafted.


Overall very nice.  I'm not looking to add a lot of varieties now, just fine tuning my orchard, improving where I see a chance to make things better.  Still, it's a lot of fun, and I love grafting.

Plus, I bought some Bud-9 Apple rootstock.  Bud-9 is very dwarfing, somewhat fireblight resistant, precocious, and hardy.  I want to create some new columnar apple trees (Northpole) that are easier to maintain ar a small size. I have already grafted and planted those.

Home Orchard Society Scion Exchange 3.19.17

Today the Portland area Home Orchard Society had a scion exchange / propagation fair event in Clackamas, Oregon. I helped some with the set up yesterday, and again helped a bit with the event today. It was a lot of fun. Lots of people, especially home orchard nerds like me. I brought some handfuls of scion from my own trees - mostly the persimmons - to add to the already massive amounts. Naturally, now I have some more grafting to do, and did that this afternoon. I'll list the scions later.

2017 Home Orchard Society Propagation Fair.  3.19.17

Home Orchard Society Fruit Tasting Show. 10.18.15

Great fruit show last weekend.  Home Orchard Society.  I volunteered at the membership table for the morning.  Didn't know what I was doing but everyone was nice.

Home Orchard Society

Went to the meeting today. It was a great experience. I felt like I was among kindred spirits. Lots of fruit to view and taste.

Zillions of Apple varieties. All so much better than grocery apples.

These are the biggest. I don't need apples this big. They are fun to look at.

Grapes. Home grown grapes are fit for kings. People don't know what they are missing. Tasting many, I'm still convinced that grapes with seeds are superior to seedless grapes. Those tart tasteless things that pass for grapes in the grocery store should have a different name. They are not even close.

Chinese Haw / Shan zha. I didn't get a change to taste them. First time I've seen one. Second time might be on my own tree. Two years? Three?

Medlars/ I didn't get to taste these either. Another time. Later, other attendees told me they taste like spiced apple sauce.