Don’t Mind Me, I’m Just Giving These Trees Some Sunscreen
February 1 was foggy, muddy, and cold, but otherwise proceeded as normal on Okfuskee Farm. We started as we always do by feeding pigs, then moved sheep fencing to keep up the rotational grazing. Grass grows slower in the winter so it struggles to fully rejuvenate before the animals rotate back to the same pasture again. We were on the same grass we’d been on my first day (two months ago), and Bobby explained that although the grass looked green and rejuvenated, it really wasn’t as recovered as he wanted it to be before moving them back. He had rotated them through all the land he has access to, though, so the only other option was to feed them hay. I didn’t ask him this, but it makes me wonder how farmers in colder climates handle things. They must give them hay, I suppose, if there’s snow on the ground for several months in a row. North Carolina is just warm enough to keep grass growing 12 months a year.
After that we took down some old fence wire in a pasture that Bobby’s working on updating. It wasn’t an especially photogenic activity, and it was cold and wet, so I didn’t take any pictures of the job. Taking things down is fun, but building fences is more satisfying (although, and perhaps because, it’s much more difficult).
The word “pruning” doesn’t sound particularly sophisticated. You just…cut stuff. Right? Hah. HAH. I carefully watched Bobby prune pear trees for half an hour while he patiently explained his reasoning behind making different cuts, and I still have absolutely no idea how to do it. There are so many factors! He didn’t want branches coming out too low because he grazes his sheep around the trees (a fascinating and idyllic practice called “silvopasture”). He didn’t want branches to grow long and spindly because then they wouldn’t be good for holding heavy loads of fruit in the future. Another reason he didn’t want things growing too tall was because then the pears would be harder to pick. You hold your clippers so that the crushing side of the shears are on the part of the branch that will be removed, so that changes based on what side of the tree you’re cutting. It was fiendishly complex.
Sometimes he’d cut an entire branch off (if things were growing too close together), and sometimes he’d cut about two-thirds of it off (if he wanted it to branch out into multiple shoots over the next season). He said it was easier to prune in the winter versus in the summer, and it has something to do with the way branches grow back and how energy is stored in root systems, but I didn’t fully understand it.
If there are two branches that are growing at a tight angle, sometimes he’ll wedge something in between them to force them apart and better spread out the tree growth. He’ll occasionally use metal, but most often he uses previously-pruned branches.
The pressure over time forces the tree to grow at the wider angle and can eventually be removed.
The last job of the day was the most surprising thing I’ve done on a farm. Bobby handed me a bucket of latex primer and had me dilute it into a 50/50 primer/water mixture. He gave me a paintbrush and told me to… paint the trees. (!)
Apparently when the sun beats down on the trunk it can cause rapid warming followed by cooling when the sun sets again. These temperature changes can crack the bark. Since bark protects the tree, there’s an increased risk of disease, pests, weakened growth, and so on.
Bobby’s wife Bronwyn always makes sure I leave with some farm-fresh food. We picked the best carrots and broccoli I’ve ever tried in my life. I wish they sold food like this in grocery stores!
From weighing sheep to painting trees to eating purple broccoli, I never know what’s going to happen next at Okfuskee.
