{"id":4344,"date":"2015-03-16T22:12:04","date_gmt":"2015-03-16T22:12:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/happychildcsa.com\/?p=4344"},"modified":"2015-03-16T22:12:04","modified_gmt":"2015-03-16T22:12:04","slug":"farm-focus-a-note-from-kristin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/happychildcsa.com\/froghollowCSA\/farm-focus-a-note-from-kristin\/","title":{"rendered":"Farm Focus: A Note From Kristin"},"content":{"rendered":"\"image\"<\/a>\n\nWhen I last wrote to you it was Autumn, and the Frog Hollow trees were\u00a0preparing for winter by completing \u201cbud set\u201d. At this stage, all of the growth\u00a0for next year was pre-determined, and stored inside tiny, tightly protected\u00a0flower and leaf buds. Next, the trees stored their extra energy deep in the\u00a0roots, and then proceeded to take a nice winter rest. Within, what feels like,\u00a0a blink of an eye, we have jumped to Spring, and the trees are back in action.\n\nAs the weather warms up and the days get longer, bud swell is initiated; and\u00a0energy that was previously stored is now mobilized. Using this energy, the\u00a0buds expand until they open fully and a beautiful flower appears. In order\u00a0to attract insects for pollination, the flowers emerge before any leaves. This\u00a0leads to a beautiful spectacle, bare tree limbs covered in vibrant and fragrant\u00a0flowers. The bloom lasts just a few days, at which time the bees and other\u00a0pollinator insects have to act fast.\n\nWithin each fruit tree flower, there are both female and male reproductive\u00a0parts. Pollinator insects are attracted to the flowers. They carry pollen from\u00a0the male \u201canther\u201d to the female \u201cpistil.\u201d This pollen deposit fertilizes the\u00a0flower, initiating seed formation. For protection, the tree begins to form a\u00a0fleshy wall around each seed. In the case of our trees, this protective wall is\u00a0the sugary fruit we will enjoy in no time.\n\nThe flowering and seed setting occurs fast. Just two weeks ago we saw the\u00a0first flowers emerge. By now, most of the apricots, peaches, nectarines and\u00a0plums have hit peak bloom, and we are currently starting to see the petals\u00a0fall. As the flowers wilt away, it is immediately apparent whether or not\u00a0pollination occurred. If the flower was successfully pollinated, a small round\u00a0growth can be felt under the wilting flower petals. This is why Farmer Al\u00a0has spent much of this week surveying his trees. Around every corner, we\u00a0see him poking his head into the tree\u2019s canopy, squeezing the wilting flower\u00a0between his fingers, hoping to feel the beginnings of his legendary fruit. I\u00a0was amazed to learn that in the course of this week, he can more or less\u00a0determine fruit set for the season. He has determined that the peaches and\u00a0nectarines look right on track, as do the Santa Rosa plums. He\u2019ll have to\u00a0wait until next week to assess to rest of the plums. Al tells us the \u201capricots\u00a0are looking to be another bumper crop like last year.\u201d This is great news, as\u00a0last year\u2019s apricots produced more than ever in Frog Hollow history. I was\u00a0also surprised when Farmer Al told me that time of flowering is not related\u00a0to time of fruit. For instance, the cherries are the last trees to bloom, but the\u00a0earliest to harvest.\n\nFlowering used up all of the trees stored energy. This means it is the leaves\u00a0turn to take over in the production of energy. So, in no time we will see the\u00a0leaf buds break and bright green leaves appear. The leaves will elongate and\u00a0begin photosynthesizing, producing sugary energy to plump up the stone\u00a0fruit that we are all waiting for!","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I last wrote to you it was Autumn, and the Frog Hollow trees were\u00a0preparing for winter by completing \u201cbud set\u201d. At this stage, all of the growth\u00a0for next year was pre-determined, and stored inside tiny, tightly protected\u00a0flower and leaf buds. Next, the trees stored their extra energy deep in the\u00a0roots, and then proceeded to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[123],"tags":[678,254,679],"class_list":["post-4344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-cherry-blossom","tag-frog-hollow-farm","tag-pollination"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5HwAU-184","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/happychildcsa.com\/froghollowCSA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/happychildcsa.com\/froghollowCSA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/happychildcsa.com\/froghollowCSA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happychildcsa.com\/froghollowCSA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happychildcsa.com\/froghollowCSA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/happychildcsa.com\/froghollowCSA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4344\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/happychildcsa.com\/froghollowCSA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happychildcsa.com\/froghollowCSA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happychildcsa.com\/froghollowCSA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}