This post has definitely been delayed in its writing and release. But there are new trees once again planted! They went in on Memorial Day. I guess its a good day to plant a tree, at least I won't forget the date they were planted.
They are a fruit tree that almost anyone reading this hasn't heard of, unless you are around me enough to have heard me talk about the more experimental fruits that I would like to attempt growing. It is the Che Fruit. I say experimental because it is listed in most sources as a zone 6 plant and the farm is right on the fringe of 5A-5Bish. As you head towards the coast of Maine (45 min south), you approach zone 6. So I thought I'd give them a try.
Che fruit, also called Chinese Mulberry or Melon Berry, is a relative of mulberries but is much rounder. Supposedly they taste similar to some sort of melon (I have no clue) It looks similar to a small golf ball sized Osage Orange fruit, and in fact, these seedlings are grafted trees onto an Osage Orange root. That is also a supporting reason for attempting to grow them here. Osage Orange, while not edible, grows really well pretty much anywhere. So I'm hoping its extra hardiness will help the che tree grafted to it. To also aid in their survival, I planted them up close to a chunk of the bedrock ledge that protrudes from the ground. The nearby bedrock will keep the soil and plants in the near vicinity to it a smidge warmer in the winter. They may be great, they may just die as soon as winter returns, but they should at least be safe from the deer in their little cages.
On a tiny side note, I built a new axe. Well, not the actual axe head. I don't have blacksmith skills...yet, but everything else I made. Turned out pretty nice. Its a small axe with only about a 20 inch handle. Much nicer to use and control that some giant felling axe. I've primarily used it to limb trees or hit felling wedges in. The handle was made from scratch from some nice ash blanks I got from my friend Steve's friend Rodney who runs Peavey Manufacturing Co. just down the road in Eddington, ME. They make all their peavey and axe handles from perfect quarter-sawn ash blanks and he was awesome to give us two blanks to carve out our own handles from! The leather was from the scrap grab-bags from the Hobby Lobby (not as exciting as the source of the wood). The actual axe head came from the Trash and Treasures barn just down the other road to Searsport, ME. Just a cool RAW antique & stuff barn. This was a slow project for a while, but it's finally done. Looks good, works good.
