Back in June I wrote a post about Drying Apricots. We harvested apricots from an orchard across the road from my friend’s orchard.

The orchard was a bit overgrown and you could tell that the trees were getting old. The harvest this year was done by shaking the trees and you could tell that it had taken a toll on some of them.

When an apricot harvest is done by shaking they normally use the fruit for juice or concentrate instead of selling it as dried or whole fruit. This is more often done with older orchards near the end of their production.

I had a feeling that this was the last year for the apricot orchard.

This was the what the orchard looked like two weeks ago when I visited my friends for lunch. You can see that all the trees had been pulled down or knocked over and the land was ready to be cleared.

Here is a closer look at the trees. You can see that they are slowly drying out in the summer heat.

Today the view was very different. You could see all the way across the field where the orchard had been.

You can also see several large piles of tree chips. The organic material from the orchard is being recycled, and soon the land will also see renewal.

I don’t know yet what will replace the apricot trees, but it will be interesting to find out. It is only a matter of time as the land is not very valuable sitting there empty.

What will be the next crop in the rotation? Will it be another orchard? Maybe row crops or alfalfa?

Even though I don’t work in agriculture now, this does bring back memories from when I did.

Have you ever worked on a farm or ranch?

Steven