Starting an Orchard

Part of the dream of homesteading is being self-sufficient as possible, right?  And part of having a blank slate of acreage is to create the vision, right?

However, the reality that comes along with digging six 3-foot holes in shale to plant an orchard is quite tiring and painful.  This is how we spent a handful of hours one spring afternoon -- digging holes, slamming the shale bar, and remarking at how beautiful that day was.

(The wheelbarrow is so old but the trustiest one we have.  Even the wheel is metal.)

Placement for these trees was also something important.  We had to take into consideration the slope of our back acres, where the water flows, and wind direction.

We got three kinds of apple trees, one apricot, one plum, and one pear.  We also got semi-dwarf trees so that we will be able to manage fruit collection (one day) and get fruit a bit earlier than with a traditional root stock.  I like to call it the future orchard, but I've been criticized that six trees don't make an orchard.  

Meh, I don't care.  If one day I get fruit from these babies, I will continue to call it an orchard.  If I end up killing all six trees, then we will pretend this never happened.

(There really is nothing quite like a flowering fruit tree.  So pretty!)