WV Pear orchard in Spring
WV Pears in winter
Orchard care with Professor Barkslip
Rooting all manner of things in my compost
Bench grafting apple trees
Top working class with guest speaker, Tom Burford, Fruit School Professor Emeritus.
4th Annual Barkslip’s Fruit school
Dates and Classes offered for 2010:
Fruit tree care and pruning: February 13th
Plant rooting and propagation: February 20th
Bench grafting and cloning around: March 13th
Top working trees and advanced grafting: April 17th (prerequisite of grafting class is required)
Time of classes:
Classes will run from 10:00AM - 3:00PM (with a lunch break) Please come a 15 minutes early to sign in and get settled.
Lunch and what else to bring:
Please bring a bag lunch with you so we can eat together. A large part of Fruit school is fellowship with other enthusiasts. We can talk about a fruit club. Not to mention saving gas.
Bring hand pruners and appropriate clothes for the weather as we will be outside for some of the programs.
Locations:
Fruit school will alternate between Westwood co-housing in West Asheville and the Montford Rec center in the Asheville neighborhood of Montford. See individual class listings below for specific location. Directions are at the bottom of the page.
Cost of classes:
New extended deadline: Jan 23rd!
Registration received before January 23rd - 35.00/class
after January 23 -40.00/ class
Cost for the series- before January 23rd -125.00/ 4 classes
after January 23 - 140.00/ 4 classes
Students 15- 18 are half price, age 10- 15 are free with paying adult
Send payment to:
Bill Whipple
70 Alabama Ave
Asheville, NC 28806
Please include your email and phone number
For questions email me at: whipplebill@hotmail.com
or call: 828 713 2424
This year you can also catch Bill Whipple teaching at:
Earthaven (Maple sugaring)- February 17
The organic grower's school- (Humanure)- march 6, 7
West Asheville Library- (Appropriate Technology)- April 1st
J C Cambell Folk School- (Stools for Fools)- April 5-9
Maryland- Fruit School weekend intensive April 23-25
Co-teaching the Permaculture design class at Earthaven eco village in Black Mountain, NC June 18-26
THE CLASSES
What: Fruit tree care and pruning workshop (for the home, farm, and public space)
When: Saturday, Feb 13, 2010 from 10:00- 3:00
Where: Location: Westwood co-housing
How much:$40.00 adult
This class will be half talk and half walk. I will take you through site analysis and selection, proper tree selection, orchard floor prep and care, as well as, caring for the established orchard . Like all the classes at fruit school, emphasis will be on using organic methods. Site analysis and enhancement are critical to support a healthy, productive tree by these means. There will be plenty of anecdotes about antidotes. Bring your favorite pruners and saws for the hands on portion of the class, as well as, appropriate outdoor clothing for comfort. There is a lot to cover and chances are this class will run over time. Try to allow for staying longer.
What: Plant rooting and propagation (for the low budget fruit enthusiast)
When: Saturday, February 20, 2010 from 10:00- 3:00
Where: Location: Montford Rec Center
How much: $40.00
(Special: Adults half price with child 10-15)
Plants want to proliferate so they want you to eat their juicy fruit. Fruit is one of nature’s favorite marketing techniques. This is one marketing scheme worth falling for! There are many natural ways to encourage them to do so with materials you can salvage. This class emphasizes low tech, organic methods of plant production though seeds, layering, rooting, stooling, and division. This is by far the easiest and cheapest way to bring the nutritional abundance of plants into your life. Great activity ideas for kids as well!
What: Bench Grafting and cloning around!
When: Saturday, March 13, 2010 from 10:00-3:00
Where: Location: Westwood Co-housing
How much: $40.00
Two things I like to do most in the world is chasing after bee swarms, and grafting fruit trees. Learn to graft your own fruit trees! This is nothing short of magical when you learn to stick a branch of one tree onto another and it grows. Granted, it harks a little of Dr Frankenstein, but you wont need a big scary castle to resurrect a favorite tree from Grandma’s yard, or a favorite cider tree selection. Just a ‘bench and the comfort of working indoors for this, the civilized way of grafting, is all that is needed. Discussed and illustrated will be the whip and tongue, and the cleft grafts, rootstock varieties, seedlings versus clones, aftercare, and setting up your own nursery for income diversification. Included in the price is one rootstock, choice of several varieties of budwood, and aftercare materials. I will have plenty of rootstock for sale to do multiple grafts if desired. I encourage people to bring their own varieties of apple tree cuttings to graft or to swap and share with other participants. (See below for proper budwood (scion) harvesting and storage. Seeing as a young, healthy, organic fruit tree costs 30.00 this class nearly pays for itself with one graft.
What: Top working and advanced grafting (Have your flower and eat it too!)
When: Saturday, April 17, 2010 10:00- 3:00
Where: Montford Rec center
How much: $40.00
Previous bench grafting class is a prerequisite for this class. (Orchard care and pruning class wouldn't hurt either)
10,000 varieties of apples, 1000's of pears, 100's of cherries, 10's of persimmons, a couple of medlars and oh, so little time! How in the World are we ever going to find the space to try every fruit on earth?... to experiment with local adaptability,?....or just make use of those smelly ornamentals? Easy. Learn to top work! I will hurl you headlong into the world of top working countless varieties onto existing trees. Within 3 years you can have a barren ornamental tree in production with 40 varieties! We’ll learn about compatibility, timing, and the world of countless grafting techniques including chip and T- budding, side grafting, rind graft... We’ll touch on festooning and arborsmithing as well. Also emphasized, is the essential after care of the top worked tree. I guarantee you will look at the Bradford pear with a new found reverence!
Budwood (scion) Harvest and care:
When you want to procure scion wood for grafting there are a few things you’ll want to do to ensure the best chance of success. Wait for a day above freezing as close to the time of grafting as possible. February is my favorite time for scion harvest, well before bud break. After identifying a tree you would like to replicate through grafting look for last year’s growth at the end of branches. There’s usually a knuckle or swelling of the branch and this delineates last year’s growth from that of 2 years ago. Hopefully there’s at least 8-12" of growth. Also, the trunk of the tree may have water sprouts that shoot up straight, and if the buds look well developed, it can be suitable wood. About a quarter inch in diameter or a pencil thickness is a good healthy diameter for scion wood. (Though seldom on unkempt trees is the growth that vigorous).Cut a few pieces off to the length that will fit in your zip lock bag. Label each bundled varety with masking tape and permanent pen. Take a sheet of paper and wet it, then squeezing all the excess moisture out. Place this wad in the bag with the scions and store in a drawer in the refrigerator. Do not let these freeze. There should not be any drops of water on the sides of the bag. After the refrigerator is full eat out a lot more.
Directions:
Westwood co-housing- From Asheville take I-240 west and get off exit 2 (Haywood Rd) go right....
If you are coming east bound on I-240 get off at exit 2 take a left off the ramp on Hangover St and go until you get to the light at Haywood. Turn left onto Haywood....
.....Now through West Asheville to the center of town, continue until you come to a 5 way intersection with a light. The westwood pub and Grove corner markets are on your right, the U.J. is straight ahead, gas station on your left. Take a hard left there on Vermont Ave and continue several blocks until you see Vermont Court and go right. Go 1.5 blocks and consider parking along here or Davenport. Walk along Vermont Ct and take a right into # 34 and the cohousing parking lot. There should be a fruit school sign. Please park on the street unless you have mobility issues in which case there are 4 visitors parking spaces immediately to your left in the Westwood parking lot. (There will be some volunteers helping with this.) Walk down the parking lot and the community center will be right in front of you.
Montford Rec Center- From west bound I-240 get of at Montford Ave exit and take a right....
From East bound I-240 get off at Montford Ave and take a right, then go to the next light and take a right onto Montford Ave....
.....Continue on Montford for a couple of lights until you reach a light at Chestnut st. Take a left here and go to next block and take a left then the first right at the Rec center. We will be the door at the back of the parking lot.