July 2013 Newsletter

Thinning the fruit on your fruit trees:  If you have not thinned the fruit on your fruit trees yet this year, you need to do it right away.  Fruit trees only have so much energy stored for fruit production.  If your tree has produced too many baby fruits and you do not thin them, you will end up with hundreds of fruits that are too small and not ripe in time. You will have nothing to harvest except for a tiny lump of skin and pit.  My apple tree had about 20 baby apples per less than one linear foot of branch.  From one small apple tree I removed about ½ of a 5 gallon bucket of tiny apples!    From each cluster leave the largest or best looking fruit and remove all others.  After thinning you should have only 1 apple or peach for about every 6-8 inches of tree branch.  This will allow the energy to go into the fruits that are left and they will be larger, juicier and worth picking.  There is a nice photo tutorial on the Conservation Garden Park’s Face book page from June 30^th.  In this heat wave be sure that your fruit trees are getting enough water.  Also keep up on spraying your trees for pests on a regular basis.

Topic of the Month:  Powerless Cooking

Did you know that Utah has one of the nation’s worst power grids?  We could lose our power due to a snowstorm that downs power lines, an earthquake and hurricane force winds that take down power lines too.  It could be days or weeks before the power comes back on.  Before this happens to your family there are several steps to take to prepare.

1)      Decide how you will cook your food and choose a variety: gas and propane grills, Coleman camp stoves, Dutch ovens, wood burning stoves, solar oven, fire pit etc.  Learn which of these methods can safely be used indoors and which cannot.

2)      Have proper tools and equipment. These include the pots, gloves, tongs, lid lifter, etc.

3)      Decide which kinds of fuel you will need and how to properly store it.  Have a place to store your fuel safely outdoors.  

4)      Purchase a fire extinguisher if you don’t have one and know how to use it.  (PASS-Pull, Aim, Squeeze, Sweep).  Keep your extinguishers updated.

5)      Make sure you have enough matches (1,000-2,000 is not too many).

6)      Practice cooking using your various powerless methods.

7)      Practice safety around flames.

8)      Store some foods that are easy to cook or can just be warmed up.  Even make a list of good powerless meals to keep on hand so you can find those foods quickly in an emergency.  You can eat those foods while you are gathering your supplies and getting things organized once the emergency has set in.