An Apple Today

Pete and I had been planning to put in some fruit trees and we did a little research online and determined that we could plant apple, cherry and pear varieties that would be hardy enough for zone 3.  We don't have the patience of Johnny Appleseed to wait for small seeds to turn into big trees and luckily we don't have to because Joe and Gwen generously sent us a gift certificate for Northern Pines Greenery Nursery. We set off this morning for Minocqua in search of fruit trees.

This little bulldog and his owner helped us find two nice apple trees at Northern Pines. If you expect to have apples you need to have two trees and they need to be different types. We found the Honeycrisp that we wanted and then came upon another variety also developed by the University of Minnesota, SnowSweet. Both cultivars are midseason ripeners and cold hardy.

Pete strapping down
the apple trees

The Honeycrisp has been around since 1991 and in the last few years it has really become popular up here. SnowSweet was first introduced in 2006. We really enjoyed the Honeycrisp apples we picked up in Door County last fall and it will be great to have our own some day. SnowSweet apples have been described as sweet and buttery - they had me right there - love butter, love buttery.

Loading up the lilac

We headed south to Stoney Creek to check out their fruit tree inventory. Northern Pines didn't have any cherry or pear trees. Stoney Creek had a sour cherry, but no sweet cherry trees.  After talking to one of the nurserywomen we found out they would put us on their wait list. In the meantime we picked up four raspberry plants and a pretty Purple Lilac in honor of Gwen. Again, we pulled out a Stoney Creek gift certificate from Joe and Gwen. Thank you very much!

Pete waiting for our order

Before we headed home to Mercer Pete and I decided to try out the much talked-about, newly-opened for the season, Hoggie Doggies. Pete had a Chicago Dog, I had a grilled cheese sandwich and we both had the greatest fries I've had in awhile. We ate outside and enjoyed the sunny afternoon.

Pete, Chicago dog,
fries and a Coke

I always wanted a big pink pet
pig and this may be the 
closest I get for awhile.

Back home on Payment Lake to plant our trees.

Pete dug and dug,

and dug some more.

Gracie dug and dug,

and Asher dug too.

While Pete dug the holes in a sunny, lakeside spot the dogs had other ideas. They headed into the woods and decided to dig a huge Redwood size hole in another area.





In the end, Pete provided the perfect placement and the dogs' hole may turn into a root cellar.

"I guess it looks okay here."

 I hope we'll get a cherry tree soon and we're still on the lookout for pear trees. Stay tuned for news of our little orchard.