An Apple Study Starting in Spring

When one thinks of apples, one's thoughts typically turn to September, but really, this is a great month to start an apple tree unit. Just visit an orchard and see!

Look at all those pretty pink branches, spread out over the landscape like a blush. These trees are part of our town farm. I brought the boys here the other day in order to choose an apple tree to befriend. We'll follow it through the seasons of the year, and record our observations in our Tree Journal.

Here's the apple tree we chose:

Next time we visit we'll ask the farmer what variety of apple this tree bears.

And now for some close ups:

We immediately found a real "personality" hidden within our tree. See the face there?

The buds are just starting to open.

The structure of an apple tree is unique - stocky and sprawling.

I won't permit it of course, but this tree would make for good climbing!

 

Have you ever smelled apple tree blossoms? Heavenly.

 

A sparrow nesting up above ...

... strawberries growing below ...

... and lots of bees in between.

Goodbye for now, lovely orchard. We'll be back again soon!

In my next post I'll talk about some of our apple-themed seasonal activities!

Hope your week's off to a good start!

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