Home Orchard Society Upcoming Workshops

HOS Fruit Tree Pruning Class
Saturday, February 5th, 9am-11:50am, at the HOS Arboretum located on the Clackamas Community College campus.


HOS experts will demonstrate pruning methods applicable for a variety of fruit trees. Bring your pruning tools and appropriate outdoor wear so you can practice what you learn in this hands-on seminar!


Co-sponsored by the Home Orchard Society and Clackamas Community College. Fee: $10.00
Download Registration Form and registration instructions from this link:
http://www.homeorchardsociety.org/files/events/2011_ccc_classes.pdf

Pre-registration is highly encouraged and is through Clackamas Community College (Loretta Mills 503-594-3292), not the Home Orchard Society.


For directions:
http://www.homeorchardsociety.org/arboretum/directions/


Other Upcoming Events:


Beginning and Intermediate Fruit Tree Grafting Classes Saturday, February 19th, at Clackamas Community College.


Fruit Propagation Fair (Scion Exchange) Saturday, March 19th, 11-5 PM at the Clackamas Co. Fairgrounds


More information available at www.homeorchardsociety.org/events

2010 Home Orchard Society All About Fruit Show

Saturday and Sunday, October 9th & 10th, 10am to 4pm, at the Washington County Fairplex, Hillsboro, Oregon

 

It's "The Year of the Heirloom Fruit."

 

The Home Orchard Society's All About Fruit Show is the Northwest's and possibly the world's largest exhibit of fall fruit varieties. Find your old favorite or a new one from among hundreds of varieties of pear, apple, grapes, quince & more, including many that are rare or historical. Learn about growing your own delicious, local, organic and economical fruit. Get advise on selecting, growing, pruning and harvesting fruit trees in your own yard. Order your favorites for your own home orchard!

 

Our expert team will identify your "mystery" apples and pears (bring 5 or 6 samples). Other activities include Speakers, Pie Baking Contest, Largest Fruit Contest, Apple Peeling Contest, and Raffle. The All About Fruit Show is HOS's biggest annual event and you don't want to miss it. Share the fun and tell your friends, or bring them with you!

 

Free admission with new membership to Home Orchard Society. Member admission $4.00 per person or $8.00 per family. Non-member admission $6.00 per person or $10.00 per family.

 

The Washington County Fairplex is just off Cornell Road across from the Port of Portland Hillsboro Airport, 873 NE 34th Avenue, Hillsboro. Take the MAX, or park for free.

 

For more information, directions, speaker schedule and more, visit:

http://www.homeorchardsociety.org/aafs/

 

Contact us at 503 835 5040 or info@homeorchardsociety.org

 

See you there!

 

Find HOS on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=157391176775

Budding Workshop and Annual Picnic with Fruit Tasting - 8.1.2009

August 1st at the HOS Arboretum

9am – Budding Workshop
12:30pm – Annual Potluck Picnic & Fruit Tasting

Budding is the type of grafting done in the summer and is both a simple and highly successful way to multiplying all of your fruit trees. The difference lies in the piece: In summer grafting, you use a single leaf “bud.”

Come learn how to do this from the HOS experts. Our aim is simple: Teach others about the joys and benefits of growing your own fruit and let the results spread throughout our communities.

Budding starts at 9am. We will also demonstrate summer pruning @ 11am
Cost: Rootstocks are $4 for members and $5.00 for nonmembers
Budwood: Provided with the workshop or bring your own moistened fruit tree wood with tip and 2/3 of every leaf removed.

To learn more about this event, download the PDF event flyer and the budding information sheet

Fruit Tasting & Potluck Picnic:
Please plan to join us immediately following the budding workshop for our annual picnic. Bring a cold dish to share and your own table service. If you have any fruit that is ripe or near ripe, bring it to share with others. Our All About Fruit Show gives us a bountiful fall tasting, but many outstanding varieties of plums, berries, and blueberries are only available in the summer season. Large or small quantities are welcome.

Other Upcoming Events
August 29: Hood River Valley Tours

For more information, visit:
http://www.homeorchardsociety.org/events/

Got Wood?

Attention home orchardists and aspiring to be orchardists! Three of the best regional scionwood exchanges are happening in the next two weeks. They are sponsored by the always helpful and immensely knowledgeable folks from the Home Orchard Society. I am especially stoked about the Vern Nelson espalier lecture at the Milwaukie, OR event! These are great opportunities to find the material to start that dwarf Roxbury Russet you've been dreaming of, get advice from some of the foremost region experts, and spend a fun day hanging out with other fruits & nuts...I mean fruit & nut enthusiasts.

For the folks up North:

Fruit Variety Scionwood Exchange
Location: Room #1, Fed. Way 320th Library
Date: Saturday, Feb. 28th
Time: 10 AM—5 PM
Admission: FREE
Sponsored by Dave Johnson

Please bring your dormant scionwood of apple, pear, quince, medlar, fig, ribes, vitis, etc.

Please label your wood

Best to keep your scionwood slightly damp, 'damp newspaper is perfect, and a lot less messy than sawdust.
Ideal cutting, from 7-18 inches long for most plants.
Please, bring a few extra markers/plastic bags.
No pets please.
For more information contact David Johsnon - Royj157 at gmail dot com

Directions to the library

And for the Southerners:

Fruit Tree Grafting Class
Saturday, February 21st, in Clairmont room 118, Clackamas Community College.
9am - 10:20am Beginning
10:45am - 12:05pm Beginning
12:45pm - 2:05pm Intermediate

Beginning: Veteran grafters & members of the Home Orchard Society cover the basics of grafting, including hands-on experience with grafting your own fruit tree. You will receive an apple rootstock and your choice from several varieties of scion wood. Please bring a straight-edged knife.

Intermediate: This session will cover more advanced grafting methods, including: Cleft graft, Kerf graft, Bark graft, Side-Bark graft, Bark Inarching and invent your own.” Again, you will be provided with a rootstock and scion wood. Please bring your straight-edged knife.

All classes in Clairmont Hall, Clackamas Community College, $15 per session. Pre-registration is through Clackamas Community College, NOT the Home Orchard Society. Download a Registration Flyer Questions? Email lorettam@clackamas.edu or call 503-657-6958 x 2246

Fruit Propagation Fair
(Scion Exchange)
March 7, 2009
Alder Creek Middle School, Milwaukie, Oregon
10 A.M. to 4 P.M
HOS Members: $4/person, $8/family
Public: $6/person, $10/family
Become a member at the show and get in FREE!

What to Expect

* 100's of free fruit-tree scions.
* Rootstocks for apples, pears, Asian pears, and stone fruits for sale.
* Mason bees for sale.
* Custom grafting.
* Books and HOS publications.
* Free advice from HOS experts.
* Garden/orchard tools/American pruning saws sharpened, adjusted, and for sale.
* And much more!

Speakers

This year, in conjunction with its Scion Exchange, The Home Orchard Society is presenting a program of speakers on a variety of topics.

11:30 - Caring for Your Newly Grafted Tree - Ted Swensen

12:45 - Fruit Tree Espalier in the Home Garden - Vern Nelson

Got Trees? We do! And you can too. By mixing and matching the scions (the part of the tree that determines the fruit) and rootstocks (the part of the tree that controls the size and characteristics of the tree), the possibilities are endless. Imagine exotic apples, peaches, pears, Asian pears and plums of various kinds, waiting for you to put them together to make your home orchard and garden a unique landscape.

Get guided hands-on grafting experience and expert advice from HOS members.

Scions are free. Rootstock is available for a nominal cost. If you have scion wood you want to share, please bring it!

What are you waiting for? Join us. If you have questions, contact Jerry Shroyer (503) 266-6745, or Ted Swensen (503) 293-1468

Held at Alder Creek Middle School (off Hwy 224, I-205 Exit 13)
13801 Webster Road Milwaukie, Oregon

114 Types of Apples a Day Keeps the Doctor Away

So for those of you who didn't make it out to the amazing, delicious, and apple-tastic heirloom apple tasting in Venersborg today here's what you missed:


Yep..that's a real apple.


Over 114 apples...deeeelicious!


Great folks from the Home Orchard Society.

They'd like to do this bigger and better next Fall.

Anyone have a 5-7000 sq. foot building they'd be willing to donate for a day?

Biggest pear I've ever seen.

The folks that made it happen...Jacqueline & Joseph from Friendly Haven Rise farm

In addition to the tasting, there were numerous tasty baked goods available, cider, heirloom apples for sale by the pound, volunteers from the Home Orchard Society were onhand to answer questions, offer advice, identify apples from people's trees, and (best of all) they were accepting orders for apple trees. We were especially excited abot the tree sale. We ordered dwarf rootstock grafted versions of Kandil Sinap and Smokehouse. Amazing fruit.