Orchard Consultations

with Experienced Holistic Fruit Growers

Organic Farming's FINAL FRONTIER Tree fruits are challenging to grow organically. The season from bud break to harvest is long, providing plenty of opportunities for pests and fungal disease to take hold. Good answers lie in emphasizing health orchard-wide, from soil organisms that ally with tree feeder roots to the hungry bluebird to the giving trees themselves and the incredibly tasty fruit that nourishes our own bodies. Delving deep into the complexities of fruit growing can be daunting. Sound advice can keep your orchard vision both sustainable and fun.

Even simple acts like mowing have biological ramifications: The second flush of tree feeder root growth begins not long after grass gets scythed down as suppressive mulch. (photo: Frank Siteman)

Growers in the Holistic Orchardist Network have a number of ways to explore the lessons Nature insists on teaching in each new growing season. Some may want direct personal advice about the challenges at hand. Eventually you may find listings for regional advisors posted here that can help accelerate any community orchardist's learning curve. We certainly have one good suggestion to start off with now. . .

Looking for an Orchard Mentor?

Michael Phillips offers a grower consultation service for people desiring solid advice about holistic orcharding. You can choose literally to "walk" through an entire growing season with the author of The Apple Grower via ongoing chats and emailed reports, always aimed at increasing your understanding of what it takes to produce a commercial crop of health-providing apples. Looking at the scale of a fruit growing operation and discovering innovative market opportunities can be equally valuable. Some people value a homestead visit as essential to their apple growing future to fine-tune management approaches for a specific locale. Others simply want a good chunk of time on the phone to get important questions answered.

Realizing the dynamics of orchard ground as a whole is the key to successful organic orcharding. Michael brings years of personal experience and insight to a consulting partnership, putting you at the top of your game. Please check out the full range of consulting options and the costs involved on his Lost Nation Orchard website: