It’s time again to ship little genetic packages out into the world to see if they have what it takes to spread and multiply. I’m talking about apple scion wood for grafting. Auctions are set up and scheduled to start and the webstore is open to the public after the past week of early access for Patrons.
This year I dropped a bunch of new stuff, a whopping 8 varieties actually. It surprised me honestly. But I have reasons for all of them, which you can read more about in the previous post and also on this page. I am quite excited about some of them. Others fill a niche that nothing else does in my little world here and probably can elsewhere as well. Several hint at new possibilities and directions, like Jellybean Cider, the dwarf juice apple and Musketeer, which it turns out probably tastes of Black Currant.
Auctions are much larger this year. I found myself with quantities of a number of varieties that were sort of right between store numbers and auction numbers. I figured let’s just put these bigger numbers on auction and find out what happens. Because there are so many, the auctions also overlap each other this year. There are a bunch starting late Saturday and another group on late Sunday, and ending a week later. Auctions are on FIGBID.COM You should see my auctions once they start by searching - skillcult - It is easy to sign up and use. Since I have a lot more wood listed, competition should be less stiff and prices lower. All auctions will be running by 10:00 pm ET on Sunday February 25th 2024 and all will be finished by 10pm ET on March 3rd at 10:00 pm ET.
The webstore is now open to the public after early patron access this past week. I put two new varieties for 2024 in the store because I just had a lot of them. Integrity is a solid late summer pie apple and Clarion I’ve been trialing for years trying to decide what to call it, so I’ve got a ton of wood for that one. There are other familiar older seedlings in the store now that may not have been in the past, and some in greater numbers.
Yesterday I went to our local seed and scion exchange, which was dedicated as a memorial to my late friend, colleague, teacher and fellow plant nut Mark Albert. It must have been over 30 years ago when I went to this same seed and scion exchange and learned about grafting from Mark, Pat Schaefer and the local crew. Those connections and a few others have obviously had some major ripple effects. Don’t underestimate how powerful mentoring and education can be. Anyway, got to take some of my new varieties to share and help inspire the next generation of new plant enthusiasts. Very graftifying :)
I hope that this scion season will go well, and that through Patron support, cactus sales and other miscellaneous incomes, I might have enough to get serious about looking for land by late summer or fall. Land prices have plummeted here in Northern California in the past half a year or so. I’m hoping that keeps up long enough for me to get the resources together and find a worthy spot to get busy on. I could get an okay mountain homestead for cash right now, but I’m holding out for something great that I can expand into and involve others in. The amount of stuff I can get done quickly on some flat farmland with plenty of water is much greater than if I’m scrabbling around on hillsides covered in thin mounatin soil.
Wishing you all a successful grafting and growing season <3
