North Mountain Farm

North Mountain Farm Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from North Mountain Farm, Palo, IA.

This is one of several American persimmon trees at the farm. Despite more than one hard freeze over the last couple of w...
10/27/2024

This is one of several American persimmon trees at the farm. Despite more than one hard freeze over the last couple of weeks, the fruit from this ‘Lehman’s Delight’ cultivar continues to ripen and drop. Though not as pretty as the fruits that ripened before the freezes, it is still perfectly edible and tasty.
American persimmon is native to Iowa (far SE part) and the tree and it fruit are not bothered by serious pests making it perfect for a no-spray situation.
Delicious American persimmon fruit is the second sweetest fruit in the world (behind dates) and provides both people and a wide variety of wildlife with a great source of nutrition.
While most orchard cultivars are bred to ripen and drop fruit early, some persimmon trees drop fruit little by little deep into winter making it great source of energy for wildlife when little else is available.

07/31/2024

This is a ‘Galarina’ apple, one of several grafted this spring at the farm. From a 2” scion grafted to m111 rootstock just 1” off the ground in May, it and most of the other grafts are now almost six feet tall.
Galarina Apple is a seedling of the familiar Gala Apple, but is more disease resistant and stores much better.
Other apple cultivars grafted this spring include ‘Prairie Spy,’ ‘Keepsake,’ ‘Regent,’ ‘Freedom,’ and ‘Winecrisp.’ These apples were also chosen for disease resistance, late season ripening and ability to store for long periods.
It will still be 4-6 years before they bear fruit. Growing trees cultivates patience!

The chestnut trees are flowering in all their stinky glory! There seems to be a lot of male catkins, but not many female...
06/24/2024

The chestnut trees are flowering in all their stinky glory!
There seems to be a lot of male catkins, but not many female flowers so it might be a light nut crop this year. Last year’s drought and the ongoing D0 dryness may have something to do with this.

American persimmons are in full flower at the farm. On the left are female flowers from ‘Prok.’ On the right are male fl...
06/12/2024

American persimmons are in full flower at the farm. On the left are female flowers from ‘Prok.’ On the right are male flowers from a seedling of SAA Piper x ‘Szukis.’
One (male) rootstock was also successfully grafted over to ‘SAA Piper’ this year to add to ‘Prok,’ ‘Lehman’s Delight,’ and ‘Madison’ trees. More cultivars will be grafted in the future.
With any luck there will be far more than the 12 persimmon fruits harvested last year.

While bringing the sheep up to the barn for the night, I ran across this fledgling red tailed hawk. It can’t fly at all ...
06/01/2024

While bringing the sheep up to the barn for the night, I ran across this fledgling red tailed hawk. It can’t fly at all yet and it was making quite the display warning me to keep my distance.

37 ewes and lambs came back to the farm today. They will graze the orchard for a couple of weeks before moving out into ...
05/05/2024

37 ewes and lambs came back to the farm today. They will graze the orchard for a couple of weeks before moving out into the main pasture.

05/05/2024

Direct seeded chestnut seed from ‘Shotgun,’ ‘Mossbarger,’ ‘Blondie,’ ‘Elrond,’ ‘Victor,’ ‘Szego’ and other cultivars.

Using a winter day to make permanent tags out of heavy gauge aluminum and will tie to trees with copper wire. These tags...
01/27/2024

Using a winter day to make permanent tags out of heavy gauge aluminum and will tie to trees with copper wire. These tags will still be legible in 100+ years. When you have as many cultivars as we do here, there needs to be a good way of keeping track of who is who. 2024 goal is to label all plants that are grafted/named cultivars as well as chestnut rows that contain seedlings of named cultivars.

Nice weather today, so I went and buried some char/carbon on the farm. With hobbies like this, it’s no wonder I don’t ge...
12/15/2023

Nice weather today, so I went and buried some char/carbon on the farm. With hobbies like this, it’s no wonder I don’t get invited to many parties. 🤣

The chestnut trees are flowering nicely despite the probable dicamba drift from a misapplication on 6/16/23 from a neigh...
06/29/2023

The chestnut trees are flowering nicely despite the probable dicamba drift from a misapplication on 6/16/23 from a neighboring farm.

Katahdin sheep have been grazing in the orchard for the last couple of weeks. Other than one bite each from a pawpaw pla...
06/20/2023

Katahdin sheep have been grazing in the orchard for the last couple of weeks. Other than one bite each from a pawpaw plant, they have left the trees and tubes alone and have been busy ‘mowing’ the grass. So far, so good.

Address

Palo, IA

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when North Mountain Farm posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on LinkedIn
Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share via Email
Share on WhatsApp Share on Instagram Share on Telegram