Moore Orchards

05/08/2026

🚨 During and throughout the busy planting season, we emphasize the need for farmers to stay connected to loved ones and their community. Your to-do list is long, and the many hours spent in the tractor cab can be isolating.

Perform a wellness circle check on yourself and others. 💭Reach out and call a friend, or ask the neighbour down the road to go on a parts run with you.

We're stronger together.

For more wellness resources, visit: https://bit.ly/4aeo0qs

05/08/2026

A repeat of a post from last year. I tried an original post TWICE the last couple night, but it got lost on the Facebook Airwaves!

Our apple and strawberry blossoms are at a very precarious stage in their development. They aren't fully out yet, but just on the verge. When the temperature at night is getting close to zero, there is the threat of frost damage to the blossoms. Cold temperatures can lead to fruit damage and even total loss of the crop.

There's only so much we can do to thwart Mother Nature. When it comes to damaging spring frosts, we use frost fans. Frost fans look like windmills, but they are generally used when there is little to no wind! Ours are powered by propane. They are fixed, engine-driven fans that rotate 360 degrees, protecting 10-15 acres depending on the landscape.

On cold, clear, calm nights, the ground loses heat, causing cold air to settle at the surface, while a layer of warmer air sits 35 to 55 feet above the ground. The fan draws the warm air down, and breaks the cold pocket. This can raise the temperature at growing level by up to 4 degrees C thereby preventing frost damage to sensitive fruit buds. If the temperature falls too much below zero, or it is too windy, the fans won't be able to affect the outcome.

It takes 5 minutes for the fans to rotate 360 degrees. We know this because Patrick stood at our bedroom window with his stopwatch at 4:30 this morning timing it; then again at 6 am to see if he was right the first time. Luckily, we can see one of the fans from our window. This did NOT stop him from running down to the second fan in the wee hours of the morning to make sure the second fan had started automatically, as it was set to do when the temperature was right. (Fun fact: IT DID!)

Sooooo, this is a long winded, pun intended, way to say: Please bear with us if you hear a "helicopter" in the middle of the night for a couple of hours. We are hoping that the weather warms up soon, and that we all will be recompensed with delightfully delicious fruit!

As a precaution, our 2 frost fans are set to come on automatically if the temperature goes down to 2 C tonight. It isn't supposed to get that cold, but it would be an unwise move NOT to set them and then have the temperature take a dive! Soooo, if it gets quite cool tonight, and you live by an orchard, you could hear a "helicopter-like" sound. The fans take the warm air from up high and bring it down to growing level. It is possible to raise the temperature by up to 4 degrees! This could make the difference between having a crop, and all the blossoms freezing!

04/25/2026

Although we are out of apples, Rowan's hens are in peak production!! ROWAN'S RAINBOW EGGS ARE AVAILABLE and orders are being taken. He takes his job very seriously, as only a 1 year old can!

Rowan's Rainbow Eggs!! The hens have decided to start laying again!

04/08/2026

Animal Feed Apples. We have a few bins of apples available for feeding beasties. $150/bin. Pick up must be BEFORE this upcoming Saturday, April 11 by 10 am. Bring a trailer and we can dump them right in, or you can hand bomb them into bags. Patrick does NOT like to tip them into your shiny new truck! 905-372-3911

04/04/2026

We are getting VERY close to the end of our apple supply until next season. Thank you to everyone who everyone who supports Local Agriculture no matter where you live!

“An apple a day keeps the doctor away!" 🍎💞

There are a multitude of reasons why apples are a healthy eating choice. Apples are extremely high in pectin – a soluble fibre – and are packed with flavonoids such as quercetin. Flavonoids are compounds that help give the colourful pigment to fruits and vegetables and research suggests that they may assist with reducing the risk of heart disease, cancer, stroke, asthma, and Type-2 diabetes.

As one of the most purchased items in the produce department, apples are a wise, healthy food choice. Learn more about the benefits of eating apples here: https://onapples.com/health-benefits-of-apples

04/02/2026

Our niece and her friends showing off their carpentry skills! They built us some new apple bins in their construction class at school! Great job! We are soooo thankful for their talent.

Many thanks also to Crown Bin & Pallet Inc. for their generous donation of the metal hardware needed to make these bins "Apple Tight".

03/24/2026

Food for thought. Pun intended.

03/15/2026

It’s funny the people you meet when selling things on Marketplace.

Over the years, I’ve had folks from every walk of life pull into the yard to buy something like vintage glass, an old shovel, spare parts,… you name it. Almost every time, the conversation eventually turns to farming.

Recently, a woman came by who lived in the city. She told me she had been vegan for years but had recently started eating meat again. What struck me wasn’t that change (I respect all food choices), it was how she said she had made most of her food decisions based on things she saw from YouTube influencers. She openly admitted she didn’t trust “science” very much, but she trusted the videos she watched online. I bit my tongue and listened - for a while at least.

Then she realized she was standing in a farmyard talking to an actual farmer.

You could see the lightbulb moment.

She got excited and started asking questions, lots of them, while we both stood in the garage freezing. How do you care for cows? What do they eat? Do farmers really use antibiotics all the time? What about hormones? What happens when animals get sick? What about pesticides?

Before long she was apologizing because she said she was “talking my ear off.”

I told her not to apologize because I loved it.

Here is the thing: farmers are some of the most transparent people you will ever meet. We feed our own families with the exact same food we sell. Our neighbours eat it. Our communities eat it. If we didn’t believe in what we were doing, we wouldn’t be doing it. Heck, I could make more money and have an easier life doing other things.

If people want honest information about food and farming, there are some great places to start.

Organizations like Farm & Food Care Ontario do a fantastic job connecting consumers with farmers and real information about how food is produced. Universities and scientists publish peer-reviewed research that goes through rigorous review before it ever sees the light of day. Veterinarians, agronomists, and nutritionists spend their entire careers studying how to produce safe, healthy food while caring for animals and the environment.

And of course you can always ask a farmer.

We’re real people. Not influencers. Not anonymous internet accounts. Just folks who wake up every morning to care for animals, grow crops, and try to do things a little better every year.

Where shouldn’t you get most of your information?

Probably from someone whose primary qualification is having a basement studio and a strong opinion.

Social media can be entertaining, and it can even start conversations, but algorithms reward outrage and simplicity, not accuracy or depth.

Food production is complicated, and farming is complicated. There are challenges, trade-offs and constant learning involved.

That’s why the best information usually comes from people who dedicate their lives to studying it and living it.

So if you ever find yourself with questions about food or farming, come talk to a farmer.

Fair warning, though.

We might talk your ear off too. 🌾🚜🐮

02/13/2026

Rowan's Rainbow Eggs!! The hens have decided to start laying again!

01/24/2026

1.02 lbs of crunchy, juicy, sweet Mutsu/Crispin.

Pre Honeycrisp, this variety was "THE" apple! Now you can only rarely find them in a grocery store.

Mutsu were developed in Japan in the 1930's. They are a cross between Indo and Golden Delicious.

In 1948, they were rebranded as "Crispin" and introduced to the UK and North America.

When first picked, Mutsu/Crispin are on the tart side; by Christmas, they are sweeter.

This variety is great for everything! They can get quite large so they make a good projectile should one need to fend off someone annoying (cough...Patrick)!

Joking aside, they are wonderful for eating and baking, and will keep until summertime if you keep them cold enough.

I know of a place just east of Cobourg where you can still find these beauties.....Hint, hint.