There’s a moment each spring when the orchards hold their breath. After months of bare branches, leaden skies and quiet fields, the first blossom arrives - delicate and full of promise. This year, it came early. The warm spell felt like a gift at first but it fooled the trees in to thinking it was time to bloom.
Early blossom is fragile and the delicate flowers are vulnerable to the chill of cold nights and mornings of early spring, and, for a brief window the blossom is exposed. A single frost, at the wrong time, can undo everything. No blossom means no pollination. And without pollination, there are fewer apples to press.
So, all we can do is watch the skies, track the temperature and wait. In that narrow stretch between bloom and fruit, an entire harvest hangs in the balance.
