Submitted by Dancing Seeds Farm

Do you have fruit trees or would you like to know how to prune and care for them?

Join the San Juan Island Grange for a field trip to Dancing Seeds Farm on Sunday, Jan. 28, for a hands-on pruning workshop lead by Greg Meyer and Keith Keyser.

The workshop will begin with an 11 a.m. brunch potluck mee11 am’ greet in the farmhouse at 3501 Beaverton Valley Rd., where there will be books to peruse and graphics to examine.

Attendees will move into the orchard at noon, where Meyer and Keyser will go over times of year to prune, tools, techniques, and collecting scion wood for grafting future trees.

The day will wrap up by 2 p.m.

Meyer’s experience with pruning started out with attending a workshop just like this while living in Seattle, where he was also lucky enough to have a landlady who let him practice on a plum and apple tree at her house. Meyer then spent two years at the Bullock Brother’s Homestead on Orcas Island, where he pruned trees of all ages and sizes, while at the same time honing his skills with his landscaping clients.

Keyser pruned apple trees for commercial orchards in Okanogan County for two years, in the late 70s. Since then he has worked on many clients trees over the years as well as for his own small orchard.

Free Pruning Workshop at Dancing Seeds Farm is part of the Grange Lecture Series, which strives to foster social and political engagement, discussion, and to maintain our historical Hall as a home for celebrations and programs.

The San Juan Island Grange has been a community of growers, makers, and keepers since 1931.The Grange is nonpartisan, and so is this event. All are welcome, including kids!

For more information visit sjigrange.wordpress.com.