Updates | new medfordpearfarm

Through the Seasons

Volunteering Your Specialized Skills Helps the Harvest

Whether pear picking is your song to sing or not, there are plentiful additional opportunities for helping out all throughout the year so you don't have to wait for pear picking to come around every year. Thank you to all the volunteers who work unseen behind the scenes year round to make the two week per harvest a huge sucess every August.

EVERY SEASON

What we recommend you prepare and bring for yourself:

Take your allergy medications accordingly if you have allergies (especially to pollens)
You’re stepping onto uneven, potentially wet farmland–choose your footwear accordingly
Durable, long pants down to your footwear
Full-length long sleeves to cover your arms when reaching
A hat if you’re concerned about exposure to direct sunlight
Filled water bottle

FALL/WINTER: THE WORK MUST GO ON

What the Huanitarian Pear Orchard needs to accomplish:

[ ] Cover exposed Bartlett tree roots (Upper orchard)
[ ] Properly positioned sprinklers to prevent erosion (Upper orchard)
[ ] Get all the Asian pears from off the trees; shake branches/tree to get them down
[ ] Prune Bartlett and Asian pear trees (50 acres)
[ ] Prune and remove overgrown oak trees
[ ] Building siding, frame, door, roof, floor, gutter, and ceiling maintenance/repair
[ ] Cleaning around buildings (wood to burn pile, metal to recycle)
[ ] Burning brush pile
[ ] Painting projects (building, decks, bays, etc.)
[ ] Picnic tables repair and painting
[ ] La Barn ceiling repair
[ ] Row markers installed
[ ] Re-rope picking buckets
[ ] Small engine annual service (oil, filters, spark plug, cooling)
[ ] UTVs annual service
[ ] Tractor, forklift, mower, platform, and other farm equipment annual service
[ ] Equipment winterization & heat lamps in buildings
[ ] Spread dry fertilizer
[ ] Weed control – Spray herbicide
[ ] Orchard irrigation system winterization
[ ] Garden area (lower orchard) improvement
[ ] Orchard house yard maintenance
[ ] Office/barn yard maintenance
[ ] Barn cleaning and organization
[ ] Shop cleaning and organization
[ ] Building heater/AC inspection, cleaning, filters
[ ] Prepare roads and drainage for winter
[ ] Prepare for snow and ice (anti-icing materials)
[ ] Peach tree removal (by office)
[ ] Pear tree removal (Section G)
[ ] Prune Comice, Paragon, peach, and cherry trees (Section JH)
[ ] Office workstation remodeling (woodworking)
[ ] Orange platforms hydraulic deck improvement
[ ] Tree root sucker removal
[ ] Humanitarian donations follow-up
[ ] Top off Bartlett trees (Lower orchard)
[ ] Raking limbs
[ ] Flail mower mulching (after raking)

PREPARING FOR THE SUMMER HARVEST

What the Humanitarian Pear Orchard needs to accomplish:

[ ] Raise sprinklers (if not completed in Fall)
[ ] Irrigation system startup and repairs if needed
[ ] Weed control – Spray herbicide
[ ] Garden area improvement
[ ] Orchard house and office/barn yard maintenance
[ ] Continue raking and grinding pruned limbs (if not completed in Winter)
[ ] Spraying trees
[ ] Peach and pear tree removal (if not completed in Fall)
[ ] Orange platforms hydraulic deck improvement
[ ] Tree root sucker removal
[ ] Harvest planning and improvements
[ ] Mowing orchard
[ ] Protect pear blossoms from frost (Wind machines)

Volunteering Your Specialized Skills Helps the Harvest

LOCATION

GET INVOLVED