I just planted a LOT of vegetable plants...mostly in your dreaded nightshade family...(I love eggplant)....and am now in so much pain that the idea of having an apple orchard seems as ludicrous as being able to talk easily with you again. What was I thinking???

On the bright side...bought my kids each a tuberous begonia plant. They were thrilled...the begonia flowers are huge and flamboyant, even the leaves are attractive. I showed them how to transplant them into bigger pots, and some leaves and tops broke off....so I showed them how to root those. This seems magical to them, as it did to me when I first learned about it. :-)I love my kids....and I think it is so cool that they like plants too.

Another side income to supplement orchard idea: raising chickens (they are cheapest when the chicks are straight run, i.e. both male and female without being checked for gender) that are of breeds whose feathers are desired for fly tying. A quick check online shows that a smallish bundle of feathers (not, for example, an entire hackle) goes for $5-6, and that at least one of the breeds is both an egg layer as well as a good forager, which is what I need for keeping on top of weeds and insects in an orchard floor. So I could grow the chicks out to butchering size, use the roosters for my own meat (sidestepping butchering and food handling regs required for outside sale), sell their feathers, and get eggs from the hens. I think this is the best poultry option so far.