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altivoWe'd planned to stop in at our favorite local orchard at about noon today. Last week we didn't go by until 3 pm and they had already closed up. So we drove down there at about 12:30 and they were closed again. The sign in the drive said "Sold Out." Apple crops in Wisconsin and northern Illinois are down this year by 20 to 30% according to The Country Today, and the poor crop is attributed to weather in April and May. Early warmth brought on the blossoms early, and hard frosts in the first two weeks of May damaged many of the trees. There was also a lot of heavy rain during the pollination period, and honeybees are much scarcer (due to CCD syndrome) than they were a few years ago.
Fortunately, we remembered another place that we haven't tried before. It isn't much farther away, but is on a "road to nowhere" (a short road segment that connects two parallel county routes but serves only as a bypass in case a major route is closed by flooding or construction. Consequently, we don't pass by it regularly and I wasn't even sure the place would be open. It was. Due to the poor crop levels, they were not allowing customers to pick their own apples yet. Prices were good, though, and they had Honeycrisp, Gala, Ruby Jon, and McIntosh. We were also offered samples to try of their own preserves and a piquant peach salsa that I found quite enticing. We brought home Honeycrisp, Ruby Jon, and a jar of the salsa.
Ruby Jon is a variety I've never had before, but it will now go on my list of favorites. It was cloned from a single branch sport on a Jonathan varietal tree in Kentucky. The apples are smallish (which I like) and dark red. The flavor is rich, not too sweet, and like most Jonathans, strong enough for pies and other baked goods as well as for eating "out of hand."
With dinner tonight we had a turk's head squash cut in half and baked with apples and cinnamon in the seed cavities. It was really good.
I do hope though that our closest orchard friends will have enough of their Melrose apples later this month so I can buy some. I don't know of anywhere else to get that variety.
In other news, the literary criticism marathon continues. Looking just at the first paragraph of that 4000 word "story" I have gone back and forth with the writer four times now. Either he isn't understanding what I say, or I'm not putting it clearly enough. It seemed odd to me that he took my first private message to him and posted it to a forum thread, but I've continued with him in that vein. (I had assumed he'd prefer the discussion to be kept private.) I confess, I'm starting to wonder if I'm being trolled, though I can't imagine why.
Fortunately, we remembered another place that we haven't tried before. It isn't much farther away, but is on a "road to nowhere" (a short road segment that connects two parallel county routes but serves only as a bypass in case a major route is closed by flooding or construction. Consequently, we don't pass by it regularly and I wasn't even sure the place would be open. It was. Due to the poor crop levels, they were not allowing customers to pick their own apples yet. Prices were good, though, and they had Honeycrisp, Gala, Ruby Jon, and McIntosh. We were also offered samples to try of their own preserves and a piquant peach salsa that I found quite enticing. We brought home Honeycrisp, Ruby Jon, and a jar of the salsa.
Ruby Jon is a variety I've never had before, but it will now go on my list of favorites. It was cloned from a single branch sport on a Jonathan varietal tree in Kentucky. The apples are smallish (which I like) and dark red. The flavor is rich, not too sweet, and like most Jonathans, strong enough for pies and other baked goods as well as for eating "out of hand."
With dinner tonight we had a turk's head squash cut in half and baked with apples and cinnamon in the seed cavities. It was really good.
I do hope though that our closest orchard friends will have enough of their Melrose apples later this month so I can buy some. I don't know of anywhere else to get that variety.
In other news, the literary criticism marathon continues. Looking just at the first paragraph of that 4000 word "story" I have gone back and forth with the writer four times now. Either he isn't understanding what I say, or I'm not putting it clearly enough. It seemed odd to me that he took my first private message to him and posted it to a forum thread, but I've continued with him in that vein. (I had assumed he'd prefer the discussion to be kept private.) I confess, I'm starting to wonder if I'm being trolled, though I can't imagine why.
