The Slowcook at Spydog Farm The Slowcook at Spydog Farm

Apple Pickin’ Time

September 9th, 2015 · No Comments · Posted in farming

photo(107)

On account of the brutally cold winter, we didn’t get any peaches this year. But it’s a banner season for apples. Drive the roads of Washington County and you see huge apple trees groaning under the weight of thousands of apples.

The trees in our orchard, planted by the previous owner, are still pretty young. Still, we’ve got plenty of apples to go around. There are more varieties than I can count: big ones, little ones, red ones, yellow ones, pretty apples and some pretty ugly ones, too. There’s Empire and Crimson Topaz, Fortune and Zestar. You might recognize Honeycrisp. How about Pioneer Mac or Snow Sweet?

I guess our apples qualify as 100 percent natural since we don’t spray them or use chemicals of any kind in the orchard. The only thing I do is prune the trees in the spring and occasionally mow around them in the summer. I think they’ve responded well to the little bit of attention I’ve given them. They look to be in fine fettle this year.

I’m not sure exactly when picking season starts. Most of the apples are still on their branches and they’re pretty tart. I suppose I should bone up a little and find out how you determine ripeness. I imagine there’s some sort of brix meter orchardists use. Or, just consult some of the local orchards, I suppose.

I have this idea. Since we have more apples than we could possibly eat, what if we invited some of our friends/clients to pick-your-own. By appointment, of course. What would be a fair price, you think?

Leave a Comment

Please note: Your comment may have to wait for approval to be published to ensure that we don't accidentally publish "spam". We thank you for understanding.

*

There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below.