Thursday, January 2, 2014

New years greetings to you

You sent me fruit! Thanks so much for everything.

Twenty thirteen was a good year for apples and for my blog, still going strong long after the conclusion of what was going to be just a single year.

One quality that has accumulated over that time is my gratitude for your readership and comments, often the best thing going here. I've learned a lot from you.

My writing is sometimes hit and sometimes miss, but my best columns are those that spark a conversation.

Last summer I passed 500 blog posts, and sometime in December I reviewed my 200th apple. I had a blowout October, 24 posts fueled in part by an exceptional harvest and a trip that included some apple tourism.

It seems that just when I think I've exhausted my options I find some new orchard or market.

Still it's clear, as it was last year, that things are slowing down. I have less to say in the off season, and it grows harder to find "new" apples (new to me, that is) to write about each harvest.

As Adam's Apples has grown, I've also wrestled with the problem of how to organize things, how tend this orchard of writing.

According to web logs, last year my new rating system was somewhat successful in connecting readers to older content.

My older reviews are still useful and relevant, but every pointer to the old stuff on the front page of this blog adds clutter.

I'm always trying to figure this one out. It's a good project for the winter, a time when farmers traditionally reassess and make plans.

Thank you, good eating, and best wishes for 2014!

12 comments:

  1. Adam
    Thanks for all the work you do and making apple eating and sampling fun.
    Best Always and Happy 2014
    Brad
    NYC

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  2. Thanks so much for keeping the blog going! It has been a great resource to me.

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  3. Adam
    Don't despair. When there are no more new apples to eat, you can go back and cook or bake with your "old friends". That should provide a second and third harvest from your blog! Two more gustatory horizons to explore? How bad can it be?

    Mark

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  4. Brad, Mike, and Mark, thanks for your good wishes!

    Mark is right, there will always be something new.

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  5. Adam,

    Thanks for the blog, I enjoy all your articles. I know I'll never get a chance to taste most of the apples by myself.

    Living in a tropical country of Indonesia, my choice is limited. I can only get my apples from the supermarkets, the imported ones. Some were awful (the Jonagold and Braeburn we got last week were the worst, taste like cardboard, victim of poor handling, I guess). Some were fantastic like RosaLyn, Pasific Rose and Pinata.

    Best wishes to you.

    D. Hadinata

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    Replies
    1. Deddy, thank you! I'd never heard of Rosalyn before. Maybe we'll be seeing some up north one of these days.

      By the way, have you seen Kevin Hauser's blog, Apples and Oranges? He is intensely interested in the project of growing apples in and near the tropics.

      May you find good apples in the supermarkets!

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  6. Do you have a list of apples that you hope to someday find and try? If not, do you want me to give you mine? I notice that several apples about which I am curious have not yet been reviewed by you; Margil and D'Arcy Spice are the only that I can think of off the top of my head, but I am sure there are more....

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    Replies
    1. Dixie Red Delight, Lady Williams, Sierra Beauty, Aunt Rachel,

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    2. Mike, I want to taste any apple I've heard of.

      But I am particularly curious about some of the new varieties just being brought to market, such as Pixie Crunch.

      Also all of the heritage apples that made it onto Slow Food's Ark of Taste.

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  7. Hello again Adam. Hope to reconnect soon. Your blog has been flourishing as my trees and farm have been in the absence of our conversation!

    Best wishes and reconnection soon.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hello again Adam. Hope to reconnect soon. Your blog has been flourishing as my trees and farm have been in the absence of our conversation!

    Best wishes and reconnection soon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey, it'd great to hear from you! I almost wrote you a couple of times last year.

      Very glad to know things are growing at Hawk Farm. From my point of view this fall was a bit of a bumper crop, hope you experienced that yourself.

      Starting to feel like Old Home Week here.

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