Friday, March 8, 2024

A Reflection

Title page of a book with a very long title that begins "A View of the Culivation of Fruit Trees"

on the Indisputable Fact
that some Old Pomological Works Have

Absurdly Long Titles

as if the Author Were Not Content to Let the Work Speak for Itself, but Were in Stead Compelled to Described the Nature and Contents of the Treatise in Great Detail

and if the Reader Thinks this Title is one of Those, then

FEAST YOUR EYES ON THIS


Title page of a book with a very long title that begins "A View of the Culivation of Fruit Trees"

Saturday, February 24, 2024

Your comments first!

A group of people tasting different apples
Apples go best with friends. ¶ 

If in the off season you miss thinking about apples, I invite you to browse some particularly interesting exchanges in comments that readers share on this blog. ¶ 

They really are the best thing here. ¶ 

Sunday, February 11, 2024

Golden slumber

Dormant apple trees bask in golden sunshine
The pretty darlings sleep yesterday at Hutchins Farm in Concord, Massachusetts. ¶ 

Saturday, February 10, 2024

Binary stars of 2023

Two starfish on the beach, with the surf in the background
ubaidhulla adam ¶ 
Midwinter is the time each year when I rate the previous year's apples, on a qualitative scale from one to three stars. ¶ 

I've already published my one-star ratings for 2023, and today I award two stars, "worth a journey." ¶ 

One star is "very good, worth choosing." Most apples are, and I am generous with this rating.

But two stars is a step up, and I am judicious about handing those out. Of the thirty-nine varieties I sampled for the first time in 2023, eight earn the double star.

Sunday, February 4, 2024

A sea of stars

With the ocean in the background, a starfish stand upright in the sand, flanked by two seashells

2023 was a banner year for this blog. Apple reviews are the heart of this project, and I was able to publish 39 of them. ¶ 

That is more than any year except for the first two: 2008 (44) and 2009 (41). ¶ 

Having so many apples challenges my practice of rating them once a year according to my qualitative system of one to three stars.

Saturday, January 27, 2024

Extinguishing apples, and other videos

Karim Habibi strides through his seedling orchard like a god, casually dispensing death. ¶ 

This is the part of Keeper's Nursery where Karim plants seeds he hopes will grow into tasty new apple varieties. ¶ 

Most of them don't make the cut. Off with their heads!

Wednesday, January 17, 2024

Snow balls

three very dark red apples on a snowy ground
Today's weather is brought to you by the lovely, lustrous, and ligneous Arkansas Black.

Friday, January 12, 2024

Stopped at the border

Men in black jerseys stand behind a wooden counter toppeb by green baskets full of red and yellow apples
Above:Apples for sale at the Marche Jean-Talon in Montreal in early September. ¶ 

I spent a week in Quebec in late summer of 2023. ¶ 

The trip gave me a crack at some new apples, and I got to practice my (not very accomplished) French.

But I also encountered a puzzle: apples everywhere in Canada that are just not grown in the US.

These include

Thursday, January 4, 2024

A tip of the new-year's hat to you and your comments

Overlapping speach bubbles with a drawing of an apple in the topmost one

My original thought, in 2008, was to blog about apples for a year, then find something else to do. ¶ 

I would not have continued after that first year but for the comments I began to get from readers. They are both learned and, for me, validating.

You make this place richer and more interesting.

Changes in browser technology, however, are making it harder to comment, and to know when someone has replied to a comment.

I want to thank readers who share their thoughts here, and try to address those tech issues.

But first,

Monday, January 1, 2024

A year of apples

BEST WISHES TO MY READERS ¶ 

Two apples, one huge, one less so
I've had quite a year with apples, to the point where I am looking forward to the quieter winter and spring. ¶ 

As alway, I am both grateful for and energized by your attention and, especially, comments. ¶ 

Saturday, December 30, 2023

Scrumptious

A wide, oblate apple with a very dark red blush

My Scrumptious has a crimson blush with a beautiful dark region that that may reflect time spent on the tree. It is on the small end of medium-sized and very oblate, wider than tall. ¶ 

That blush is not entirely dark. There is a small yellow patch on one side, surrounded by red and orange streaks.

A crown of russet radiates from the stem well.