Roll Call

The apple-blogging niche is not crowded, but things change and people come and go.

Here is where things stand at the end of 2010.

Orange Pippin is not really a blog and indeed stands in a class by itself. I include it in our humble company to report on the additions the author has made to this already ambitious web site.

The author has organized his still-growing catalog of apple varieties into a database sortable on many diverse characteristics. As of this writing there are 233 apples tasted and the descriptions are a pleasure to read.

Orange Pippin now sells apple trees and has branched out into plums. Visit the site (direct link) to see these and other changes for yourself.

At A Life of Apples, Chris has led us through a full year in or about the orchard. Here's best wishes to him for 2011.

The New England Apple Grower's association has beefed up its New England Apples web site with a growing catalog of apple varieties and some great new videos.

It's been nine months since we heard anything from The Fruit Blog. This blog has tapered off since the author's successful PhD defense three years ago.

Projects like these have their own rhythms and trajectories, meanwhile bloggers have careers, families, and lives, thank goodness. Here's wishing the pseudonymous Evil Fruit Lord a great 2011, whatever he does with it.

Meanwhile, the apple harvest in Southern California is apparently just ramping up, in time for Apples and Oranges to brighten our gray winter days with apple descriptions and other news.

In site news: A&O Blogger Kevin Hauser took an apple trip east last fall and used video to share some of the things he found. Kevin is a busy guy and I hope his blogging enriches all that he does as much as it rewards his readers.

Fruitslinger did not return this year. Blogger Dan has moved on to more crenelated pursuits. His posts at Fruitslinger, which combine stories of the marketplace with cooking adventures, are as fresh as ever, and of course I wish him every success.

My reviews of these sites stand in need of revision. I could write a whole post about all that is new at Orange Pippin. Then there are those interesting apple links I have not gotten round to describing yet.

No need, then, to be idle this winter, while the sleeping trees prepare for another season.