Grateful greetings for the new year

In 2011, as in previous years, the apples were great, but the best part was the people.

This fall I met Southern California nurseyman and blogger Kevin Hauser (he of Apples and Oranges) and his charming wife. "Met" as in the real world (heard of it?); Kevin took his apple vacation in New England this year.

I also met and swapped apples with Maine orchardist David D'Angelo and his girlfriend, of Hawk Farm. I got the better end of that exchange.

These are all folks I first connected with right here.

These people are wonderfully passionate and knowledgeable about apples, which they, unlike me, actually grow. Pomoculture is intensely rewarding but also entails some hard work that my self-appointed role as designated eater does not.

I will continue to do my part, feeling like nothing so much as the lazy duck in a fable full of little red hens. In any case, it was great to meet you all.

Found on Twitter

I also started experimenting with Twitter last summer. It's a surprisingly congenial and even useful medium.

I'm following a virtual gang of orchards and foodies who surround me with a benevolent cloud of information about things to cook and eat.

What's it good for? A Londonderry orchard sold me some Chestnut Crab Apples by tweeting that they were ripe. I'd have missed out without twitter.
Want my business? Tweet your fruit!

You don't need a twitter account to view my twitter feed (@adapples), or the tweets I'm getting, or my feed of tweets from orchards (not much happening with that this time of year though).

It's very agreeable and through it I've connected with apple enthusiasts in Ontario.
On the other hand, my project to convince more growers to tweet what's picking or for sale did not get very far last year. Londonderry apple tweets notwithstanding.

Seductive Sweetango provoked much dis­cussion in the comments

Finally, I am grateful for the attention of my readers and their informative emails, tweets, and comments, which have just gotten better each year.

Your attention keeps me focused and motivated.
I have no grand design for 2012 other than to keep eating and writing about apples. Each year I am surprised at how much there was to say. In 2011 I eased up during the off season (it was starting to feel like a stretch) but nonetheless posted 95 columns here, mostly around the harvest.

At some point it has got to get harder to find new varieties to taste. But let's see what the year brings.

I do have a few minor projects for the fallow season, mostly tweaks to keep this blog well organized and its ever-growing contents easy for people to find. (Your suggestions welcome on that score, by the way.)

Finally: Five most popular posts for the year (5) Blue Pearmain, (4) Arkansas Black, (3) Chestnut Crabapple, (2) Pink Lady, and (1) Pacific Rose.
All the best to you and yours for the new year.

Pomme de Reinette et Pomme d'Api!