Good and bad news for the apple harvest

This year's apple harvest in New England is "bountiful" and early, but meager in the Midwest and elsewhere, according to the Boston Globe.

Globe Corespondent Wesley Lowery writes today that

while New England orchards are enjoying an early harvest, most of the nation’s top apple-growing states have seen their trees decimated by drought and late spring frosts.
....
Michigan, the nation’s leading apple-picking hub...will produce just 3 million bushels of apples this year, compared with 23 million bushels in a typical year, according to the Michigan Apple Committee.

Lowery visits Shelburne Farm in Stow (Mass.), where Gala is already being picked.
Oliver Levick, who manages Westford Hill Orchard in Westford, told Lowrey, “Pretty much everything, across the board, is coming in early this year.”

There have been similar reports this month throughout the region.

It's not all good news locally, however. In an email last week, the owners of Old Frog Pond Farm (Harvard Mass.) said there would be "no pick-your-own this year."

"Two nights of 26 degrees when the blossoms were ready for pollination destroyed most of the fruit," the owners said. (Old Frog Pond offers many other delights, however; see the farm's web page.)

My personal experience this summer is that things seem right on schedule, and that early fruit has been harvested too soon.

But the clear message from the field is to expect your favorites to be ready early.