Adam's Apples

Who shall dethrone the mighty Honeycrisp? The wolves have been circling for some time around old King Honeycrisp . This variety originated, and still dominates, the niche of super crisp, tooth-achingly sweet apples. Honeycrisp's rival apples aspire to rule the kingdom, not to topple it. To supplant with same-only-better, not to challenge with new tastes and textures. By when did the King get so old? What makes him vulnerable?

More than a hundred thoughtful descriptions (and photos) of apples are tucked away in a small website set up to manage the Out on a Limb Apple CSA (community supported agriculture). The descriptions are unsigned, but authorship must certainly belong to one of the CSA's farmers, apple sleuth and rescuer John Bunker .

Long have I marveled at the wonderful keeping qualities of GoldRush , a modern variety developed by the PRI Co-op . Packed well, GoldRush keeps in my ordinary refrigerator, peaking in April and still quite tasty in June . So today, six months out, let's sample the fall 2017 harvest. And while we are at it, the 2016 harvest too.

Vincent van Gogh Eugene Crockett died suddenly in early 1932, leaving a family, a thousand fruit trees, and a pile of debt in the pit of the Depression. Only his daughter, Kitty, wanted to keep the orchard or thought it would be possible to do so.