There are something like two dozen mature apple trees (that I’ve found so far) on the farm. Last year they bore almost no apples — people said there was an ill-timed frost in the spring that annihilated the blossoms — so I’ve been wondering what sort of fruit they produce. I’ve been keeping half an eye on the trees, and my impression was that most of the fruit wasn’t ripe yet, but when I looked down the power line cut this afternoon, the apples declared themselves!
And the apples are really tasty, and not quite like anything I’ve had before. I’m looking forward to seeing and tasting the other gifts from the farm.
Categories: trees
Tagged: apple tree, apples, clouds, fruit, power lines, right-of-way, ripe
I lived on a 5 acre farm in a run-down farmhouse in Kentucky with my husband, 3 kids, 2 outdoor cats, several dogs that were not really a blessing, checkered rabbits that we got rid of also, parakeets (we think eaten by the cats), guinea pigs, hamsters, gerbils, and 2 goats (a momma and a kid, my favorites)…basically animals that the children wanted, except for the goats, which were my idea. We cleared the land by hand and it was overgrown with brambles and vines about 10 feet tall. We lived on this farm and off the produce of this farm for about 27 years, which were the happiest years of our lives. I can go on and on but do not have the time to recant all of that.
However, the apple tree! There was one apple tree, just one, which was old and right by my back porch wooden deck. We had added the deck on to the breakfast room, which was added on to the kitchen of this 90+ year old farm house. The apple tree was old but it was special because it was old and it was original. The tree did not bear fruit the first year either. In fact, it was more like an every other year producer. That was its pattern. I know people talk about the blossoms freezing or a wind storm that blew the blossoms off, but I believe that it was just the rhythm of this tree and I learned to respect the tree.
Your picture of your apple tree is magnificent! It brought back memories of my apple tree, though yours is much bigger. I never sprayed it or fed it or did anything except adore it. The apples were not perfect but they were outstanding and they were mine. I made applesauce, apple butter, apple cakes, apple pancakes, milopitas in phyllo dough, baked apples, and apples with porkchops in the oven. Because of the winters in Kentucky, the apple cakes were baked and frozen and put in the freezer, the milopitas (like Greek streudels) were made to be able to be eaten in one person portions and frozen on cookie sheets unbaked and then put into ziplock bags to be baked fresh for company with powdered sugar and cinnamon sprinkled on when hot out of the oven, and the apple butter and applesauce were canned in pint jars. Please do not let your apples go to waste! What a sin that would be. Just looking at the picture of your tree made me so happy! How close are the trees to your house?
In 2006, we moved back to Tampa, FL , where I was born and raised. I cannot grow apples here but am into lemons, kumquats, loquats, longans, avocado, fig trees, olive trees, starfruit, chaya, jewels of opar, longevity spinach and I now live on a 1/4 acre lot in a subdivision (Oh my God, how did that happen?)!
Ourania, thank you so much for the story and memories! The apple trees are all over the property, some along the driveway, some in the pastures, and some deeper in the woods (presumably planted long before the woods reclaimed those areas). The tree in the photo is about 1/4 mile away from my house, but prominently visible from the fenced pasture behind the house. I think the apples are just starting to ripen, so I’ll try to pick a bunch this weekend. The tree is quite large — not like the dwarf apple trees in fashion these days — so some of the fruit will necessarily be donated to the local wildlife. I’ll also make sure to graze my sheep under it to share the windfall with them.
Where was your place in Kentucky, and how did you find it? It sounds like an amazing place. Do you ever go back to visit?
We had the acreage at 5911 Bardstown Rd in Louisville, KY 40291. I am sure that you can look it up and see it on Zillow or realestate.com. We were on a main highway but had our bit of “country”. It was pure heaven. The old house sat back from the highway with about an acre in the front yard and 3 and 1/2 in the backyard. Anyone who passed this busy highway, knew it was ours. It is no longer there. A retired (Korean) economics professor bought it from us, cut down all of the old trees (should have been a crime), and bulldozed our treasured farmhouse after digging up every flower, plant, and fruit tree we had cultivated and relocating them to his property. A friend sent me a video of the bulldozing event. We still cry about this: me, Marios, and our 3 grown kids. That house and property was special. The man bought our property, the next door neighbor’s acreage (did the same thing to them) and some of the church property next door. He had a total of about 12-15 acres on a prime highway and his intention was to build condominiums. He could not get the zoning changed…so this man ruined something very beautiful for what? I think that the property is still for sale but he may be deceased at this point. Maybe it is a good thing that he bulldozed it down because I had dreams of moving back to it because it was in our souls. He saved me from the possibility. All 5 of us still have dreams about life on the farm and that we are there.
Marios and I went back to “walk” the property when we had the occasion to go to Louisville for a friend’s daughter’s wedding. The only thing that I could find as a remnant was some of my mint patch that I had growing by the stream that I made my famous keftedes with fresh herbs and some lilies that I had planted by the stream and our giant Chinese Chestnut trees that we had planted as babies. Marios and I just cried and cried and walked the 5 acres heartbroken. No house. No woodshed/smokehouse. No irises (over 50 varieties). No fruit trees. No grapes, no blackberries, no fig trees (over 50 gone), No 12 foot long clothesline with prop poles. The list and the heartache is endless. No nothing! Sitting here typing this makes me cry and it is since 2003 that this happened.