Apples
As I went in search of ammunition on Thursday last, I found myself in town at high noon. So it was that I jaywalked across Main Street from Farmer's Hardware to the lunch counter in the Smithey's General Store building and feasted on a baked potato. There sitting on the counter was a notice that a sale of heirloom apple trees would be held in the parking lot at CJ Hardware on Saturday from 8:30 until 12:00 noon. Determined to attend this singular event, I wrote myself a note and leaned it against the coffee pot.
Mountain folk, in the main, are early risers and, when I arrived at 8:37,the trees, originally 150 in number, were half gone! The fire chief, Terry McGrady, soon arrived and I told him that I desired to plant apple trees in my garden area which, of course, was the hillside razed by The Great Fire of 2006. Then came my part-time neighbor and fellow beardsman, Joe London, in his customary overalls, seeking early fruiting apple trees for his flatland farm in Iredell County. And, also, another fully bearded man in overalls and straw hat, looking very much as if he might be an Amishman or Mennonite farmer, who I later met again that day in Blevin's Building Supply.
Now, heirloom apples are old varieties prized for their taste and usage rather than production yields and ease of shipment. I found two varieties that I wanted there. The first, a Carolina Red June, was the "other" (cross-pollination) tree in my grandparent's apple grove.
The second was a Black Limbertwig, a smallish apple with a good taste I like.
As for the other two trees I bought on order, I simply listened and watched what the older local people were buying. They are Magnum Bonum ...
... and Virgina Beauty.
With this selection, if I be successful in my husbandry, we should have apples from late June until November.
These four varieties of heirloom apples are all grafted onto a hardy semi-dwarf rootstock, limiting the height of the trees to about 15 feet. The problem is the first 5 feet, of which the deer find the bark delicious in winter and the fruit delightful in summer. Today, before I plant, I'll be in the shop fabricating circular prison fences to keep these would be inmates out.
Venison sausage, anyone, with fried apples on the side?
Mountain folk, in the main, are early risers and, when I arrived at 8:37,the trees, originally 150 in number, were half gone! The fire chief, Terry McGrady, soon arrived and I told him that I desired to plant apple trees in my garden area which, of course, was the hillside razed by The Great Fire of 2006. Then came my part-time neighbor and fellow beardsman, Joe London, in his customary overalls, seeking early fruiting apple trees for his flatland farm in Iredell County. And, also, another fully bearded man in overalls and straw hat, looking very much as if he might be an Amishman or Mennonite farmer, who I later met again that day in Blevin's Building Supply.
Now, heirloom apples are old varieties prized for their taste and usage rather than production yields and ease of shipment. I found two varieties that I wanted there. The first, a Carolina Red June, was the "other" (cross-pollination) tree in my grandparent's apple grove.
The second was a Black Limbertwig, a smallish apple with a good taste I like.
As for the other two trees I bought on order, I simply listened and watched what the older local people were buying. They are Magnum Bonum ...
... and Virgina Beauty.
With this selection, if I be successful in my husbandry, we should have apples from late June until November.
These four varieties of heirloom apples are all grafted onto a hardy semi-dwarf rootstock, limiting the height of the trees to about 15 feet. The problem is the first 5 feet, of which the deer find the bark delicious in winter and the fruit delightful in summer. Today, before I plant, I'll be in the shop fabricating circular prison fences to keep these would be inmates out.
Venison sausage, anyone, with fried apples on the side?
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