Monday, August 30, 2010

Apples are Ripe

The first apples of 2010 are ready.  I took  a bite of one yesterday and it was perfectly ripe, a little sweet and a little tart.

Here is an apple from each of the two trees near my house.  I spent a huge amount of time last year trying to identify what type of apples they are and had found some good web resources (I'll have to locate them again, since apparently I didn't keep the links).  The left apple is streaky over a greenish base, and the right apple is a darker, more solid red.  I think the right apple is a Macintosh, it's tart like that and cooks really well, but I never pinned down the left one.  Cortland maybe.  It got mushy and bland when cooked.  I've got maybe 2-3 other apple trees that bore fruit this year, the Golden Delicious tree, the grandpa tree made a few apples, and one other tree.

I took a container up to upper blueberry hill to pick what I could pick, but there's nothing left.  Blueberry season up and went without me.  I made ice cream, sold a few pints through Melanie, and had some friends over for pickin', but that's it.  I didn't save any this year.

The guy I was supposed to meet last Thursday postponed until later this week.  After that first really good phone call, he hasn't called or emailed.  Using the philosophy that if a guy likes you, you'll know; the fact that he hasn't called is a bad sign.  I've adjusted my hopes downward.  It's disappointing, but it's not productive to dwell.  I'm meeting someone else for lunch tomorrow, and someone else for dinner Weds.  I had originally refused to meet the Weds person using distance as an excuse, but changed my mind yesterday.  Yes, this whole thing is incredibly frustrating and time-consuming, but I believe that anything worthwhile is worth working for, and I'm willing to do the work.  Plus, it keeps me moving and not dwelling on might-have-beens with the goats, which is also worthwhile right now.

6 comments:

  1. Regarding the dating scene, how do you keep an objective view of all the ins and outs, ups and downs, ons and offs??? Oooof. How exhausting. But you definitely do hear of matches made in heaven happening from meeting someone the way you're exploring. So I give ya a lot of credit, gal. Hang in there as long as it feels like the right thing.

    P.S. And please don't give up your beautiful homestead and move to NYC. ;o)

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  2. Those are beautiful apples, Jordan. Do you have a good place to store them for the winter (a la root cellar)? This seems to be a much better year for apples, at least locally. Of course, my one old apple tree may have just been celebrating the fact that it was pruned for the first time in 15 years...

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  3. Mama Pea - I *don't* keep an objective view! I daydream about rewriting my profile to have all the snark I think about, but then swallow the urge. Something about catching more flies with honey, ya know.

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  4. Hey Jordan would you be interested in growing hops next year... the process takes a few years before a major yield but if you get a decent hop variety you can make a few bucks off it.

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  5. Sue - I do think it's turned into a good apple year. My just-this-year pruned tree is happy, but so is the tree I didn't prune. I've got a cellar, but have to do research on how to keep apples.

    Anon- I *have* thought about growing hops. Went to a seminar on it in Jan. Have to make my soil more hospitable first, and give them a place that's protected from the wind. They grow to be about 25 feet tall, supported on wires.

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  6. when is your next batch of cider going to be ready?

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