Very nice. I don’t eat many apples anymore, but when i do it’s usually honeycrisp.
1 Like
The first few apples from Golden Delicious. This tree has taken forever to produce anything. It grows very little. I’ve debated on getting rid of it, but I do enjoy tree ripened Golden Delicious. The deer picked off another 3-4 apples last night, so I picked the rest of them today. It is likely at least a week or two early to pick them, but I didn’t want to lose them all to deer.
2 Likes
Do you press any for cider or do apple pies with any of them?
My Bartlett seedling is slowly getting cut down. The pears on it were just not great again. Growing from seed still has its drawbacks. Could easily graft it over to something else.
I’ll be pressing cider next week most likely. I would love to make apple pies and/or apple crisp…but I would end up eating it all. My wife doesn’t eat sweet stuff.
Picked some crabs for a cider mix next week.
Ben Trio
A bunch of them, with a few crabs from a local unidentified crab I’ve named “LPVFW” in the lower right
LPVFW
Firecracker crab
A bunch of them
One showing the red/pink red flesh of Firecracker
Ben Trio and LPVFW are pretty darn good for fresh eating. They have some of that crab “zing” but not mouth puckering. Ben Trio grows in bunches, very heavy bearing tree. Firecracker sucks IMO. Way too crabby for fresh eating. They will add some nice color to the cider though.
5 Likes
I picked a couple more milk crates full of Smitty’s fruit today. There’s still at least 2 more crates full hanging. The deer will get those.
About as big as Smitty’s fruit gets, at least on a tree with zero thinning. I imagine they’d get a bit bigger if I thinned to one per cluster.
I filled a crisper drawer with the best/nicest looking fruit, and the rest went into the freezer for sweet cider. I’m done collecting fruit for cider I think. I’ll wait for a nice, cool day to make cider. I brix tested a couple apples today. They all hit 18. I’ll test a couple after a few weeks in the crisper and see if I can get to 20.
4 Likes
… makes them kind-a “hard” to grind, don’t it?
You thaw them most of the way, then grind. Freezing breaks the cell walls and makes the juice much, much easier to extract. I’d guess I got more than twice the juice out of the apples I froze (and thawed) last year compared to the fresh ones.
I’ve heard of people not grinding the fruit after freezing. They just thaw and press the apples whole. I haven’t tried that, but I imagine it would work just fine.
1 Like
The venison should have a nice apple flavoring.
My fall cauliflower are really sizing up quickly. Lots of sun and warm days/cool nights.
1 Like
I was in the orchard and figured I’d snap a couple pics of the Smitty’s Seedling mother tree. You can see there’s still fruit hanging and that deer really enjoy eating any leaves they can reach. The tree really likes growing out, rather than up
One with my old King Quad for some perspective
3 Likes
Brix tested a couple Ben Trio crabs today. Consistently 15-16. Really tasty little crabs. They are quite firm and juicy.
4 Likes
Made a few gallons of cider today. It’s about all I really want to make by myself to be honest. With all the yellow jackets swarming around, my wife can’t be out there to help. It’s predominantly Smitty’s Seedling and Zestar. I did throw a bag full of mixed crabs in too. The Firecracker crab color is more evident in some of the cider. My first few glasses full were pretty good, but it always seems to get better after it cools off and settles a bit.
5 Likes
Picked Korean Giant asian 
.
The squirrals knocked down a lot of good size pears. Most pears have bite marks, scratch marks, and bruised when fell down on the ground. I only got about 5 pears that are not damaged. This year, the squirrels did more damage to pears than other years.
Despite a large chunck of pear is missing, this one is still over a pound.
1 Like
Went to Whitewater State Park east of Rochester yesterday. Very nice park and i want to go back when we have more time. Hiked around and walked in the river. Very clear with some nice pools that i imagine hold good size trout but i didn’t see any. Huge amount of public land in that area.
My lettuce is really starting to take off. Think it’ll be perfectly timed for fall harvest.
3 Likes
Do you cut off the tree rat damage, slice up and store somehow? I’d be beyond irritated with that damage.
2 Likes
Yes, I sanitized the pears first to kill all the germs it may have from the animals , then cut off the bite marks, and eat most of them.
In the past, I ship a box of best pears to my kids every year , but I don’t have enough to do so this year. D* squirrels!
2 Likes
Squirrels are so hard to control in the city. I’ve read that in the UK they have been successful in giving them birth control. I have squirrels that have been digging in potted plants for some reason. They don’t usually do that but this fall they have killed several cuttings i started. I hate them.
2 Likes
Does anyone here live in northern Minnesota? The reason I ask is because arctic raspberry (nagoon) doesn’t set fruit very often where the summers get too warm, but northern Minnesota has the warmest summers in its native range. I was hoping that someone who lives there might have wild arctic raspberries growing on their property and would be willing to sell me a plant. Or even better, seeds when they fruit in june.
What’s northern MN?