Tasting the Wild

In our woods, from the mid-way point north and south, scattered from east to west and especially prevalent all along the line where the field meets the woods, are apple trees.  Dozens of apple trees.  Some, guessing by the size, are older than DH and I.  Others are smaller in diameter, maybe closer to 30 years old.  All of them were established trees when we bought this little place here, trees that were overgrown and wild, their apples fodder for the deer, the turkey, the squirrels.  On the north fence line, the dividing point between our field and the neighbor's 60 or 70 acres, there are another handful more feral apple trees.

In the past, we made little more than passing notice of them.  Occasionally grabbing an apple if we happened to be walking by when the ones on that particular tree next to us were ripe.  One year, when DH was out putting up tree stands, he brought me in about a peck of apples he'd collected in the woods, and I made a pie with them.  Usually, though, they just went to the wildlife.

A few winters ago, we started a project of reclaiming them.  In January and February, we'd spent a few hours on each of several weekends, and prune apple trees.  First, out came the dead branches, then any that looked sickly or damaged.  After that, we stepped back, looked at the shape of the tree and if the branches were too concentrated in any particular area, then we'd take up our pruners (and often, the chainsaw!) and do more selective trimming.  Often, trees needed to be thinned on one side or another, to let more light into the center of the canopy, and to alleviate being weighted more to one side or the other.  Sometimes we decided to top a tree, lopping off the leader to bring the tree back to a more manageable height and rounder shape.

Last year, late frosts hit all the fruit trees in this part of the state.  None of mine bore any fruit, and many of the orchards within an hour or more drive had no fruit, either.  It was a sad year.

This spring, the weather was perfect, and all the trees blossomed heavily.  Apparently, they also got pollinated heavily.  My orchard is loaded.  The wild trees in the fence line and the woods are also loaded.  It is a great year for apples.

Recently, DH and I jumped on the tractor and went for a ride.  We were on a mission to observe the apple trees; to try to document how many different varieties of apples we had growing at this little place here, determine when each tree became ripe, and to see which apples were good for us to eat, and which ones were better left for the deer and other critters.

We were off to taste the wild!

What we found, were several trees that are definitely crab apples.  Good as pollinators, and if I ever want to get into making crab apple jelly or something along that line.  But not something you'd want as a snack.  We also found that we have, as we decided to call them trees of "Delicious" type (not our favorite, being kind of bland and not all that crisp), trees of "McIntosh" type (my favorite for pies), trees of "Granny Smith" type (DH's favorite for snacking), along with a few others that we couldn't quite classify but were very tasty.  Some are yellow, some are green blushed with red, some are russeted, some are all red, and some are green (as in Granny Smith green, not as in unripe green).  Quite a variety.

This tasting endeavor took us several hours, believe it or not.  Our girls, when we got back to the house, and told them what we'd been up to, couldn't believe it.  They thought we were nuts.

Nuts or not, it was an enjoyable time, riding on the tractor with my hubby, stopping at every apple tree, picking two apples, each of us taking one and biting into it.  Then a moment of silence as we chewed, and savored, or bit and spit, depending on how tasty or repugnant the particular apples were from that tree.  After each tasting, at each tree, a brief discussion and critique of the apples.  Then, moving along to the next tree, we repeated the process.

Some of the apples we ate in entirety before moving on to the next tree. Those trees will definitely get more attention in the future, not just pruning, but also thinning the fruits so that they grow to a size more like the apples of the grocery store instead of midway between a golf ball and a baseball.

I also would like to get pictures of each apple tree, and see if I can figure out if any of them are actually heirloom apples.  There is a section of the woods where the apple trees are approximately all the same size, and if you use your imagination to erase the oak and ash trees between them, trees that are obviously younger, it almost looks like they may have been planted in rows once upon a time.  DH thinks that the oldest trees may have once been some past landowner's young orchard.