As another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter.
This is a tale of laziness and being poor. My being poor and rich people being lazy is typical, but as TL and I were venturing about looking for some land, we went by a place we tried to buy that had a huge carpet of apples under the tree.
It was very pretty and as the person who owned the property was named Bun, I had Mom phone Bun up and, Bun's response on the apples was, "Well they been off the tree for 2 weeks, so they are probably soft.....take all you want."
So TL and I loaded up 3 barrels of molasses lick tubs for the apples and away we went.
There was a deer protesting the arrival of our outing, and the big farmers were scowling at us, in what the hell we were up to, but then this is a tale of rich people who are so damned lazy, that they will not pick up an apple......as why in the hell pick up apples when you can buy the pesticide ones in the store.
An entire community of rich folks saw this pile of apples and none had the gumption to pick up a bag of them.
They were froze partially as it had got down to 18, but they did thaw.......I got them for the goatikins, but soon enough found out that, they were ok for eating, but made great apple crisp. As I write this, I think I have had 6 pans of apple crisp......am pretty thankful for those rich lazy people and the Bun apples.
I do not like mysteries though and this apple was not Honeycrisp or any of the late arrivals on the apple fare bandwagon. I studied the tree and it looked old as the hills as 3 shoots had grown up from a break and were now the tree. There was an even older broken down one next to it without fruit on it...........and I studied the apples.....and thought about the flavor of these apples in sweet at first and tangy second.........and I pinned it down to the apple of a generation ago era in the Haralson apple.
The Haralson is not really known, but it was the Midwest transition apple from east coast Spy, Gravenstein and Winesaps which are inferior. They are pretty red and they keep well enough. What I like about these is they are way beyond Granny Smith, the noted pie apple and those mushy MacIntosh apples which are earlier, and an almost like flavor....though Macs are more fruity in scent.
So I now have like 200 apple seeds which are going to be sprouted in hope, that God will give us the land we look for and we are going to have apples all over the place, instead of other trees. I have great hope for these apples as they are hardy and are the basis of the transition of the Minnesota apples in the Honeycrisp generation. Think of the Haralson as one step below what the sweet and sour is of Honeycrisp......and the best attribute is they are a very good pie apple for the flavor and texture.
That is why this post is appearing in the new year, in the reality is, no one really plants pie apples any more. They just make do with what they have and most of the eating apples are not pie apples. The Haralson is a good enough eating apple in sweet and tangy, is crisp and juicy, and it holds together well enough in crisps and pies to give those who like apple pie what they are looking for.
Frankly, I do not like apple pies or crisps, but I have eaten a load of apples from this tree and have been quite delighted with it all...........and with whipped cream.
I just do not know how people can be this damned lazy now in America, in they won't pick up an apple to eat off the ground or bake a pie as it is all too much work. I am thankful for that in a way......just would like the rich people to leave their wallets laying about full of wads o cash, as I certainly would not be averted from helping them spend it, in being too lazy to pick those wallets up.
So if you want a pie apple / eating apple........think about a Haralson. I hope these seeds sprout as I really would like to see what comes out of them, as they have a huge number of seeds in them, being an older apple.
Oh and I think the other old ratty apple tree was a Mac, as people always planted in that era an early and late apple.....and that is about all there was for apples, other than Wealthy in that generational divide.
nuff said
agtG
