Apples

How 'bout them apples?

I can say this literally, for once, because, boy do we have a lot of apples.

We have three apple trees in our back yard -- a Cortland, a Liberty, and a Honey Crisp. We planted the Honey Crisp first, followed by the Liberty, and finally the Cortland. 

It took some time for any of the trees to produce. The Honey Crisp yielded first, but its production was sparing and intermittent -- apples one season, almost none the next. This trend went on for at least a few years, which caused us to question what we were doing, or had done. Was it how, or where, we planted the tree? Was it getting pollinated? Soil issues? Bugs? Blight? Being rank amateurs, we had no answers, only guesses -- and poor ones at that.

When the Honey Crisp tree did produce, tiny black bugs called aphids or the insidious apple maggot fly ravaged what relatively meager fruit was growing. Then, five years ago, when the Honey Crisp tree was on its way to a big yield, the neighborhood squirrels made it a primary stop on their daily foraging. This was COVID year #1, and, working from home, I watched from my screen porch with mounting exasperation as those rampaging rodents scooted down the tree, scurried across the yard, scaled my tree, and snatched at my apples. They'd sample the fruit -- one or two bites -- and then discard it, like some glutton who already had had his fill. It got so irksome for me that I trapped nearly a dozen squirrels (and shepherded them elsewhere) before the Derecho of 2020 put a serious dent in their numbers.

Last summer, the Honey Crisp tree went nuts. Infestation was mild, and the squirrels must have found another major food source. I picked apple after apple, and for weeks, I enjoyed a Honey Crisp nearly every day. I like me some apples, and I really like me some Honey Crisps. I mostly ignore the Cortland and Liberty, and I kind of feel badly about that. But not too much. Those Honey Crisps are just better.

This past spring, I noticed blooms all over the Honey Crisp tree, and I got excited. Fast forward, and those blooms became apples, lots of them. Also, for the first time, I bothered to actually research Honey Crisp cultivation, and learned to cull small, misshapen or stunted apples early in the growth cycle, to give the fitter apples more nutrients to grow. The squirrels again left the tree mostly alone, and the insects' effect has been relatively muted. So, for the second consecutive season, it's been a good year for picking apples. 

I know this is confirmation bias-like psychology at work here, but I love eating apples from my (Honey Crisp) tree. For the past two weeks, I have been busily harvesting the fruit, and every morning, I slice one up and eat it, sometimes accompanied by cheddar cheese. So simple, so nutritious, so delicious, and so satisfying. 

I'm already looking forward to next season.