Today in the orchard
This is one of the summer days I always await with bated breath. It’s the day the Trailman apples are ready to pick. (A quick dive into grammar: is it baited or bated? And what does it mean either way? Evidently it’s bated, and it means nervous or anxious which totally makes sense since a perfect Trailman is not an apple to miss…even by a day.) Trailman Harvest Day is usually August 20 by my reckoning, but of course that depends on an assortment of factors. Our friends who live an hour south of us in Portland were already picking their Trailmans on August 15. So this year we’re a week plus behind Portland.
After much deliberation we decided that today was the day. It was Skylar’s first time donning a picking-bucket so she warmed up with the Koidu Reinettes and the Centennial Crabs. Then, joined by Cammy, we picked the Trailman. The apples are small—a flaw in the world of commercial apples—but the flesh is crystalline crisp and the flavor is AAA. Trailman is a really good apple. It took a few hours to pick, but it’s well worth the effort. We turned on the cooler yesterday so the Trailmans were happily stored at 34F within a hour of being picked. Let the season begin!
