Today was the day to pick most of the keepers. We were joined by our friend Brett who drove up from Boston to spend a splendid fall day in the orchard. It was great fun to have him along. We finished up as darkness descended.

Brett’s favorite this year was Yellow Bellflower. We got our scionwood from two ancient trees in Jefferson, about a half hour south of the farm. Yellow Bellflower was one of the first out-of-state cultivars to be planted in Maine. When you see an ancient tree in Maine in the fall with somewhat conic, yellow fruit, there’s a good chance it’s Yellow Bellflower. They taste good now and keep most of the winter.

Most of the apples we picked today will improve in storage. Here’s a list. All are correctly ID’ed except where noted. We still have more picking to do, including Black Oxford, Roxbury Russet, Stark, Wickson, and a few others. But we’re nearly all picked out.

Adam’s Pearmain (dropping)
Aroostook Sunset
Baldwin
Blake
Blue Pearmain
Cherryfield (unidentified, matches midwestern Salome)
Esopus Spitzenburg (dropping)
Green Monster (unidentified Maine—possibly from seed)
Guptil Lavender (Belgrade unidentified ancient grafted)
Hurlbut (dropped)
King David
Lincolnville Russet (unidentified large old Maine russet)
Mann
Northwestern Greening
Reinette Simarenko
Scout (Frostbite x Cherryfield) SCF seedling
Smokehouse
Wagener (mostly dropped)
Yellow Bellflower