Apple picking season is drawing to a close. Even in a warm fall we try to be done by Halloween. And this year has been considerably colder than any in recent memory. I ventured off to the coast to pick a seedling discovered by my friend Sean Turley who calls it Beal’s Orange Bitter. He shared a single-variety cider made of BOB a few weeks ago, and it was delicious. The sprawling old tree straddles a stone wall and offered up three bushels of apples today. I’ll press them and see if I can make as good a cider.

We picked our next-door-neighbor’s Golden Russet (of Western New York), a tree I grafted many years ago, and our own Albion Russets, Roxbury Russets, Black Oxfords and Starks. It’s time!

In the evening I gave a talk in an old meeting hall in the southern Maine town of Wells. There was a big turn out for a Wednesday night. Maybe the table full of pies was a draw! It’s gratifying to see the enthusiastic interest in our apple history throughout the state.