Today in the orchard
I think it’s fair to say that the picking season is now officially over. Today we picked the Dandeneau trees, Steve Gougeon’s productive bittersharp seedling discovery in western Mass that we love to press and ferment. We’ll do all that in a couple of weeks. We also picked the Baldwins, Yellow Bellflowers and Roxbury Russets. We’re leaving the Wicksons to freeze on the trees. We’ll pick them frozen and press them for cider. We did that several years ago, and we liked the result. I imagine we’ll collect a few other odds and ends, but essentially it’s all done. It’s been a good season. A lot of apples over the course of nearly three months.
It’s fitting that the last apples picked for the season were the Roxbury Russets. Roxbury is probably the first North American apple to be selected and named. It remains one of the last to ripen and one of the best in storage. It is also a great sauce apple. We’ll be eating these with our oatmeal long into spring. What a truly great apple.