The weather has continued to be warm here during the past week. Nights are in the +20’sF and the days have been in the high +30’s and even +40F. The grass has largely reappeared in the open areas of the orchards and the fields, although we still have snow cover under the shade of the old apple trees as well as along the west edges of the orchards where the sun disappears behind the pines and hemlocks by mid-afternoon.
Our old friend, Bob Sewall, came by this morning with a few apples he hoped I’d identify. (One is a Northern Spy). I helped plant part of Bob’s beautiful hillside orchard in Lincolnville in 1983. Nice to catch up and hear that the orchard still thriving. My payment that day 43 years ago was a bundle of the first apple trees I ever planted. One of them is still alive! Bob and his wife Mia have a cider vinegar and fresh cider business. They make several thousand gallons of organic vinegar every year.
South China Sweet
Later this morning we sold the last dozen bushels of our cider apples to Zack at Absolem Cider. I was hoping we’d press them ourselves but—alas—we have too much else going on. About half the apples are Black Oxfords, the other half are a pure “sweet” seedling from South China that Skylar and I picked in late October. That apple has real potential. I’ll topwork it onto something up at Finley this coming spring. Zack will ferment a blend of the two apples, and I’ll look forward to trying the finished product in a few months.