After a week swallowed up by Common Ground Fair and then two days of (much needed) rain, we were finally able to do some picking again. We picked Canadian Strawberry, Pomme Grise, Belle de Boskoop, Rolfe and Grimes Golden apples as well as Seckel pears. All six of these cultivars are favorites here on the farm, and all six have perceived flaws that sadly eliminate them from ever being grown in a modern commercial orchard.

Canadian Strawberry has exceptionally good “dessert” (aka fresh eating) quality but has a relatively short window of ripeness. At least for the next few years, the name may actually be illegal. We’ll check on that with the tariff police.
Pomme Grise has dessert quality fruit but small fruit size. (always a killer) The name also sounds suspiciously Quebecois.
Belle de Boskoop is an acclaimed and beloved cooking apple in Europe but in America, as the wise old owl says, “who cooks for you?” Cooking apples are non-grata in the US grocery stores. We hope to change that.
Rolfe is an all-purpose, historic, Maine cultivar named for the Revolutionary War officer of that name, but the texture isn’t crisp. Could we change the name to something like, “Better Than Crisp”?
Grimes Golden is good for everything, but it ripens over a three or four week period so, really, you should never pick them all at once. That’s a deal-breaker in the commercial orchard where you send in the crew to pick each tree clean.
Seckel, the famous, historic, delicious dessert pear, is just too darn small.

Even for us with our small, barely-commercial orchard, these fruit present challenges in harvesting and marketing. But they are worth it. We’ll keep growing them. I can smell the Boskoop sauce on the cookstove as I write. Delectable!