OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW

Gavenstein apples
waiting to be picked.
I think they have my name on them.

The workers have just pulled into the orchard across from our house to start picking the early varieties, and I couldn't be happier. While having them here means that for a few weeks I will loose some of my cherished privacy, it also means that good, fresh apples will soon be available, as the local apples that have been kept in cold storage over the winter are quickly deteriorating in quality. My daycare kiddies go through a lot of apples in the run of a week, but I have been lucky to be able to buy ten pound bags of Jona Gold apples for $6.00 at a local farm market. Unfortunately, the last time I stopped, they had run out, so I bought a smaller bag of Delicious, which looked good on the outside but were a really big disappointment on the inside, as they were mostly brown.

Sun sinking
behind
a pile
of
discarded
apple trees.

There have been some big changes going on the last couple of years in the orchard across from us. Apparently, the old standard Gavenstein apple, which by the way is still one of my favorite apples, is no longer a viable market variety. People want the hoity toity, expensive Honey Crisp instead, so much so that the government has offered grants to the apple producers to replace existing orchards with new Honey Crisp trees. Our vista from our front window has changed dramatically as every second row of older apple trees has been cut down, the roots dug up and new seedling trees, spindly little things at best three feet tall, were planted. It is a sad sight indeed and a sad reflection on our society that a variety of apple, loved by generations before us, is being discarded because it is no longer "cool"to eat...just another example of our throw away society. I have a feeling that as soon as these new trees are large enough to produce fruit, the remaining Gravenstein trees will be cut down as well and replaced ...soon to become a thing of the past. What a waste!

There are piles of discarded apple trees, and stumps throughout the orchard.