Abby rose from her nap a little hungry,
"Working the fields yesterday wore me out! Guess I'm not a young as I used to be."
She reached for a apple from the fruit bowl on the kitchen counter. She always had a fruit bowl filled with bananas, apples, oranges, kiwi, and clementines or whatever was in season. She laughed,
"I remember this fruit bowl when my boys were growing up. They were always hungry. Three teen aged boys at the same time. Whew! I was tired of them going thru a whole box of cereal at one sitting or carving off of the ham in the refrig before I got home from work to bake it! So I told them if they had to eat between meals, they must chose FRUIT! Just fruit!"
She took a bite of her apple and pleasantly smiled.
"This is good! I'll buy this one again!"
She'd bought a new apple at the store, one that she had not tried before. It was a Jazz apple. A little research revealed that is was a new apple cultivated first in New Zealand from a Breaburn and a Gala.
"I've always loved apples. I remember, as a kid, eating an apple every day, if my mom had them. The old saying was: An apple a day keeps the doctor away! I'd grab one and head out the back door to play. I'd eat it, throw the core in the 55 gallon drum barrel at the far back of the yard, and run off to play some more! No sitting around for me! But back then we only had a few choices. Delicious, which I really didn't like, Jonathans and McIntosh and "green" apples as we called them. My mom told me the green ones were Pippins and that they were the very best for making pies. My sister and I knew when we saw our mom buy green apples at the store that a pie was in the making!! My mom still makes the best apple pie that any of us have every tasted."
Pippins are an 'old' apple variety. The Newtown Pippin is from the 1700's and was made famous by none other than Thomas Jefferson, who grew them in his orchard at Monticello. One of the first US apple exports to the UK which originated in Newtown, Long Island, NY. Sometimes known as Albemarle Pippins. The well-known Yellow Newtown Pippin is a close relative.
"I wondered if Suz has any Pippins? I know she found a supplier on Sauvie Island in the Columbia River. Or did she find them at the Hood River Fruit Loop? I'll ask her, I feel like a pie . . . ."
(An earlier post was about autumn on a Sauvie Island farm.)
9 comments:
Lately, I've been enjoying honey crisps sliced, with almond butter. My husband grew up with apple trees on their property. The boys would climb the trees, eat apples, and throw the cores down. I like to make my own applesauce and eat it warm.
That brought back memories. My Great Aunt had an apple tree with light green apples that were snow white inside, not sure what they were, she just called them snow apples. I haven't been able to find a snow apple, maybe I'll check into pippin's.
mmmmm! I just had an apple with lunch today =)
Brought back memories for me too... our parents and grands always chided us not to eat off of the trees cause we'd get sick.
HA! We too would eat and drop the cores of apples and pears, never got sick. Actually, probably never healthier.
Used to do the same by raiding our and our Aunt & Uncle's gardens too!
I like green apples the best! I fact, I just bought some and decided to try my hand at drawing one, for my "ideas of inspiration" post. Neat site to help us find things inspirational - January is A month! {:-D
Mmmmm...I hope Abby bakes us a pie soon :)
I love apples. This reminds me of the two apple trees my grandparents had. My sister and I would play house in them!
Hi Sweetie! Great post! I've never tried a Pippin apple, and I live on Long Island! Come the fall, I'm going to look for some of those at the farm stands and make a pie! Hugs, Paulette ;)
Amaryllis come in colors from a red that is almost black, to a range of pinks, and white and green/white. I have the range... The one on my blog that you commented on (thank you for visiting), is the very 1st one I bought last fall at a festival, and this is the 1st time it has bloomed. I love them for their huge beauty, and the fact that in that particular area I finally found something that will actually grow!
Look here:
http://www.americanmeadows.com/FallFlowerBulbs/AmaryllisBulbsandkits.aspx#SeeAllAmaryllis
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