Remember Whensday: Apple Season

My mother's parents purchased land about five miles from their small home town and planted many trees in the sandy soil. My grandfather grew up in the Thornbury, Ontario area which is still well known for its apple orchards. He planted a large apple orchard at the farm with a good variety of heritage apples. I knew the difference between Snows, Wealthys, Macintosh, Tolman Sweets, Courtlands and Spy apples when I was still a child. Granddad died well before I was born and my uncle managed the farm for many years. Each fall we spent weekends picking apples for Uncle Bill and were paid by the bushel for our labours. Afterward, we collected "grounders" which we took home free of charge. I loved those fall weekends when the air was fresh, the trees were turning colour, and the milkweed pods were dry and silky.

The farm was large and we had time to explore the lower pasture, the pines and the pond on the other side of the large barn. There were swings and a one room cabin with a screened in porch where we could eat our lunch. Our water was pumped from a well which had an green wooden handle and the facilities consisted of a single seater out house.

There was an old cider press near the water pump where we could make some freshly squeezed apple juice. It would become fermented very quickly as it was not pasteurized.
Apples remain my favourite fruit and I look forward to tasting my first crisp fall apple each year. Mom always had a very large bowl of applesauce on the counter and we ate it for dessert most nights. Sometimes we had it with fresh gingerbread and often with fresh muffins.

I bought some new apples at the market last weekend and they should be coming to their peak by the end of the month. And I will make applesauce and apple crisp and all kinds of other apple recipes. But nothing beats a fresh apple just picked from the tree, juicy, sweet and delicious!