tall clover farm

As I coasted down the steep hill to the Pt. Defiance ferry dock, actively praying that I would make the boat, the security gate which separates running vehicles from bone-chilling Puget Sound teetered like a failing flag pole. With gravity (and a punctually-minded ferry worker) now in charge, the striped barricade fell back to earth, corraling me on the dock while the sweet little M/V [...]

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Comparing Apples to Apples: Easy-to-Grow Trees With Great Tasting Fruit I’ve lived in my fine old farmhouse for five years, and before I sanded one baseboard, patched any plaster or fussed with the foundation, I planted trees—trees that I had been nurturing in pots for years, trees awaiting their liberation from city to country living. Half a [...]

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Boz is obsessed with apples. In his world and from his point of view, they fall from the sky, which is something you can’t say about a dog biscuit. Milk-bone handouts or kibbles found under the couch are not as forthcoming as the windfall of twenty apple trees, all of which are a short jaunt [...]

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Gracie is banking on my poor sense of balance and propensity to be easily distracted. Today is hug-a-Brit day, as I’d like to personally thank the island nation for not only bringing us the most beautiful dog breed in existence, the British Bulldog, but also for cultivating the best baking and pie apple to bless a [...]

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Bramley’s Seedling apple atop a jar of subtle sweetness In the world of making homemade jams and jelllies, apple jelly is the starter kit. It’s your paper airplane, your pencil and paper, your tin roof sundae, your khakis and tees, your clean palate. Simplicity sets it apart; adapability provides its charm.  After I waxed on about its virtures in Jam Up and [...]

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In my neverending quest to cover every square inch of Tall Clover with anything that bears fruit, I stumbled across a remarkable site: Greenmantle Nursery of Humboldt, California. The nursery’s been in business since 1983, and features some old homestead varieties from plant breeder Albert Etter (1872-1950). Today three small benchgrafts (on M111 rootstock) of his small dessert/cider apples  that the [...]

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