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The Twelve Days of Christmas Vashon Island Style

Tom
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14
The Twelve Days of Christmas Vashon Island Style
Seasons Greetings from Tom, Boz and Gracie
Seasons Greetings from my house to yours.

While The Twelve Days of Christmas is not my favorite Christmas carol, I think I could embrace it more wholeheartedly if the song was less about eighteenth-century England and more about the place in which I live: Vashon Island. Here’s my tongue-in-cheek try at a Christmas classic gone local.

This is Boz and Gracie's favorite ornament.
Boz and Gracie’s favorite ornament.

The Twelve Days of Christmas Vashon Island Style

Adapted by Tom Conway (budding lyricist and chief bottle washer)

On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me:
A bicycle in a fir tree

On the second day of Christmas, my true love sent to me:
Two geoducks
and a bicycle in a fir tree

On the third day of Christmas, my true love sent to me:
Three beehives
Two geoducks
and a bicycle in a fir Tree

On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me:
Four ferry rides
Three beehives
Two geoducks
and a bicycle in a fir tree

On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me:
Five heirloom seeds
Four ferry rides
Three beehives
Two geoducks
and a bicycle in a fir tree

On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me:
Six peeps a-quilting
Five heirloom seeds
Four ferry rides
Three beehives
Two geoducks
and a bicycle in a fir Tree

On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love sent to me:
Seven salmon swimming
Six peeps a-quilting
Five heirloom seeds
Four ferry rides
Three beehives
Two geoducks
and a bicycle in a fir Tree

On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me:
Eight deer a-munching
Seven salmon swimming
Six peeps a-quilting
Five heirloom seeds
Four ferry rides
Three beehives
Two geoducks
and a bicycle in a fir Tree

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me:
Nine Flannel Filsons
Eight deer a-munching
Seven salmon swimming
Six peeps a-quilting
Five heirloom seeds
Four ferry rides
Three beehives
Two geoducks
and a bicycle in a fir Tree

On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me:
Ten farm stands brimming
Nine flannel Filsons
Eight deer a-munching
Seven salmon swimming
Six peeps a-quilting
Five heirloom seeds
Four ferry rides
Three beehives
Two geoducks
and a bicycle in a fir Tree

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love sent to me:
Eleven eagles soaring
Ten farm stands brimming
Nine flannel Filsons
Eight deer a-munching
Seven salmon swimming
Six peeps a-quilting
Five heirloom seeds
Four ferry rides
Three beehives
Two geoducks
and a bicycle in a fir Tree

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me:
Twelve orcas breaching
Eleven eagles soaring
Ten farm stands brimming
Nine Flannel Filsons
Eight deer a-munching
Seven salmon swimming
Six peeps a-quilting
Five heirloom seeds
Four ferry rides
Three beehives
Two geoducks
and a bicycle in a fir tree

orca breaching
Merry Christmas from the Pacific Northwest!

 

Christmas Lights, Madrona Trees, and a Cordless Phone

Tom
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31
Christmas Lights, Madrona Trees, and a Cordless Phone

 

No contest: Mother Natures puts on the best holiday display.
No contest: Mother Natures puts on the best holiday display.

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is to install flood lights at the base of my century-old madrona trees. The underlit behemoths put on quite a show. In the Pacific Northwest, the iconic madrona tree stands unmatched in growth habit and sculptural beauty.  The sinewy, cinnamon-barked tree reaches for the sky in a pose seemingly choreographed by Martha Graham; dramatic to say the least. From the road, the madronas mark a well-traveled corner on the island, and thus the perfect vantage point for a little holiday dressing.

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Ooh, ooh, ooh, what a little floodlight can do-ooh-ooh!

A couple of years ago, I decided to ramp it up a bit, not in a crazy see-my-lights-from-space way, but rather in a little-more-sparkle-and-color-wouldn’t-hurt kind of way. Adding Christmas lights to my branch fence flanking the madrona grove was the plan. Initially I tried my favorite old-fashioned C-6 and C-9 Christmas lights and proceeded to blow every fuse in the strand and a couple in the house. (And that was the day I learned amperage, wattage and circuit loads applied to Christmas lights as well.) Twinkle lights were no better as there was a load limit to 200 feet of these little dazzlers, too.

Thanks to LED lights, the fence is now lit in a rainbow of colors, but not without a little side story.  As you may recall from a previous post, I am one of four people in Washington state without a smartphone. Instead, I clip my cordless landline phone to my shirt pocket or collar and go about my day on the farm, well aware that 250 feet seems to be the reach of my electronic tether. Should I be working in the greenhouse or down in the orchard, say by the potting tables or apple trees, respectively, I am but a phone call away. But should I venture toward the rhubarb starts, or beehives, Farmer Tom is on the dark side of the moon and totally incommunicado.

Not a bad Holiday display if I don't say so myself
Not a bad Holiday display if I don’t say so myself

After putting up my lights, feeding the dogs, and sitting down to spot of tea, I realize my cordless phone is not attached to me (darn, weak pocket stitching). Darkness has set in and and a line-of-site search is futile. No problem, I just press the locator button on the phone base, head to the front porch and follow the ring (a good plan in theory). In hot pursuit of the ring, I trip over two bulldogs, slip down eight mossy wet steps, do a faceplant into the deer fence, and get clotheslined by the grape arbor. (I should have brought a flashlight.) Within yards of the ring, the signal stops.  “Are kidding me?” I say out loud. Apparently, the locator button has a limited number of rings? (Talk about a design flaw.)

Back inside, I apologize to Boz and Gracie for disturbing their sleep, find a flashlight, curse the button, and then, try it again. Knowing I have ten to 12 rings at the most, I fly out the door to find my phone. Down the stairs, past the wood swing, around the old maple, through the now-opened gate, under the grape arbor trip wire, and toward the madrona fence. In the distance, I hear one ringy-dingy, two ringy-dingy and then silence. Drat, spoiled again. I make several more attempts, but to no avail. I doubt even Usain Bolt could have made it to the phone in time.

I come up with a Plan B, which is to have someone call me. I retrieve the upstairs phone and call my Mom and ask her to call me back. I would have called a local friend, but ironically, it seems those with cellphones grafted to their hands rarely pick-up.  Mom has a landline and can be trusted to answer. Back down in the field,  I await her call-as-tracking-beam. My in-hand phone rings, but not the one buried in the brush. I discover (painfully) that when two phones are in proximity, the phone closest to the base is the only one that rings. Again, I ask out loud (albeit a little more colorful this time), “Are you kidding me?”

I move on to Plan C: to locate my landline using my flip phone. But first I must ponder one of the great and continuing mysteries of my life: where the heck is my flip phone? I eventually locate it in one of several available ‘junk’ drawers, and not surprisingly, it’s dead.  Plan D rears its necessary head. I must now find the charger for the flip phone. This time the ‘junk’ drawers prove poor options (though I did find a much-loved garlic press), and I finally locate the charger entombed in dust bunnies behind my desk. Once exhumed, the charger and flip phone are reunited and the search is called off for now.

Daylight arrives, and I confidently make my way to the orchard. I flip my phone open, and proceed to call my landline. The responding ring is anemic and barely audible, so I scramble feverishly to locate it before its battery dies. Amid wet leaves and twigs my cordless phone is found. After removing a couple sunbathing slugs, I wipe off the phone and return it to its holster inside. Success!

And then it dawns on me, what did I do with the upstairs cordless phone? (Sigh.)

Merry Christmas, my friends. May you find the light (and your phones) wherever you travel.

Summer sunsets backlight
In the summer, sunsets take over the tree-lighting responsibility.

Goldilocks and the One Bearish Bulldog

Tom
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15

Someone’s Sitting in My Chair…

Boz with his eye on the pie
Boz with his eye on the pie and no time for small talk.

Boz and Gracie, my beloved bullies, are never short of entertaining antics.  So when my friend Nancy stopped by for the last slice of my homemade pumpkin pie, Boz took issue with the interloping nature (in his eyes) of her visit. First of all, I paid more attention to Nancy than to Lord Bosworth, and then she sat down in his captain’s chair, the one that faces me directly at the table, and provides a perfect platform for his ample chin, judgemental glare and incessant whimpering for a treat. The final insult came when he realized Nancy was eating his pumpkin pie. It must have been his, she was in his chair was she not? And the pie was on the table in his spot, the best corner of begging real estate in the house.  Boz hopped up on the all-too-tiny, back-up chair to go eye to eye with this brazen little blonde hussy sitting in his chair, eating his pie.

Here’s how it went down.

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Nancy tries to convince Boz, “See, you won’t like this; it’s pie. It’s people food.” (As if that’s a rule around here.)
Boz and Nancy 1
Cold shoulder: Boz is having none of it,”Oh like a quick scratch is going to make everything better.”
Boz and Nancy 2
In his final appeal, Boz turns to me and channels his lone wolf wail, and gives me the look–the bulldog ultimatum: either she goes or I do.

Now as for Gracie, she greeted Nancy, backed in for a couple butt rubs, and then sashayed back to the arm chair for a few winks of beauty sleep and a couple dreams of beach time with Tillman, the World’s Fastest Skateboarding dog.

The princess and the pea.
The princess and the pea.
Good she's gone. All is right with the world, Boz's world that is.
“Good, she’s gone.”  All is right with the world (Boz’s world that is).

Little Truck, Big Life

Tom
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21
Little Truck, Big Life
Little Gray: In it for the long haul.
Little Gray: In it for the long haul.

In 1998, I bought my little gray Mazda truck with a 150,000 miles on it for $1500. The gentleman I bought it from was a Delta Airlines pilot who used the truck to commute between his Seattle home and Portland base. All I had to know was he was a former Navy pilot with a meticulously maintained vintage MG in his garage, and I was sold. (I withheld the fact that I was an Air Force brat, just in case that was a deal-breaker.) While my budget was set ridiculously low, the stars had aligned and found me the perfect truck. It was now time to say goodbye to my Volvo station wagon, a vehicle more at home on a mechanic’s lift than on the road. We parted ways amicably and I never looked back.

Fast forward to 2014, and an odometer reading of 236,000 miles, and I must sadly report that the time has come to bid a fond farewell to the truck that never said die, well, at least until this month. Little Gray went out with a bang, a thrown rod in it’s final moments, producing enough smoke to conjure a genie and celebrate its last hurrah.

So join me in remembering the little truck that could–a friend ’til the end. Oh and it’s best not to mention this to Boz and Gracie, they are still in denial.

Boz and Little Gray were all about the dump runs.
Boz and Little Gray were all about the dump runs.
Little Gray reluctantly agreed to hauling manure, but only if I lined the bed with a tarp.
Manure runs were okay, too.

 

Boz and Gracie's favorite feature: lay-flat bucket seats.
Boz and Gracie’s favorite feature: lay-flat bucket seats.

 

Foreman Boz supervising an off-loading of cedar.
Boz supervising delivery of the goods.
Flower delivery beat manure-hauling any day.
Flower delivery beat manure-hauling any day.
For everything my truck was, snow-worthy was not one of them.
For everything my truck was, snow-worthy was not one of them.
Truth be told, Boz and I were beginning to outgrow the truck
Truth be told, Boz and I were beginning to outgrow Little Gray.

While Little Gray remains on the island with mechanic who may one day get her running, I found a successor worthy of her flower-delivering, manure-hauling, shotgun-riding, dump-running legacy: a 1992 Toyota 4×4 truck. There’s just one problem; a senior bulldog’s jumping range is no match for the lofty elevations of a monster truck wheel. So Boz and Gracie, a little patience please, I promise to build you a ramp.

Boz and Gracie as photographed by my friend Rondi Lightmark, who specializes in greeting cards featuring dogs and their trucks.
Boz and Gracie as photographed by my friend Rondi Lightmark, who specializes in greeting cards featuring dogs and their trucks.

Update…

The New Truck: Big Red

Gracie needs a springboard.
Gracie needs a springboard.
Big Red has a welcomed spot.
Big Red says, “Bring on the snow!”

How to Cook Fresh Pumpkin for Pie or Soup

Tom
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17
How to Cook Fresh Pumpkin for Pie or Soup
Boz knows; where there are pumpkins, there is pie.
Boz knows; where there are pumpkins, pie is not far behind.

With my front porch buckling under the weight of pumpkins, and winter bringing up the rear, I’m eager to do something with the bounty before me. Two things come to mind: pumpkin pie and pumpkin soup. But first things first, let me show you how I cook and process the pumpkin to a more workable and storable state for use in the kitchen.

pumpkins on a chair
Winter Luxury Pie pumpkins (left) and Galeux d’Eysines pumpkin (right)

Step by Step Guide: How to Cook Fresh Pumpkin for Pie and Soup

  • Most important step: Choose the right type of pumpkin
    • Cooking the pumpkin is easy; finding the right type of pumpkin is more of a challenge.
    • Don’t use a jack o’lantern pumpkin (watery and flavorless).
    • Little sugar pumpkins found in most grocery stores are also pretty disappointing, again watery and flavorless.
    • Use culinary pumpkins or sweet winter squash, usually found at farmers markets or specialty markets, e.g., sweet meat*, candy roaster*, galeux d’eysines*, winter luxury pie*, butternut squash or acorn squash.  (*my favorites)
    • If you can’t find any of the above pumpkins or squash, stick with canned pumpkin. It’s still a good option.
Winter Luxury Pie pumpkin, four pounds a piece
Winter Luxury Pie pumpkins at four pounds apiece.
  • Remove stem and cut the pumpkin in half.
Meaty on outside, seedy on the inside
Meaty on outside, seedy on the inside
  • Place halves upside down on a foil, parchment paper, or Silpat-lined cookie sheet.
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Pumpkins on parchment for easy clean-up
  • Bake the pumpkins at 400 F. degrees until meat is soft, and yields to a fork or knife.
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One hour later the pumpkin meat is soft.
  • Scoop out the contents of the seed cavity, and set aside. You can also scoop out seeds before cooking (your choice).
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Roasted seeds make a great snack.
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The pumpkin flesh is soft like a baked potato.
  • With a spoon, scrape the flesh from the skin and place in a bowl.
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2.5 pounds of flesh from a 4-pound pumpkin
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Process cooked pumpkin until smooth and creamy, usually a 1-2 minute run time.
  • Fresh puree can have a high water content. If making soup, this is not a problem.

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  • For pie puree, I remove excess water by placing the puree in a sieve or strainer for an hour or two.
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Four pounds of pumpkin puree (Galeux d’Eysines) yielded two cups of strained liquid, which I keep for soup stock.  Winter Luxury Pie pumpkins yield less water, in my experience.
  • If you wish to freeze, place one pound of puree in a freezer bag. Flatten bag, remove air and freeze on cookie sheet to make for easy stacking in your freezer.
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Pumpkin pie on demand!

There you have it, roasted and pureed fresh pumpkin ready for your creative culinary adventures. Stay tuned, I’m trying out a new pumpkin pie recipe, which of course I will share in the coming days.

Quince Marmalade Is a Gem of a Jam

Tom
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24
Quince Marmalade Is a Gem of a Jam
Quince marmalade with its best friends butter and toast.
Quince marmalade with its best friends butter and toast

Quince (Cydonia oblonga) are the unsung stars of my autumn larder, each resting like an artful still life awaiting a transformative trip to the kitchen. The beefy little orbs tend to be hard as rocks, but release a fruity perfume when appropriately ripe. Their real magic (in addition to outward beauty) comes when the fruit is cooked, at which time it softens further and turns a rich blush or rusty orange, depending on the variety.

Quince, as beautiful on a tree as it is delicious on a plate
Quince, as beautiful on a tree as it is delicious on a plate

When I share my quince, I’m always asked, “Well what do you do with them?” I happily share two recipes. One I’ve already posted: Quince Chutney; and another big favorite I will provide here, Quince Marmalade.

A gem of a jam
A gem of a jam (I added rosemary for some depth of flavor.)

Why Make Quince Marmalade?

  1. Easy to make
  2. Just a few ingredients
  3. Sets easily, as quince is pectin-rich
  4. Creates a jewel-like jam, with chunky marmalade bits
  5. Flavor is tart and unique
  6. Works well for sweet and savory foods, as a jam or an accompaniment to cheese and Charcuterie.

Quince Marmalade Recipe

Print recipe
Quince Marmalade Recipe
Meal type Condiment
A great recipe that lends itself to adding herbs or spices for a greater depth of flavor. Sometimes I add rosemary or thyme sprigs, and other times, I'll add some whole spices like allspice, cinnamon stick and clove, which I later remove before jarring up.

Ingredients

  • 5lb Quince
  • 5 cups Sugar
  • 2 lemons or limes (juiced)

Note

Quince Marmalade is a fine autumn treat, well worth making. If you've never made jam or jelly before, this is a great recipe to try, as it is quite foolproof, and easier to make than most preserve recipes that require setting the fruit to a jellied stage.

Directions

Jam Base
Step 1
Wash and chunky chop 3 pounds of quince, no need remove cores or seeds.
Jam Base
Step 2
Put chopped quince in a stock or soup pot. Add enough water to come up to the top of the chopped quince.
Step 3
Simmer until quince is soft, about 30 minutes. Remove from heat and strain liquid, discard quince pulp (compost or feed to the chickens)
Step 4
Pour strained liquid into a preserving pan or stockpot, and add sugar. Simmer on low heat to dissolve sugar.
Marmalade Step
Step 5
With remaining 2 pounds of quince, remove cores (as you would an apple) and grate with medium grater, skin and all.
Marmalade Step
Step 6
Added grated quince to stockpot of sugared quince liquid, continue to simmer. Add lemon or lime juice, stir regularly to prevent scorching
Step 7
Simmer until marmalade thickens and changes color from apple white to a glossy rose blush .
Step 8
When you think the marmalade is thick enough, shut off the heat and let it sit. When cooled, check to see if it is a thick marmalade consistency. If yes, then just reheat and simmer to soften the marmalade, and then jar up (1/2-inch head-space) for a 10-minute water bath.
Step 9
If you found the marmalade too runny, just reheat to thicken and then jar up. Quince is a pectin bomb and will solidify more readily than most fruits.
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Chop, chop, ready for the stew pot
Chop, chop, ready for the stew pot
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An hour or two later, a jewel-like spread that packs a tart punch. Your toast and taste buds will thank you.

Vashon Halloween: Ghouls, Goblins and Cutiepies

Tom
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1
Vashon Halloween: Ghouls, Goblins and Cutiepies
creepy couple
I thought better about taking their homemade candy.

Vashon Islanders take their celebrations seriously, in a non-serious sort of way. Halloween is no exception. On Friday, town was closed to cars, and left to ghouls, vampires, princesses and pirates in search of free treats, treats and more treats from local merchants. It’s one of my favorite spectacles on the island, where kids, parents, kin and crazy revelers take over town with a community block party that would warm a skeleton’s frame to the bone.

Vashon Halloween Slideshow: Here’s a sampling of the mischief afoot on the island’s spookiest night of the year.

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Perfect Pears for the Home Orchard

Tom
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9
Perfect Pears for the Home Orchard
Conference and Forelle: The Bert and Ernie of Pears
Conference and Forelle: The Bert and Ernie of Pears

As plots of ground and garden go, orchards hold a special place in my heart. For the gifts of promise, patience and firmly-established roots look no further. The planting of my own orchard has been an episodic tale of discovery and reward. In fact, this year my pear trees produced an admirable sampling of fruit that I was all too eager to pick and enjoy. And now that I’ve shared my list of favorite apples with you, let me continue our walk through the orchard with my list of preferred pears (that is for now).

A Note About How a Pear Ripens

As a general rule, pears, unlike apples, ripen best when picked mature but not fully ripe. If you leave a pear on the tree too long, it ripens from the inside out, resulting in a mushy, unappetizing flesh and core. I pick pears when full size and firm, usually very firm. A stint in the refrigerator gives the pear’s sugars time to develop and form. Commercially grown pears have already been stored in refrigeration, so they ripen on the counter within a few days or even up to a week. The wait is worth it. There are summer pears such as Bartlett, Orcas and Clara Frijs which ripen quickly and are picked in September; and there are winter pears, which require maturation through refrigeration and are picked beginning in mid-October.

Doubly good: a pair of bosc pears
Doubly good: a pair of bosc pears

The Bosc pear is a russeted gem that produces a crisp, perfumed and firm pear perfect for eating out of hand, baking up in pastry or poaching in sweet wine. Because the skin is thick and brown, and the flesh hard before maturity,  the Bosc pear has few pests or problems from fruit set to harvest. It is a winter pear, meaning you pick it in October, refrigerate it, and later ripen it at room temperature.

 

Clara Frijs pear

My latest sweetie-pie of the plate and orchard is a pear from Denmark: Comtesse Clara Frijs. A tip of the hat to the Danes, for this is a succulent, crisp summer pear that drips with a honey-flavored juice that is light and inviting, and leaving you wanting more. (Oh Tom, you do go on.) Seriously, this is a pear that captures the giving crunch of a Asian pear with the rich flavors of a European pear. And not to poo-poo our local favorite, but the Clara Frijs pear outshines and out-delivers the Bartlett pear in the areas of texture, taste and storability.  Pick this summer pear in mid-September, and it will ripen off the tree in about a week, but stores longer if refrigerated.

 

concorde pear tree

A cross between the Conference pear and the Comice pear, the Concorde pear can’t hide its rich parentage. Flavorful, juicy, and slightly firm when ripe, the Concorde pear stands out a superior pear in my orchard. A truly great fresh-eating pear.

 

Conference Pear

I can see why the Conference pear is the most popular pear in Great Britain and western Europe. Conference pear is a great fresh-eating pear and also reputed to be a fine baking pear, though I cannot speak to that as I ate all of mine out of hand within weeks. This beautiful pear makes a stunning and delicious still life with a plate of cheese and bread.

 

Forelle Pear tree

Beautifully speckled and vividly colored, the pear Forelle (meaning trout in German) is most aptly named. This diminutive little guy is quite the looker and wonderfully firm and juicy at the same time. To me, it has a floral flavor mixed with a light butterscotch aftertaste. As with most winter pears, Forelle is a great keeper.

 

orcas pear tree

Discovered just north of here on beautiful Orcas Island, the Orcas pear is a disease-resistant summer pear variety that ripens in September. Like a Bartlett, this pear ripens quickly once picked and you must deal with a lot of pears that don’t store that well. Canning is one answer, sharing another.  The pear’s flesh is creamy and melts in your mouth, while the juice holds a brightness and sweetness, usually found in winter pears like Comice.

Related Links

Fruit Tree Nurseries

  • Burnt Ridge Nursery: “…offering many different disease resistant apples on a variety of rootstocks.”
  • Fedco Nursery: a great source for heirloom apples, available mail order
  • Grandpa’s Orchard: “…allowing the backyard fruit grower to order online and purchase the most proven disease resistant, antique, heritage, unique, and common bareroot fruit tree varieties on dwarf, semi-dwarf, semi-standard and standard rootstocks.”
  • One Green World: “…a family-owned nursery now located in Portland. Our plants are grown by Northwoods Nursery, our mother company, on our 66 acre farm in Oregon’s fertile Willamette Valley.”
  • Trees of Antiquity: “…growing and shipping organic fruit trees across the country for over 30 years”

(I’ve ordered from all of these with complete satisfaction.)

Articles

Great Apples for the Home Orchard

Tom
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11
Great Apples for the Home Orchard
I’ve been tending to my young orchard for about 8 years now, and I’m eager to share with you some of my favorite apple varieties. Sometimes it takes a tree several years to establish itself and begin to produce fruit, so I’m pretty confident the following varieties are winners both in vigor, taste and culinary use. They’re not your everyday apples, but why would you plant something you could easily get at the local grocer (no offense Ms. Gala, Mr. Fuji, and Lady Braeburn). There are so many really great apples to grow, do a little research, dig a big hole and plant yourself firmly in growing something special.  And if space is an issue, plant trees with a dwarfing root stock. I have plenty more apples where these came from, so stay tuned as other varieties prove themselves in my Pacific Northwest orchard. I’ll happily share my findings, in the name of apple lovers everywhere.

My Favorite Apples in the Orchard

Blog_belle_de_boskoop_apple

Belle de Boskoop apple: I would have planted this tree merely for its name (pronounced Bell-da-boss-k0e), but lucky for me it’s an all-around great apple with lots of personality. Wonderfully tart, the flavor is unique as if you spritzed lemon juice on it. Belle de Boskoop bakes and cooks well, and is perfect for chunky applesauce, sturdy pies, bubbling crisps, and juicy grunts. In my orchard the tree produces biennially, that is bumper crops one year and little to no fruit the following year. It’s so good, I can accept that.

Bramley's Seedling Apple

Bramley’s Seedling apple is hands down one of my favorite baking apples. It’s a tree that says stand back, I’m ready to grow some great cooking apples and plenty of them. Such a very heavy producer, Bramley’s Seedling usually requires support stakes to keep the overloaded limbs from breaking. Apples are big, firm, crisp and flavorful–spirited for sure, and perfect for cooking or eating fresh though on the uber-tart side when first picked. My tree has proven to be a biennial producer, but again, the apples are so good, I can indeed live with that.

Calville blanc

Calville Blanc tastes as good as it sounds. A French heirloom apple dating back to the sixteenth century, Calville Blanc has proven itself as a truly exceptional apple blessed with every attribute you’d want in an apple: it’s sweet, spicy, flavorful, and good in the kitchen and on the table.  If that’s not enough for you, this apple contains more Vitamin C than an orange. In my orchard, I’ve found it to be healthy and productive.

Esopus Spitzenberg Apple

After reading that Esopus Spitzenberg was the preferred apple of Thomas Jefferson, I sought the cultivar out and planted it faster than I could say or spell, “Monticello.” Trees of Antiquity nursery describes the apple glowingly. “Unexcelled in flavor or quality, the fruit is great off the tree, but flavor radically improves in storage. Medium apple with crisp, yellow skin covered with inconspicuous red stripes and russet freckles. Flesh is tinged yellow, firm, aromatic, and complex in flavor; a perfect balance between sharp and sweet. ” I wholeheartedly agree. It took my tree a couple years to get established, and while many sources cite Esopus Spitzenberg apple trees are susceptible to a number of diseases, I have not found that to be the case in my orchard (knock on apple wood).
Jonagold Apples
Jonagold apple is an amazingly good all-purpose apple tree in my orchard. In fact, if I could only plant a couple apple trees, Jonagold would top the list. As a cross between a Gold Delicious and Jonathan, it brings a lot of flavor to the table. . Fresh eating or all-purpose, this apple is juicy and super sweet but finishes off with a very nice tartness. The vigorous tree is a heavy and consistent producer of medium to large apples each year.
delicious liberty apples
Liberty apple: I joke, “Give me Liberty or give me pests!” as this delicious sweet-tart snacking gem is wonderfully disease resitant, making the Liberty apple a fuss-free choice for the home and organic gardener. Known for its reliability and excellent quality, the Liberty shines on all levels and performs well in our cool climate.  If not thinned the apples are small, but like I said, this makes them a perfect snack size. 

 

Melrose apples on tree

Melrose apple: I only planted Melrose a couple years ago, and it’s already one of my favorite apples. Dripping with juice and bright flavor, the crisp apples grow quite large and are perfect for fresh eating and baking. Introduced in 1944 from Ohio State University (and now Ohio’s official state apple), Melrose won kudos for exceptional flavor, but never took off commercially as consumers preferred prettier apples. Big mistake. This is a really great apple (a cross between the Red Delicious and Jonathan) which deserves to be more widely available. Plant one, you won’t regret it.

York Apple
York apple, a.k.a. York Imperial, is one of those apples that tastes like it should have a long history, and it does. With roots that run deep both literally and figuratively, the York apple was discovered in 1830 in York, Pennsylvania. Not overly sweet, York yields a subtle flavor and appealing, extra-firm texture. It’s an apple I could eat everyday. In addition, York is a superior baking apple, good-keeper and tree of exceptional vigor and productivity.

french apple pie
Ready for the oven! Baking English apples in a French tart.

Keep your eye on the apple pie, and happy growing!

No surprise here, I'm not the only one who loves apples.
I’m not the only one who loves apples around here.

Here are some related links you may be interested in.

Apple Tree Nurseries

  • Burnt Ridge Nursery: “…offering many different disease resistant apples on a variety of rootstocks.”
  • Fedco Nursery: a great source for heirloom apples, available mail order
  • Grandpa’s Orchard: “…allowing the backyard fruit grower to order online and purchase the most proven disease resistant, antique, heritage, unique, and common bareroot fruit tree varieties on dwarf, semi-dwarf, semi-standard and standard rootstocks.”
  • One Green World: “…a family-owned nursery now located in Portland. Our plants are grown by Northwoods Nursery, our mother company, on our 66 acre farm in Oregon’s fertile Willamette Valley.”
  • Trees of Antiquity: “…growing and shipping organic fruit trees across the country for over 30 years”

(I’ve ordered from all of these with complete satisfaction.)

My Favorite Apple Recipes

Ten Life Lessons from September

Tom
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Ten Life Lessons from September
September's extra credit: Cafe au lait dahlias
September extra credit: Cafe au lait dahlias

Good morning friends, school’s back in session, and as part of my continuing education (and unrepentant need to show off), I’m eager to share everything I learned from summer’s most contemplative month, September. And unlike summer’s other three months, September takes its tutorials seriously. Fail to pay attention and the ruler of a less sympathetic season may just smack you on the knuckles.

1. Farm to table: Three words that mean I love you.

sdfsfds
All island-grown and raised; all delicious.

My friend Michael hosted VIGA’s farm-to-table dinner and fundraiser, and the plates were piled high with local goodness. And just like the saying goes, there was love in every bite and a smile on every face.

 

2. Potluck dishes: Go big or go home.

Plum Apricot Buckle: It's what's for dessert
Plum Apricot Buckle: It’s what’s for dessert.

I often joke that Vashon should change its name to Potluck Island. The culinary stakes are high in a place where everyone seems to be a good cook vying for a little dining-table adulation. For most of my friends, food is fun, and sharing it adds a welcomed dollop of joy to any gathering. Of course, there are the times when someone will ask me to bring a salad, and I have to put down my pie plate, try not to pout, and graciously respond, “Why, of course.”

3. Fans and curtains: Never the sill shall share.

a ragged finish to a fine friendship
A ragged finish to a short-lived friendship

Warm summers are rarer than unicorns around these parts, but this summer was the exception. At night, I’d head upstairs and turn on the fan for a little relief. Little did I realize the dancing white curtain on one side was inching closer to the spinnfan’s side of the window. At last they met, and the encounter was a little strained. While they both agreed to remain friends, they also recognized that perhaps it was best if they also kept their distance.

 

5. Plant yourself where you will bloom.

plant
Identical seeds, four feet apart, resulting in very different displays

Down in my cutting garden, two amaranths sprouted side by side, but what a difference a furrow made. One thrived and reached for the sky with vigor and unrestrained florescence, while the other remained a diminutive sidekick. I guess realtors are right; it’s all about location, location, location.

6. Attitude can determine your altitude.

Boz like this stable hammock better
Boz, happy to be on any hammock at any height

I found a hammock at our local thrift store. A friend asked, “Do you have a place for that?” (as if that’s a requirement for purchasing things at a thrift shop). I said “No, but I’m sure with four acres of trees, I can find one.”  A couple days later another friend emails me and asks, “Would you have any use for a hammock stand, no hammock, just the stand?” After a quick nod to my thrift-shop muses,  I responded, “Funny you should ask.”

7. Pumpkins are magic realized.

pumpkin porcelain doll
Headless horseman with pumpkin variety “porcelain doll” (photo: Sam Spencer)

I’m a pumpkinhead from way back, always having a thing for twining tendrils and fruiting vines of the cucurbita family.  That said, I can’t go a season without planting a pumpkin patch and marveling at these amazing plants. Varied in taste, size, color and culinary use, pumpkins bring the magic of the garden into the house and heart. No farm or home garden should be without.

 

8. Sometimes putting things on a pedestal is a good thing.

Potted crabapple: backyard centerpiece
Potted crabapple tree: my backyard centerpiece

The above photo is all about T-DAS, a.k.a. my Temporary Deer Avoidance System. Unless the deer on the island have secured orchard ladders, my little crabapple tree is safe from the antlered epicures until I get it planted in the fenced orchard. Before T-DAS became operational, it took all of 15 minutes for the deer to find this succulent little crabapple tree and subsequently rob the lower branches of leaves and fruit, and me of dignity.

 

9. If you host it, they will come.

Neighbors meeting neighbors
Neighbors meeting neighbors: good times

On a country island, neighbors are spread out and can live down long and disappearing lanes, but that didn’t stop us. Flyers were made, mailboxes were stuffed, and invitations were received so on one sunny September Sunday we all came to together to greet, meet and share stories with our neighbors. And of course it was a potluck of epic proportions. Good thing I had my massive log table on hand to sustain the weight of friendship and food.

 

10. There’s art in the everyday

Dried beans on parchment paper
Dried beans on parchment paper

After blind baking a pie crust, I removed the dry beans and parchment from the top of the pan. As the assembly cooled on the counter, I could a see where a few adjustments would yield a most artful square. Once cooled, the exhibition was admired then removed, but not before tripping over one bulldog and scattering the beans like stars across the sky, or in this case my kitchen floor. And let me just say Boz and Gracie are better vacuums then I am sweeper.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the season’s latest life lessons and learned a thing or two along the way. If not, no worries; I’m sure I’ll have more wisdom to share next month.

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