Monday, October 27, 2008

That's My World Tuesday

It's again time to visit the world through the That's My World Tuesday meme...it is simple if you want to join just click on the link and you can show off your part of the world. Or, if you are not ready to join, you can just see the world through other peoples blogs by clicking on the links there.

It sure was with sadness that I read Tom and Imac are retiring from the team. They have been an encouragement to me in blogland.

Now to my post for today...I worked for years at an apple orchard. The picker on the left side of the row of trees was my picker for years. (that is not me on it.) If I am out there to visit, it is still my machine. The tractor pictured is not the tractor I started with...it is only about 7 years old as I speak. It was bought new, ordered with tires as small as they come till it would fit through the trees when they are loaded down with apples.
These are just a few of the apple trees...the ones above are some of the younger trees. I probably helped set some of them. The orchard is a small orchard--it had about 2,000 trees. In those 2,000 trees we had 20+ varieties.
favorite job I ever did out there, or maybe for all time, was grafting. I felt like I was creating something...but I sure loved picking and didn't mind the pruning except sometimes the cold got to me. When I was pruning I felt like an artist at work.
The above was the the first variety picked at our orchard; they are EarliBlaze. And the ones below are Blushing Golden, picked a bit past mid season and they are probably my favorite apple.
These below are Arkansas Black...they were picked at the very end of October, and at that time we only had the Granny Smith apples to pick after, though we did plant some Pink Ladies before I quit, and they have an even longer growing season that the Grannies, as we called them.
The Arkansas Blacks are gourmet cooking apples...but a lot of people love them because they are so hard and crisp.

I hope you enjoyed seeing a little bit of where I spent years of my life. The orchard is still a working orchard, and I still visit every now and then.

32 comments:

  1. Who knew there were purply-black apples! Your world is interesting. Apple picking intrigues me.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very cool pics, looks like a wonderful place to visit. Thanks for sharing!

    Cheers!

    Regina In Pictures

    ReplyDelete
  3. what a yummy post. thanks.

    oh its the first time i heard imac and tom are retiring, you mean from the blogging world?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Interesting post, Rose. I don't think I've ever eaten the three varieties you mentioned. Hmmm. My two favourites to eat are actually cooking apples so I just bet I'd love the Arkansas Black. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Interesting post! Lovely photos! Two thousand trees is SMALL?? Wow.
    The Blushing Goldens look yummy....my favorite apple is Golden Delicious....I wonder if these are similar? Very nice post!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hey - my friend, i'm only retiring from the team...I'm still blogging, on My World and Skywatch and later bringing my blog back again.


    Love your post too.

    ReplyDelete
  7. It was a nice tour in your orchard! And the apples look so inviting and delicious. Thanks for your visit.

    ReplyDelete
  8. We have a few apple trees, and I've always been envious of a friend of ours who has a full orchard. She doesn't have Arkansas Blacks!

    I loved this post, thank you for sharing such wonderful photos!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Looks like an interesting place to live. What a lovely tour of your orchid.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Sumptious. I wish we had smellivison

    ReplyDelete
  11. Which one is your favorite? I like the looks of The Arkansas Black.

    ReplyDelete
  12. These apple pictures are so nice - I can almost smell them.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I enjoyed this look at the orchard where you spent years of your life. All the shots are beautiful and an interesting post. I can see how grafting would be rewarding. The only time I ever did grafting was in a course I took and I really liked it. I've only gardened as a hobby.

    ReplyDelete
  14. You've shared not only your world but your life. Great photos and story. I've never seen black apples, but now I will look for them.

    ReplyDelete
  15. This was just delightful! Apples were always a big thing at our house when I was growing up. There were a lot of different vareties available then (that I haven't seen in decades) and my dad would always bring home different kinds, we'd all try them and rate them 'buy again' or not buy again'. Never saw the black ones, though. And I love the look of orchards. There's something so intriguing about the way the trees spread and flower, then bend with the fruit - all pretty much natural for a tree - but yet are placed in such orderly man-made rows. They seen both tame and wild at the same time. I think I should go online and see if I can find some places that sells and ships heritage apples.

    ReplyDelete
  16. The moust beautiful tree in the whole world is the apple-tree!

    When I was young I lived in a place where the apple-tree growed. I was very fasinaded of it and I never forget the beautiful flowers on it. Here up north where I live it's to cold for tree's like that.

    Thanks for sharing those beautiful photos:)

    ReplyDelete
  17. How interesting that must have been, although I imagine it was hard work. I've never seen those Arkansas Black apples before...their color is stunning! The flowering trees are just gorgeous!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Very intersting post and great piccies

    ReplyDelete
  19. What a wonderful education! Every time I think I've heard of all the apple varieties, I hear of more. My favorite still remains the Jonathan - which we can't get here in Connecticut - I remember from my years in Missouri. So glad you stopped by me, and I then visited you! Love your header.

    You know what? I'm adding you to my blog roll - been strolling through your blog and I like what I read and see.

    ReplyDelete
  20. This is a very lovely post. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about your work in the apple orchard. Wonderful photos too!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Thank you for the wonderful tour. This 2nd week of meme really makes us appreciate the many places that we don't usually see or ever had a chance to visit like the one you showed me in this post. Hope you get to have time to check my world too. Another great job and more to come in the coming weeks.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Thank you, yours was the sort of post I was hoping to find in this new meme.A life well spent doing what you love. Out in the fresh air
    among all those apple trees. I can smell the apple blossom and ripe fruit from here. Grafting is sheer creativity. Making one kind take on another, not quite as complex as on humans but just as satisfying. Pruning is warm glove work and you have to have the eye of the sculptor to be successful or the trees will look like mangy dogs and not thrive. Horticulture is a joy.

    ReplyDelete
  23. I did not regret to join this meme because i can see a lot of places in the world and one of this is yours which is a big "WOW" because of its beauty. Thanks for sharing...

    ReplyDelete
  24. Beautiful Rose. I never think of apples as being pretty until I see them in a picture and they make a pretty picture.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Believe it or not, my mouth is watering...
    20 varieties? -- wow... I probably am only aware of a handful... The one they grow around this area (30 miles north of me in Sebastopol) is the Gravenstein.

    ReplyDelete
  26. An apple orchard is such a great place to visit. Your series is very appealing. I think it's interesting how many varieties of apples are now available to us.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Yay for apples! I had never heard of Ark Blacks gourmet cooking apples... hmmm, ya learn something new everyday! hehehe! That's a yum yum "My World" post!

    ReplyDelete
  28. Thanks for stopping by Indiana woman from a former Ohio farm girl. great post

    ReplyDelete
  29. Thanks for stopping by Indiana woman from a former Ohio farm girl. great post

    ReplyDelete
  30. I luv walking in orchards too. And there are so many great varieties of apples -- AR blacks are new ones to me. Thanks for visiting also.

    ReplyDelete
  31. I missed this post somehow Rose.
    I love apple blossoms and these are beautiful.
    I have never seen that black apple so I certainly learned something here today.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Great post and wonderful photo's.
    Thanks for sharing your part of the world with us.
    Take care

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for visiting my blog...I hope you like it enough to take the time to comment. I enjoy comments so much, and always try to make a return visit.