from left: Lady, Spitzenburg, and Cox's Orange Pippin
“An apple tree–and away back here!” exclaimed Anne delightedly.
“Yes, a veritable apple-bearing apple tree, too, here in the very midst
of pines and beeches, a mile away from any orchard. I was here one day
last spring and found it, all white with blossom. So I resolved I’d come
again in the fall and see if it had been apples. See, it’s loaded. They
look good, too–tawny as russets but with a dusky red cheek. Most wild
seedlings are green and uninviting.”
“I suppose it sprang years ago from some chance-sown seed,” said Anne
dreamily. “And how it has grown and flourished and held its own here all
alone among aliens, the brave determined thing!”
“Here’s a fallen tree with a cushion of moss. Sit down, Anne–it will
serve for a woodland throne. I’ll climb for some apples. They all grow
high–the tree had to reach up to the sunlight.”
The apples proved to be delicious. Under the tawny skin was a white,
white flesh, faintly veined with red; and, besides their own proper
apple taste, they had a certain wild, delightful tang no orchard-grown
apple ever possessed.
“The fatal apple of Eden couldn’t have had a rarer flavor,” commented
Anne. –LM Montgomery, Anne of the Island
Schatzi: I ended up going through the tasting lines at the Portland Nursery’s Fall Apple Tasting three separate times this past Friday, with three different parties. I ingested a lot of apples that day. And freshly pressed apple cider. Did I mention the pears? Yeah, a number of those, too. But don’t worry: you can still make it down there yourself, because the Apple Tasting runs this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday as well, from 10am til 5pm.
