Apples for Sale, getting ready to set up a roadside stand in the
Rio Grande Valley, photo © 2009 by ybonesy. All rights reserved.
autumn’s abundance
sits on a roadside waiting
like good pie filling
The trees turn
and African daisies fade to shades of
We harvest the trees
We pluck and pick and take from the bounty.
And still there is one here
another there
too many to count.
Apples that are golden, deep red, and
Let them eat be pie!
-Related to posts This Time Of Year, Irrigation Day In The Rio Grande Valley and haiku 2 (one-a-day).
Enjoyed the haiku and the mixed poetry/photography piece and the other poems. Like the idea of combining the written word with pictures…an advanced form of that game we played as children “pictograms”…sort of.
Apple time here in Missouri too. Just hop in the car and drive out into the country and there are signs everywhere. Pies waiting in bushel baskets for the pie makers.
LikeLike
Thanks, Bob. I think the surrounds there in Missouri sound a bit like here. Will you be buying apples? Isn’t there a great family recipe you can share with us to make from apples? (BTW, remember the Mock Apple pie recipe made from Ritz crackers? I always wanted to try it but never did. Did anyone in your family? That would be sacrilege this time of year, tho.)
LikeLike
Mmmm. This post is making me hungry!
LikeLike
Delicious & beautiful!
LikeLike
It’s early in the am yb and I really need my JOE. My brain (only for a few seconds mind you) was trying to figure out how you actually make an apple out of a Ritz cracker. HAAAAAAAA!
LikeLike
yb, never had a Ritz Cracker “Apple” Pie, but I did find the recipe for it and a Ritz Pecan Pie, and Ritz Chocolate “Thin Mints” (that taste like the Girl Scout Cookie, allegedly). sounds interesting.
We always had apples, peaches, gooseberries, raspberries from the trees and bushes in our back yard.
LikeLike
I love the photo, ybonesy. What is it about apples in the Fall? There is a variety called Fireside that is available at the end of October, but they come and go out of the grocery store within a week or two. Sweet and crunchy. Just right.
LikeLike
yb, just getting to this post, but I did see it on FB & commented there. Brant & I mix caramel ice cream topping with natural peanut butter, microwave it, & then dunk apple slices in it. Yummy! D
LikeLike
[…] Apples For Sale « redravine.wordpress.com/2009/10/09/apples-for-sale – view page – cached Apples for Sale, getting ready to set up a roadside stand in the Rio Grande Valley, photo © 2009 by ybonesy. All rights reserved. — From the page […]
LikeLike
ybonesy, what a great sign. I love it. We had a lot of apples around at the writing retreat earlier this week. I love apples.
What kind of apples grow in New Mexico? There are a few kinds that Minnesota is famous for inventing — the Honey Crisp for one. I think a new one came out this year, too.
Teri, do you remember? And what kind of apples were you munching on at the retreat? I’m trying to remember.
ybonesy, wish I could stop by your place today and join in the Fall apple celebration. Guess what? We got our first snowfall. I looked out the window and there is a dusting of snow on the ground. I haven’t even put the Rebel away for the Winter yet. Eiyyyeee.
LikeLike
Thanks, QM. Again, it’s so great to have you back.
We grow all kinds of apples: Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Winesap, Jonathan…now I’m forgetting the names. Apples do well in New Mexico. They can withstand the cold weather, and as long as we don’t have one of those falsely warm early Springs that causes everything to bloom followed by a hard cold snap, then we’re OK. Although the early frost takes about every other crop or so. In the three apple seasons we’ve been here, we’ve had apples for two of them.
These apple trees are, I think, pretty old. I understand apple trees live to about 30, 35 years. You have to replant fairly frequently. Also, it’s critical to both deep water (or in our case, flood irrigate) the roots, and to prune the trees. These trees had not been pruned in perhaps 15 years or more when we bought the place. I might have commented this elsewhere, but according to an Organic Apple Farming book that we have, you should be able to throw the family cow through the branches of the properly pruned apple tree. Jim has gotten a few of the trees pruned nicely but most still need a lot of work.
We have a friend who has a Granny Smith apple tree. My understanding of the new varieties of apples, like Braeburn or Gala, is that they don’t do as well in the cold. We have a couple of trees, I think they might be Jonagolds, which is a blend of the Jonathan and the Golden Delicious. It’s a golden red color. Also, if you’re one of those people who is perpetually disappointed by the Red Delicious in stores (as I am) you would be so surprised by the flavor and sweetness of our Red Delicious. They taste nothing like those waxy-and-tough-on-the-outside-bland-on-the-inside Reds from most stores.
LikeLike
One other thing I want to mention about the apples, QM, is that days like we’ve been having this early fall are perfect weather for apples. Today we woke up to frost, not hard but a light frost, the kind that makes the grass in the pasture look like it’s covered in silver. It probably got to mid- to low- 30s (time to bring in the geraniums–note to self) which is what then triggers the sugars to be released in the apples. So those few trees that weren’t quite at their peak…I bet from here on out it’s a different story. The apples will be sweet, sweet. Yum.
LikeLike
I want an apple! A nice crisp one I can munch on here in the hotel room. Room service is too pricey so I’d love to have an apple!
Love the pictures and the haiku.
LikeLike
Hope your trip is going well, Corina. I’ll be checking in on your blog soon to see the latest.
Just wanted to drop a comment here that Jim started picking apples from one tree that we hadn’t touched at all yet this season. It has dark red apples with a bright white interior. We think it’s a Rome apple. It is SO tasty, and the apples are pretty big. I made two pies today from the apples off that tree, and the pies came out great. So it’s both an eatin’ and pie apple. Yum.
Jim sold apples all day yesterday and today. He had a brisk business going. Plus we continue to give apples to friends. Still an awful lot of apples. We’ll look into donating to the elementary school (Jim did that a few years back when his parents had a bumper crop) and perhaps the food shelter can take some. We’re going to look into that as well.
LikeLike
[…] site includes a link to a homemade pie crust.) Enjoy your fall apples! -Related to posts Apples For Sale and Pies Across America. Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)One-Minute Apple PieA […]
LikeLike
[…] your mind go when I say apple? Is it your first bite of a lunchtime snack, a trip where you picked orchard apples with your family, or the smell of fresh apple pie right out of the oven (check out this great apple pie recipe from […]
LikeLike