Adam's Apples

The pickings at Farmers market this week were pretty slim, but there are more choices farther afield.  ¶  Red Apple Farm has these enormous Williams Prides , and more besides.

Apples for sale at the Arlington, Massachusetts, farmers market earlier today.  ¶  It feels skimpy to have only two choices for apples in August, but that is what was on offer at the farmers market in Arlington today.  ¶  After all, Californians celebrated the Gravenstein Apple Fair last weekend. An anonymous reader confirms these apples, some of the best of August, are ripe there.

Clockwise from top: Jersey Mac, Gingergold, Pristine  ¶  Just three apple varieties at farmers market today: Jersey Mac, Gingergold, and Pristine.

Of Nagog Hill Farm, a reader tells us ,  ❝ The property belongs to the Town of Littleton. The people who had been operating the orchard didn't renew the 30-year lease. The Town. . .has offered the property for lease or sale. ❞  (Photo:  Neglected apple trees at Nagog Hill Farm in Littleton, Massachusetts. ) 

In the first six months of this blog, which I started 16 years ago today , I tasted and described 44 different kinds of apples.  ¶  That is not an annual milestone I ever passed, nor hoped to, because back then every apple was new to me.  ¶  But last year came close, with 39 first-time varieties. That's owing to fall travel (to Quebec and England ) and to the kindness of fellow apple aficionados who shared some of their favorite apples with me.

Too green, too early, and doubtless too unripe, the very first apples of the 2024 harvest landed at Farmers Market in Arlington today.  ¶  And though I grouse about farmers who pick apples before their time, in this case I say, not a moment too soon .