Market Farming

[Sojourner <sojournr AT missouri.org>]

Leigh Hauter wrote:
> 
> Holly, nice comments on fruit trees.
> We're going to put in over 50 more apple trees in an area the goats have
> been clearing/killing for the past year (yes, I too believe anyone who
> grows vegetables for a living is crazy to keep such a dangerous animal
> around, but....) and are looking for a recommended nursery.  Suggestion?

Well, Bear Creek Nursery, which I had already sent for a catalog from,
was suggested.  Gurney's carries several of the more common
old-fashioned varieties (Prarie Spy, Cortland, Wolf River, several
others) for $12 or $13 for the 3' to 4' size.  Miller's carries quite a
few old fashioned varieties.  These all have web sites to order a
catalog:

http://www.gurneys.com/
http://www.millernurseries.com/
http://www.BearCreekNursery.com/

I got this suggestion on another list I'm on, haven't sent for the
catlog yet but I intend to:

> I deal exclusively with Lawson Nursery in Ballground, GA
> Jim and Bernice are great!  AND, they specialize in apples.
> Lawson's Nursery(Jim and Bernice Lawson)
> 2730 Yellow Creek Rd
> Ballground, GA 30107
> 770-893-2141
> 
> They ship to all parts of the country, too, so don't let that Southern
> address scare you!

And of course there's always Stark Brothers, high quality in my
experience but high prices too (in my opinion).

I've bought fruit trees in the past from Miller's and Stark, and plants
and seeds from Gurney's, never had any complaint about any of them.

> The always out of the office extention agent hasn't
> gotten back with his 2 cents.

LOL!  You've got one of them too, eh?

> What are your favorite cooking varieties?

Well, I don't know what the old-fashioned apples were that we had when I
was growing up, or what sort it was my grandmother had.  Over the past
20 years I've tended to buy whatever I could find in the grocery store
that resembled those apples as closely as possible (which wasn't very). 
SO I've tended to do most of my cooking with McIntosh, or Winesaps when
I could find them, which isn't very often in the last 10 years.  I
prefer Winesaps over McIntosh for sauce by far.  I'm lousy at pie crust
so I can't really say how either variety would bake up.  For jelly, its
crabapples all the way for me.  Apple jelly, compared to crabapple
jelly, has always struck me as being insipid.

I'd love to have Duchess.  Duchess, so I'm told, is one of the best pie
apples ever.  Lodi is supposed to be good for sauce and for pies.

I'll be getting 3 of the newer disease resistant varieties, Freedom,
Jonafree, and Carefree liberty, but I've got my hopes pinned on getting
a lot of older varieties, which are sometimes not very disease
resistant.  One way or another, I'll have apples.

>  We have about a dozen trees now.

What have you got planted right now?

-- 
Holly ;-D
Contrary Peasant
sojournr AT missouri.org