North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[breen@fedcoseeds.com]

oh yes i never got to taste this year's ripe fruit, but i will enjoy the true 
to name "kiss of shannon"! and i will be collecting wood this year to graft 
so i can insure the discovery and legacy survive. maybe even to be offered to 
the general public someday?
heron 
------------------------------------------------
On Sun, 12 Oct 2003 21:14:22 -0500, breen@fedcoseeds.com wrote:

> lon, let me commiserate. last year i happened upon the most delicious 
> seedling apple. good size, beautiful color, taste that other mainers 
> described as like a macoun, but with a thicker skin. well this thick skin 
> shows no scab, little to no curculio, but moderate codling moth damage. so 
> i meet a wonderful young woman, and name the apple for her, "kiss of 
> shannon", show her the tree, and promise her the christened fruit, which 
> seemed ripened near her birthday time. she goes to an internship collecting 
> seeds in the deserts of utah, but not before a horrible pollination spring 
> and hard winter and the now discovered biennial habit of the tree combine 
> to make a fall harvest seem unlikely. sad, i occasionally drove by the 
> tree, seeing no evident fruit. in early september, i take a few minutes to 
> actually survey the tree, which is located on the side of a busy minor 
> road, and low and behold five fruits do i see! and much larger than the 
> previous years ample swell due to the afore!
me!
> ntioned thinning! almost everyday after work, for the next month, i stopped 
> at the tree to reassure myself that the fruit had not blown off or some 
> insect had not spoiled them. passing commuters would slow down with puzzled 
> looks: why did this young man with a blue pick up always stop at this tree 
> and stoop and scramble with a funny looking pole thingy (pole picker)? 
> questioning the ripening because of our drought and hotweather last year, i 
> had to sacrifice a few to the knife to look at their seeds, and taste, 
> although i knew that black seeds would not mean it was tree ripened in 
> flavor. nervous at each heavy rain and wind storm, and particularly each 
> possible frost, i started visiting the tree almost every morning as well. i 
> finally picked them a week before her birthday, two excellent sized, but 
> undercolored specimens (due to their placement in the exact center of the 
> tree) being nature's blessing. here i decided to tell her to try one, and 
> if that one was not ready, st!
or!
> e the other for a week. so isend her the fruit priority mail, because i 
> cannot afford next day, along with other tokens of affection, praying thay 
> are tasty, arrive in good condition, and the apple of her namesake is to 
> her palates liking. All three turn to be true!! our courtship is in full 
> swing, even with two thousand miles between us! so actually, my story is 
> not one of sorrow, but as magical as the old gallic romances. remember the 
> magic in being a fruit explorer and that if we dedicate ourselves to love 
> as much as our horticulture, then our lives will be truly bountiful!
> heron breen
> zone 4b, maine
> ------------------------------------------------
> On Sun, 12 Oct 2003 18:31:35 -0700, "Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com> 
> wrote:
> 
> >    Some years ago I planted out a few random apple seedlings mostly to use
> > as rootstock trees for testing varieties.  This year, one that had only 
> > one
> > graft on it gave a very good size crop.  Given the extremely poor set on
> > most other apples due to rain during bloom time, that alone was something.
> > The apples, while a little small, were still at least the size of an
> > unthinned Liberty.  Color was excellent, with stripe-solid color that was 
> > a
> > beautiful rose red, and with very white flesh.  Tree has a nice open 
> > habit,
> > the fruit hangs very well, ripening about with Red Delicious.  With no 
> > spray
> > at all, it had no more scab than Liberty, very few codling moths, and I've
> > not yet found any with apple maggots, even next to a badly infested
> > Braeburn.  
> >    Is everyone drooling over this?
> >    The rub is that it is the tofu of apples - no sweetness, no acid, no
> > flavor.  Absolutely neutral. Use it for mashed potatoes.
> >    *Sigh*.
> > -Lon Rombough 
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