North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Amelia Hayner <abhayner@gmail.com>]

to the kind man that wrote to the list- and told me about the new apple book out, figured out that I was in the Coastal Plain of NC-

I am sorry, that email got trampled in my inbox, I did not mean to be rude.

You can tell how burnt out I am over apples because I don't already OWN that new book, or at least have it coming my way.

The ONLY real success I did have with apples was with an old southern apple, a limbertwig.

The goats fought me tooth and nail for that tree, and eventually, they found a hole in my defenses, and girdled it-- in one afternoon.

It had no problems with bugs whatever, because it didn't have a skin, it had a HIDE, and it was sour, hard, and ugly to boot.

So I packed them up in a big trash can (cleaned it first), layered with newspapers, and basically forgot about them for about 4 months.

When I did open the can, water ran off the lid, but the apples were in perfect condition, they had turned a rosy brownish color, almost a chestnut, and they were the best frying apples I have ever tasted.

there were no worms in them either-- and I did not spray that tree. I didn't even expect apples off it, I knew it would die. But that was the last of them.

one problem I had with it was that it wanted to lie down on the ground and be a vine. I guess they didn't call em limbertwigs for nothing.

Amy