Friday, April 28, 2006

GRAVENSTEIN APPLE DAYS

A glorious festival of the North West Aug 19-Aug 20. Oregon like much of the North West loves their apple lore, and culture and celebrates it accordingly. www.oregonfestivals.org


GRAVENSTEIN APPLE DAYS is really the kick-off of the fall fruit season. Possibly best enjoyed at Rassmussen Farms: www.rasmussenfarms.com

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Apple tree advertisment

I picked up a entertainment paper on a drive through NW Connecticut. There were two ad circulars inside. Each sported the very typical cupons for soap, deoderant, conditioner, shampoo, razors... all manner of batheroom paraphenelia. And one half page ad for dwarf apple trees... One of these things is not like the others.

I am of course pleased to see the ad. I would love nothing more than for thousands of ignorant suburbanites to be planting and ignoring apple trees in the backs of their manicured quarter acre lots. Try to imagine a future with apple trees growing like weeds from old neighborhoods in downtown, on highway median strips leaning out over the guardrails leaves clipping the sides of cars.

Monday, April 17, 2006

Pigs and Apples

The below is taken in it's entirely from http://www.101cookbooks.com/journals/wholehog/about.html

The womans goal is to eat a whole pig. I respect that. Women tend to fear the porcine, it is the standard insult for their male counterpart, and secondly an unclean animal. It is hard to trust anything with cloven hooves. Man devil or pig. Heather is a frequent contributor to The North Bay Bohemian and WineCountry magazine. She has written for Portland Monthly, Hotwired, The St. Louis Business Journal.

I emplore you to read her other work. But today I quote her at legnth about apples:


I’ve gone a little apple crazy this week—the first nip of fall tends to do that to a girl. Braeburns, Jonathans, Golden Delicious…pounds and pounds of them are sitting on my kitchen counters, filling the air with their flowery, autumnal perfume. Ahhh, apples.

It hit me last week during a trip northward to Mendocino County. Though the weather was blistering, the apple and pear orchards of Anderson Valley were brimming with bright fruit, overflowing into farm stands set up on the side of the road. Tripping over lazy cats and even lazier folks working the stands—withered by the heat and, perhaps the fact that it was a slow Tuesday, we were on country time. Bully for me…all the more opportunity to blithely peruse the produce without a hard sell. No matter, I bought everything anyway.

In the heat of the moment, I ended up with something like 10 pounds of apples. I’ve never been one to worry about consequences in the flush of a purchase—especially one involving food. But even as I drove home along twisting, curving, nausea-making roads, apples rolling under the seats and across the trunk with each turn, visions of tarte tatin, apple crisp, applesauce and apple turnovers were dancing in my head.

A little less obvious was linking apples to my pig project. But years of watching the Brady bunch suddenly came in handy. Pork chops and….apple…sauce? Caught without a food mill for squashing the little buggers, I found the next best thing for using up pounds of apples and pairing them with the pork chops sitting forlornly in my fridge: apple chutney. Eat your heart out, Alice.

Apple Chutney
(adapted from Ming Tsai’s Ginger Apple Chutney
Four (or so) cups of tart apples, (Fuji is good), peeled, cored and chopped into small -pieces.
2 small onions, cut similarly
2 Tablespoons peeled and minced
fresh ginger
Juice of one lemon
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup apple juice

Cut the apples into small, pieces (about 1/4-inch), add the lemon juice and toss. Set aside.
Place a small amount of canola oil in a pan and saute' onions and ginger until just soft. Add apples and let them soften with the onions and ginger for several more minutes until soft. Add vinegar and apple juice and simmer for 10 minutes or so until the liquid has reduced.

Thursday, April 13, 2006

The Apple Peel Reel

What can you say about Megan wabus or her Apple Peel Reel. A reel by definition is not an epic peice, there is no Vade Mecum to the reel. But this one was composed on 9/29/2002 and is at least relatively fresh, which is critical in the taste of apples.

Father and daughter John and Megan Wobus have been playing contradances together for more than a decade under the name Contranella. The contra dance, like apples is a family affair.

Thursday, April 06, 2006

Apples and madness

picture by the talented grace swanson...

The reason is lost to antiuquity, but the Mendota Mental Health Institute in Troy Wisconsin has an apple orchard. The orchard was entirely cared for and maintained by MMHI patients for decades. While the trees seem to adhere to standard sizes, they are all of entirely unknown varieties.

In 2004 it was ceeded to the Troy Community Gardens, a land stewardship program that gives free organic food to the poor. Their goal for the Mendota Apple Orchard is to maintain it using only organic methods. madness of course is entirely organic in it's occurrence, and not at all at odds with the goals of the new owners.