Adam 🍎

Comment of the Day: Remembering Nagog Hill Remembering Nagog Hill Farm.

I write about apples on my blog, and the best parts are comments from readers.

This one, a memory of an old orchard, really caught my eye and heart so I quote posted it.

Thanks to readers who share!
adamapples.blogspot.com/2025/08/comm...

If you think apples are supposed to taste like candy, you will never appreciate the ones that taste like wine.

Never tasted this one but the name reminds me how weird it is that people no longer like really good #apples if they are not super super sweet.

Honeycrisp is pretty good, but the name says it all: like a kiddee breakfast cereal.

🧵

esopus apples, painted by ellen isham schutt, 1913

esopus apples, painted by ellen isham schutt, 1913

A distorted, malformed 'Beauty of Bath' apple, rather lovely, in its own way.

Another view of the same distorted, malformed 'Beauty of Bath' apple.

Another view of the sam distorted, malformed 'Beauty of Bath' apple.

I'm not sure what happened with this 'Beauty of Bath' apple, but it doesn't seem to be the finest, prize-winning example of its type... 🤔

Rather lovely though, in its own way 🙂

A pair of 'Irish Peach' apples growing on an orchard tree

Today at work I also picked around 11.5 Kg of 'Irish Peach' #apples from a pair of trees in the Apprentice House orchard.

Sweet, juicy, crunchy bite but with quite soft flesh. Very refreshing, but won't keep for very long, something they have in common with most other early apples.

Come hear me talk about @kwiaht.org's apple ID project at the San Juan County Fair on Saturday at 12:30pm (at the Ag Tent/Green Village).

Bienvenue, @stewartwaine.bsky.social! h/t @orchardnotes.com

Kitty Crockett's resilience shines in The Orchard—a testament to human grit during tough times. Farming struggles have rarely been portrayed with such raw honesty.

The orchard on Argilla Road True story of apples, orcharding, and everyday heroism in the depths of the Great Depression.

In the depths of the Depression, Kitty Crockett coaxes balky farming equipment, handles harsh pesticides, repels thieves, dickers, and wrangles bees, all with the fate of the farm in the balance.

Her memoir, The Orchard, is a compelling and rewarding story.
adamapples.blogspot.com/2018/03/the-...

The apples on Argilla Road What remains of the Crockett orchard, the subject of a compelling story of decency and loss in the Great Depression.

Paused on a bike ride yesterday to pay tribute to the old Crocket orchard in Ipswich (MA), erased by time, weather, and bad luck #apples
adamapples.blogspot.com/2025/08/the-...

winesap apples, painted by deborah griscom passmore, 1895

winesap apples, painted by deborah griscom passmore, 1895

Check out any number of papers at ACEEE. This stuff is decades old. See utility regulatory cases on efficiency programs, the annual AESC Study Report's section on DRIPE in New England.

This work is being applied to decision making about energy today. Not a new unstudied idea by a long shot.

There has been some pretty decent work on rebound, as @gregorsemieniuk.bsky.social acknowledges.

Originally to refute voodoo economic claims by utilities that insulation causes people to consume more energy for heating that it saves, efficient lighting causes more electricity consumption, etc.

Replanting costs can indeed skew appraisals, but vision often sees value where numbers don't. A fresh perspective can reveal hidden potential in even the most challenging orchards.

Hear them!

Well-tended cultivars Well-tended trees bear fruit, market report, and more

In contrast to my previous mournful post about an abandoned orchard going to pot, these well tended (and organic!) trees are gangbusters so far. Plus what you can get at farmers market. #apples
adamapples.blogspot.com/2025/08/well...

There was a professional appraiser who found the orchard could not be worked. I suspect that is based on how much it would cost to replant Honeycrisps.

Perhaps that exaggerates, but one could wish for a dose of your imagination.

They are preserved, in a land trust, but no one wants to work them.

The longer they are untended, the more work to bring them back.

Fruit of neglect An old apple orchard sinks into the earth

So sad to see this great old orchard go to pot
adamapples.blogspot.com/2025/08/frui...

So early!

It's not native here, obviously, but it might do well here versus where you are. But also, people with discriminating tastes might not agree on absolutely everything!

Wha... Google KEEPING things?

Who are you and what have you done with the real Google?

Hidden Rose (Airlie Red Flesh) ** This unusual apple really surprised me.

I rather like it out of hand.

Also, though it is tangled, Hidden Rose = Mountain Rose = Airlie Redflesh
adamapples.blogspot.com/2013/10/hidd...

Two brown apple pips

They have triangular pips that are rather large for a smallish apple

golden russet apples, painted by amanda almira newton, 1906

golden russet apples, painted by amanda almira newton, 1906

I don't know of any around here who grow these.

There are relatively few early apples about, compared to later in the season. I continue to feel that is a niche waiting to be filled, but I guess growers have their reasons.

A cluster of yellowish apples hanging on a tree, with a red cheek. They are pink inside but you have to take my word for it.

Pink Pearl apples. Still on the tart side, but ready to pick. Their interior color is the best I’ve seen thanks to a cooler-than-typical summer so far.

Whoa, Pink Pearl in July! Where do you live, Equador?