what a difference a year has made …

Last year at this time, the apple trees were barren, surrounded by fire in the hills and thick smoke everywhere. We were chasing dwindling, muddy creek pools to keep them watered, and having water hauled in at $600 per week. We just couldn’t let a mature orchard perish. (We also had lots of peaches, pears, plums, even some cherries, and persimmons yet to come).
This year, we have what feels like an endless supply of apples. We love eating them and sharing them. Yesterday, friends Linda and Bob came out to pick some. So fun to be able to share such wonderful fruit! Goats and cow are also loving the surplus. We are also enjoying gallons of cider. We can usually keep several boxes of apples in cold storage for a few months to keep eating our apple-a-day after they’ve all fallen off the trees.
Apple trees do tend to cycle, with a heavy-fruiting year followed by very little fruit the next. This is a spectacular apple year and we are very happy about it.

