This year has been a super year for apples around here.  I haven't heard anyone complain that their apple trees didn't produce well.  We have a couple of very old trees, one is a yellow transparent and the other is a Duchess, I think.  I'm no apple expert, but I think I've heard my parents refer to it as a Duchess.  Anyway, the old tree usually produces a fairly good crop every other year, and this year was it's year to bear fruit.  We knew by the way it was solid with blossoms and alive with bees this spring it was likely to be a good year, but the old Duchess produced not only a ton of apples, they were generally better quality than most years.  We don't spray in the spring, and I don't remember the tree ever being pruned, but the apples were generally larger, less blemished and more abundant than other years.  This has not been a problem as I use them mainly for a pie or two and applesauce, and the animals can have the rest. By mid-August, the ground under the tree was already littered with small apples; each wind storm brought down more, and by the time the rest were ripe enough to be good eating, there were still way more than I could use.  Not only that, there was a noticeable absence of deer, bears or turkeys to feast under the tree.  I guess they found plenty to eat in the woods. We did see one small deer, but if there were others, we didn't see them and the supply of apples on the ground only increased.

I made apple sauce.  I made more apple sauce.  I gave some away and made more.  I froze apples for pies later on.  Every time I looked out the window I was tempted to go pick up more apples - but even though they were better than other years, they are still a chore to pick over with blemished skins and sometimes bad spots inside, and I quite frankly have other things I need to do.  I didn't feel they were good enough so I could offer them to anyone to come and pick - besides, I knew everyone had plenty of apples.

Then on Sunday we noticed a young couple picking up the scrub apples under a tree across the road from us.  The apples on that tree are always small and not very good, and the tree is in the town's right-of-way; we've wondered how it survived all these years without being cut down by the town crews or the electric company.  I decided perhaps my apples, inferior as they might be, were way better than what they were getting on that scrub tree, so I went

down to talk to them.  Fred was skeptical, but came along in case the apple pickers were unfriendly, I think.  Turned out they were almost neighbors (from a neighboring town) and  needed apples for their pigs!  They weren't interested in quality or even if they were half spoiled (pigs aren't fussy eaters).  They had buckets and a big barrel in the back of their pickup and two youngsters to help pick them up - it was a perfect match.  They were impressed with the carpet of apples under the old tree (way better than scrambling in the bushes under that scrub apple tree) and within a short time had all their containers filled.  

There are still enough apples left for the deer, bears, partridges or turkeys, and the pressure is off so I'm no longer feeling guilty that so many apples are going to waste.  To think we almost didn't go down to talk to those nice young people - but I'm really glad we did.  It was great fun for us and we met a really nice young family.  And I bet their pigs are in  "pig heaven."

The colors popped with the rain the other night - I took this picture in the early morning as the sun was trying to burn through a thin layer of fog.  If this is any indication, we're going to be favored with a really beautiful foliage season. The colors seem to get better each day.

T