I enjoyed spending this past weekend with my kids at our camp. They spent most of their time at the sledding hill. I got in some time cutting, splitting and stacking. Finished splitting some Sugar Maple that had been in round for over a year. We had them stacked up and covered with a piece of old tin roof. Cut down 2 White Birch. Split and stacked. And weighed out a few for science project to see if I can detect any difference in moisture content between a winter cut Birch an a summer cut Birch. I'll going to get a similar tree this summer and see how much water it loses. And I took a trip down to the pond and found one of the late season apples trees still had some on it to taste. My kids and I have been tasting every apple that we see since I've been taking them up there. We've found the trees that have good apples in August and the ones that come in later. The apples on this tree are the last to ripen that we have come across. They are hard as a rock and flavorless until early November. I'm assuming that their ripining up has something to do with the frost. In early November they become very sweet but the texture of the fruit isn't very good. When eating you would say to your self 'very sweet' then spit out the cardboard after you chewed the flavor out of them. This is the first time that I have tried it in late December and I must say that this was the absolute best tasting apple that I have ever had. The sweetness was complemented by a tartness, think of a sweet/sour Granny Smith. It also had a twang to it that makes me think that it did some fermenting in the skin. And the texture had become smooth and creamy yet still firm. No more mealyness. The certainly are not the most attractive apples but they were good! I also noted that even thought the temp as in the mid 20s, up from zero the night before (and a mostly cloudy day) the fruit was not frozen, which really makes me think that there was some anti-freeze in them besides the sugars. If I remember correctly they were frozen when I had them last in early November. This tree, like all the others in the area probably date back to the early-mid 1800's when this land was farmed. I have no idea as to what kind it is.
That was an interesting apple discovery. Maybe some alcohol from fermentation kept them from freezing. You have a beautiful spot.
Good job all around with the cabin, with the kids, and the apples, which look quite a bit like Arkansas Black.
Have fond memories of cabin camping with my Dad. Teaches kids that roughing it can be fun! Sounds like you all had a blast!
Thats in southern VT. Bordered by National Forest on about 7/8 of the property. Nice and quiet. Kind of funny that cell phones don't work at our camp but if you walk up to the back of the property they do. Its ok by me.
I read a news story once about grizzlies getting into corn that was dumped when a train derailed..the corn had fermented and old griz was tucking it away. Imagine a 10 foot tall and bullet proof grizzly
Thats cool. This description Arkansas Black Story is exactly on the money. I wouldn't be suprised if they are one in the same. Perhaps a settler who first tried his luck farming in southern VT carried his favorite apple to Arkansas? The area where our camp is was settled and farmed in the 1700's, then largely abandoned by the mid 1800's to become logging camps and mills in the late 1800's and early 1900's
