Somebody, decades ago, thought enough of these apples to plant them and take care of them until they were established. But for the recent decades, they've been ignored. Now, these were my last three trees that the expert and I couldn't identify. But there is a great apple ID software program online by Univ of Washington, and now that I have the fruit, it becomes much easier. I have identified these apples!:
1. SE of Barn: (a tree with yellow apples that have pink blush) Calville Blanc d'Hiver, a French culinary apple, prized for baking (keeps its shape well, and tastes great). Kind of exotic for the kind of folk who lived here.
2. SW corner (S end of our Westernmost boundary): Fiesta. A member of the Cox family. VERY aromatic. I want to keep smelling it all day long. Pretty little thing--yellow with heavy red stripes. No doubt what this is.1950 variety. For fresh eating and cooking. Juicy. It is a tangle now; this winter (if I have time) I will try to take out all the blackberry and other tangles and also prune the tree and fertilize it and give it a bark mulch. I see now what the settlers did with their apples: They planted many of them in low spots where they would get water during the dry hot summer months. This one is by our smaller creek in that corner. I'm building a stair down to it, through STEEP heavy clay and blackberries.
3. Just E of SW corner (just E of the S end of our furthest-W boundary): Unknown apple that ripens early, doesn't keep well, and is nondescript. This one's a messy tangle. Not worth keeping. I'll remove it and make more room for the Fiesta.
Recovering something special, that once upon a time somebody else worked hard on, is fulfilling. Fixing decades of negect is fulfilling. And eating great apples makes it all worthwhile!
The photo is of Fiesta apples, courtesy of Wikipedia.
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