The kids are back in school and the hazy, lazy summer days are in the back mirror.
In our yard, the squirrels are busily gathering and hiding their collection of chestnuts and walnuts. The bees are fun to watch as they buzz on the sedums to collect its late flowering pollen and make their honey for winter use. The voles are stripping my beans to fatten themselves to have the energy for scurrying under the expected snowpack. With all this activity, it is no wonder I feel the urge to join them in preparing for winter.
The early pioneers who planted lots of fruit trees did a great job leaving their fruits for our generation. Raccoons, an animal I normally do not fancy much, are doing their part spreading the apple seeds in their feces spreading trees.
There are lots of apple trees along the roads of Bradford West Gwillimbury that carry their fruit for any interested party to either make into sauce or dried apples. A few years back, I found an interesting apple tree during a walk. It is one of the earliest varieties to mature and is called Discovery.
Discovery apples were first discovered in Essex, England, in 1949 by a man known as Mr. Drummer. He was an employee on a fruit farm in Essex, where he made the discovery. The apple was first called Thurston August (for the month it was found), but it was later renamed Discovery (for marketing reasons), in 1962. Discovery is the product of a cross between the Worcester Pearmain and another variety that’s not fully known. Some apple experts, however, attribute the second parent as Beauty of Bath. How it came to be where it is, I can only guess.
Discovery is one of the most popular apples ever to come out of England. A big reason for this is that it produces some of the earliest seasonal apples in the world. Not only that, but it has a fine tart taste as well as being visually beautiful with its red patterns.
For me, it is always greatly satisfying to see how four hours of work (picking, cleaning, coring, cooking, saucing, filtering and canning) can produce a fine row of apple sauce, ideal as a condiment for lots of foods and, maybe even more importantly, as a gift to family and friends. Food remains a medium that binds people.
In any case, if you feel so inspired, look around you as you travel and you might be surprised at what nature provides for the taking.
