Chestnut crab apple. This is an exceptional first-rate apple at any season, let alone in August. It makes a lot of people’s favorite Apple lists, often at the top. It has a high sugar content considerable acid, but well balanced by the sugar. The flavor is rich and deep and at some point starts to become what is known as “nutty“. Personally I don’t care for the nutty flavor although it’s very good with cheese and this is an excellent apple to eat with cheese. My idea of a perfect chestnut crab is completely ripe, but before the nutty flavor develops. When you get one that is just right, it is very compelling eating and will leave you wanting more. When it approaches True ripeness, the flesh will start to go translucent with sugar and the Apple will develop a translucent look. Normally this Apple is quite small, but it is not as small as Wickson. Small apples like this could have a great future in my opinion if they are marketed well. They tend to have high sugar and concentrated flavor, As if a large apple was taken and just squeeze down and concentrated into a smaller package. That is certainly true Of chestnut crab and wickson. This Apple was Bred in the north, so it is probably quite hardy as well. I have crossed it with wickson crab, various red fleshed apples and a few others. There are some excellent genes lurking in this Apple. #apples #HeirloomApples #Fruit #Orchard #HomeOrchard #Homesteading #Propping #AppleVarieties #FruitVarieties #AppleTree #GrowingApples #FruitExplorers #NAFEX #ChestnutCrab #Self-reliance #skillcult #stevenedholm.

Haogen melon, a very tasty cultivar in this region, which also has the excellent trait of producing a second crop late into the fall. This cultivar was introduced to me by Mark Albert a local master gardener who has been testing and comparing cultivars for probably around 40 years in this region. If you ask him about gardening he’ll start talking about the importance of cultivars. If you don’t have cultivars which match your climate, tastes and gardening style, The work that you do in your garden will not be put to optimal use. Seek out the plant geeks in your area who have already done this work as a starting point, but don’t take what they say as gospel there are always more cultivars to test. Cultivars don’t have to be tested all in one year you can start with say three different carrots and pick the best one as a benchmark to compare other carrots to in coming years.I have done quite a bit of testing with leeks, pepperoncini, beats, squash, lettuce and an enormous amount with apples. All of which was effort well spent. I not only have varieties that perform consistently for me, but I also have benchmarks for further exploration if I get the urge. With Melons I have a benchmark to start with and marks selection of haogen but honestly it’s so good and performs so well thus far that it’s probably not a priority for me to try to outdo it. @flavorkit #Gardening #HeirloomVegetables #Fruit #Melons #OrganicGardening #VegetableCultivars #Homesteading #Prepping #SelfReliance #HomeGardening #Garden #Vegetables #Plants #Horticulture #Agriculture #haogen

Kerry’s Irish Pippin, an early apple with particularly rich flavor, at least as early apples go. It seems to be a good performer I haven’t had much disease on it. This year it shows little to no Scab. Even though it may not compare at the very top of the shelf with chestnut crab and Williams pride, for an August apple, it is no slouch and would rank just below those. It is worth grafting a branch Of it for a quality early Apple, And worth considering if breeding early apples. My notes say I’ve had them as early as late July, but I think that is unusual. Information I have states as late as September and into October, but I think August is probably the norm #Apples #HeirloomApples #AppleRenaissance #AppleUprising #HomeOrchard #FruitCollecting #FruitExplorers #TheFruitExplorers #EarlyApples #Agriculture #Horticulture#FruitVarieties #GrowingFruit #AppleTree#

Skinners seedling, raised in San Jose California by a Judge Skinner and introduced in 1887. EJ Wickson in his book California fruits rated it as best quality, which is unusual for gigantic apples. Being that it was raised in California, And that Wickson was not unlikely to have been friends or acquaintaces with Mr. Skinner, he may have been somewhat biased. This is a rare Apple, probably not found outside of Scion exchanges and collectors very often. there are so many apples like this, which would be difficult or impossible to find out any nursery, even mail order. That is one of the main reasons for learning grafting. It allows you to explore a whole lot more fruits. The number of Apple varieties out there is Pretty astounding. Given that San Jose is a very hot climate in the summer, this may be worth trying for those in the southern states. Of course that part of California is quite dry in the summer, which reduces certain disease pressures that may be present in the humid South. I see a little if any scab on it this year, but it wasn’t a very bad scab year. With some luck a few of these apples will make it past birds bears and raccoons, so I can finally taste this variety.

Seedling almond rootstocks chip bud grafted to nectarine.

Todays offering on YouTube. I'm grafting the outstanding Stribling's White Free Nectarine (which may be impossible to get if you don't graft it yourself) onto drought tolerant almond rootstocks, planted in place on an 8x3 foot circular pit backfilled with charcoal and soil improving stuffs. Hopefully by the end of the season I'll have gone from dormant almond seeds, to grafted trees that grow a foot or more by fall.

#Rattlesnake #Snacks #Reptiles #Snakes #Herps Herpetology #Animals #Wildlife #PoisonousSnakes #PoisonousAnimals #DangerousAnimals #California #PacificRattlesnake #CaliforniaWildlife#

For those new to blacksmithing, work on your anvil a lot before considering repairing the edges with welding rod. It is usually not necessary and perfectly square edges are a detriment not an advantage. Rounded edges or something between not a problem and advantageous at times.

The interesting thing is that this apple might perform very well in a different environment. One thing to consider is if it happens to be outstanding I could ship it out to someone in a much wetter climate. It’s very similar in behavior to Mannington Pearmain which I’m sure is a good performer in Its home territory of the British Isles, but cracks like crazy here. It also looks small, but if golden risset is one of the parents it could always have the potential to be a good high sugar cider apple. Chances are though it will be a total loss. Only time will tell. I am hoping that one or two of them will somehow manage to make it far enough to at least see what they taste like and whether the flesh is red or white. What is intriguing about it is that it has not only the grenadine speckling with the red blush, but it has the general appearance of a rough surfaced sweet aromatic russet type of Apple. Even if the Apple is a total loss for any particular reason or combination of reasons, information on color size flavor and season are all interesting in the broader scope of the project.

Grenadine x golden russet seedling. Golden russet is one of the best apples I’ve ever tasted, when at it’s best it is probably unsurpassed in its class. It also has an extremely high sugar content, which the other parent grenadine does not. I have quite a few of these crosses, so hopefully one or more of them will pan out this is one of the first to actually fruit and of those it is the most rusetted. I’ve bagged them and now we just hope they make it past the weather and the animals so we can taste one or two of them.

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