Thursday, August 6, 2009

Apple Trees

When I was a child, we had a neighbor, "Miss Lossie", who had lots of apple trees. We kept an eye on those trees and once the apples started turning, we'd go ask her for apples. She told us we could have all we wanted of the ones that had fallen on the ground.

We, being me and my six siblings would pick up all we could carry. But I must confess, if she turned her back and went back inside, we'd try to knock down some of those still on the tree. Those always looked the best.


Children in the country do not roam around like we once did. We knew where every plum tree, every apple tree,every pear tree, every pecan tree, on every ditch bank, on every farm that joined our Granddaddy's farm were. And sometimes the neighbor's children joined us in our search for those tempting fruits.


My Grandmother had a hard apple tree. That was the last one we went after. The apple above reminds me of her apple tree. The boys trucking tobacco used the path where this tree grew. Each trip back and forth to the field another apple was picked until the boy had all he wanted.

These apple trees are planted near the road. There is also a grapevine out there. I have never seen anyone near them. I told my husband, I had seen the day when none of those apples would have grown this big. I would have eaten them all by now. Taste changes as we get older, I guess!

19 comments:

ancient one said...

How does he/she know when I post.. these notes are getting more involved... I guess he/she is telling me how he/she loves apples ... LOL

ancient one said...

Do not click on any Chinese writing..

Renie Burghardt said...

Have you got a Chinese fan, Ann? Haha. The last time I commented here, there was some funny looking writing, and I thought it was some sort of code.

Anyway, those apples sure look good! It must have been fun to go and get them from your neighbor when you were a kid. I don't have apple trees, and wish I did. I do have a peach tree, which has kept me busy, and some grapes, too, and a huge pear tree full of pears, but they won't be ripe until October. But looking at the apples you have pictured has made me hungry for an apple.

Have a great weekend.

Renie

Granny Annie said...

You say "Apple", I say "Pie". Yummy!

Mary said...

Ann,

Lovely apples. My brother and I knew where all the fruit trees in our rural district were. Most of them were in Grandpa's orchard, but there were others. We also knew where the wild asparagus, raspberries, blackberries and thimbleberries grew. I expect our parents grocery bill went down when these things were in season.

Enjoy your weekend, my friend.
Blessings,
Mary

keeyit said...

Wah apple trees.. somemore near the road.. here we can see papaya trees la.. haha

Little Penpen said...

Your apples are pretty. We never get any that pretty... the worms get them all. My pears are gorgeous this year. The pear tree we have here produces yummy soft pears... not like the ones in V.boro. Your chinese friend must have you on some sort of list that knows when you post... wonder if you can somehow block him?

Sandy said...

Bill would still eat them if he were there...he loves those hard sour apples...lol

janie said...

You reminded me of when we lived in Upstate NY. My DH went hunting one day, and came home with his pockets full of wild apples. I made a pie with them, and that was the BEST pie I ever made in my life! I have never forgotten it.

We had figs and gooseberries and blackberries as kids too. Ah, the good old days.

Rebecca Mecomber said...

I came here from Photo Hunters, and I've been here a few times before. What a marvelous blog you have! I really enjoyed your reminiscing about apple picking as a kid. It made me remember my young days, too. Times sure have changed haven't they?

Would you want to "swap" links to each others' blogs? I have a home and garden site that I'd love to place your link on. And I'd really be honored if you might consider linking to mine.

Have a great weekend!
Mrs. Mecomber
http://newyorktraveler.net
http://newyorkrenovator.com

Heidi said...

What a fun post. I have found memories of my grandmother's apples too. Your picture's are great. Thanks for stopping by my blog today! PS what did the chinese writing do when you clicked on it?

Anonymous said...

It's sad in general how kids can't just go outside and play anymore like they used to. We didn't worry about getting snatched and we didn't have cell phones to text our friends on or gameboys in our pockets either!

Pat said...

What memories those apple trees bring to mind. My Dad loved to pick apples and he especially loved it with his grands and great grands...they seemed to taste sweeter when those little hands helped in the picking! He would make an apple pie on a cookie sheet...and just about eat the entire thing by himself!
Now If I could have written this in Chinese it would have been really interesting!

eastcoastlife said...

I live in a tropical country where apples will not grow, so it would be great to be able to pick apples right from the tree.

Margaret Cloud said...

Very nice post, we use to take apples from our neighbors tree when they were green and head home for the salt shaker. It makes my mouth water now, just thinking of how sour they were. Hope you are having a nice weekend.

KylieM said...

What a wonderful memory! When I was a child we lived in France, in Aix-en-Provence, and we used to roam the country side looking for trees, we even found the back entrance to a horse stable and used to visit and talk to the horses regularly. I can't imagine letting my children roam around as I did, but maybe we should be letting them! I don't really think the world as become more dangerous we are just more aware. Anyway thankyou for the lovely post, I am bookmarking your blog I can see that I am going to enjoy it!

JasonsLifeNotes said...

They look yummy. It's great to make them apple pie.
Maybe people nowadays are getting busy, children also have their new diversions, so they couldn't think of picking those lovely fruits.

Lew said...

Yep, fresh apples of the tree are best. On my grandfather's farm near Mooresville, he had grape vines on a trellis over large rocks. We would climd on the rock and sit and eat grapes just above our heads.

Meggie said...

Kids today just dont seem to eat apples any more! I wonder how their health will be in old age. The stolen apples always seemed the sweetest!