Fall Revisited Pt. 2 (AKA: Apple Experiment #1)

 

It has been a crazy six months or so, but I didn't want to wait too long to post our first apple tasting! This took place in October of 2022 after we returned to Texas from our annual sojourn to Michigan for apples. 

I have done smaller apple tasting before in the Apple Haus at Robinette's in Grand Rapids. I've also done some on my own after picking and before making sauce. But on those occasions, I was usually tasting 3-5 varieties of apples. This time, we tasted 12! 

Once again, I used my crochet group as guinea pigs.  

The varieties of apple we tasted were:

- Empire

- Fuji

- Honeycrisp (from 2 farms)

- Jonathan

- Ludacrisp (TM)

- McIntosh

- Mutsu

- Northern Spy

- Smitten (TM)

- SweeTango (TM)

- Zestar! (TM)

EMPIRE

Empire are probably my favorite eating apple. The flesh is usually marroon-red with green background. It has a very similar taste to McIntosh. Developed at Cornell University in 1940 from Old North American varieties McIntosh and Red Delicious, it is mostly grown in the northeastern US.

FUJI

Fuji apples are my go-to grocery buy. You'll notice that this one was actually purchased in a store in Texas (Kroger, probably) and not fresh picked in Michigan. I wanted a locally purchased apple for comparison.

Fuji apples are pink fleshed with yellow striations and are speckled. They are sweet and crisp. Originally cultivated in Japan, they were released to the general market in 1962. They are a blend of Rall's Janet and Delicious apples. They are also the number one apple purchased world-wide.

HONEYCRISP

You'll notice that there are two honeycrisps. Honeycrisp apples have gained fame in the US, possibly because they cost a little more than other varieties. People may think that makes them better, but it is probably because they tend to bruise more often and therefore need special shipping. The flavor is very pleasingly sweet but not complex. 

I maintain that not all honeycrisps are grown alike. This, of course, it true for almost all produce- if you have a keen palette, you can taste differences in regions and weather conditions in most fruit and vegetables. I have had honeycrisp apples from dozens of places and picked them in 3 or 4 different states (Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and probably Washington, but I can't remember), and I can tell you that the best place I have found, HANDS DOWN, if Versluis Orchard in Standale, MI. To prove it, I picked a half bushel at our favorite orchard for picking and purchased a fresh picked half bushel from Versluis fruit stand.

Honeycrisps were developed by the University of Minnesota in the 1960s and hit the market in the 1990. They have a few offspring that are also well loved including...

LUDACRISP (TM)

Our first trademarked name, the Ludacrisp (TM) is large and red, very juicy with a slight tropical fruit taste. It is also known as the "Juicy-fruit apple" because it tastes a little like the gum. It was developed in the late 1990s in Ohio and was released to the public in the early oughts. It was created by open-pollination of honeycrisps. 

JONATHAN

Jonathan apples are my favorite to sauce with. They are think skinned, mostly red with a hint of green. These are an American heirloom apple that was discovered in 1826 in New York. Jonathans are crisp and juicy, but don't take long to cook tender. I like chunky apple sauce (also good for pie filling) and usually use a blend of Jonathan apples and a tarter apple like Spy or Mutsu. 

MCINTOSH

McIntosh apples are another favorite of mine. They are usually dark red with bright white flesh. They were discovered in Ontario, Canada in the early 1800s and was extremely popular for a long time. Macs are the father of many varieties. Crunchy and with a nice acidity, the flavor can fade quickly (around 10 days), so they are best fresh. 

MUTSU

Mutsu are probably the only golden apples that I really like. Greenish-yellow, they tend to be large and rather irregular in shape. The crisp is subtle and the flesh is soft and grainy like a pear. The taste is honey-sweet with a tangy acidity. Mutsu were developed in Japan in the 1930s by crossing Golden Delicious with Indo apples. They are known there are the "Million dollar apple" and are called "Crispin" apples in the UK, where they were imported in 1968. 

Mutsu apples are also great for baking and saucing. I have one tree growing in my yard here in Texas. We planted it last year, so I'll keep you posted on how it fairs in the heat.

NORTHERN SPY

Northern Spy apples are another large variety and are irregular in shape. They are ribbed and have streaks of orange-red on their yellow green background, making them really uniquely colored. They do bruise easily, though, so you won't find them often outside the northeastern US and Canada. The flesh is dense, yellow, and juicy with a sweet-tart flavor and a cider-like smell. For such a large apple, it also has a very small core. 

Spy apples were first grown in Connecticut in the late 1700s. They were brought to NY and planted there in 1800. They did not get their name until 1840. 

There are a few more reasons why the Spy is not popular outside of the smallish growing region. The trees have a low resistance to disease, can grow rather large, and sometimes will only produce every other year. Despite that, they are popular in some places and the slogan "Spies for pies" has been around for over 150 years. 

SMITTEN (TM)

Smitten (TM) apples are another new variety. Cultivated in New Zealand in 1995, these apples have Gala and Braeburn in their family tree. Slightly greasy skin which has a slightly spicy smell opens up to a creamy yellow flesh that is crisp and moderately juicy. The taste is sweet with some acidity.

SWEETANGO (TM)

Another trademarked apple, the SweeTango (TM) was developed at the University of Minnesota from Honeycrisp and Zestar (TM) varieties in 1988. These apples are red and glossy with a thick skin and have a firm dense flesh. I also like their freckles!

ZESTAR (TM)

Our last apple is the Zestar (TM), another product of the University of Minnesota. Released in 1999, this apple had a yellow-green skin with orange-red striations, making it blush. It also has a matte finish to its skin. The flavor is sweet-tart with a hint of brown sugar. 

All of the above information was found on OrangePippin.com and SpecialtyProduce.com.

Now for the tasting!!

I first made everyone a plate and put one slice of each apple on its proper wedge. That way, when you took a bite, you'd know just where to place it to remember which apple it was. The picture doesn't do the color difference justice. We had 7 adults and an unknown number of children taste the apples. I only recorded thoughts of the adults and my eldest girl (her opinion WILL be made known on pretty much anything... the apple doesn't fall far...).

Unlike when I did the pumpkin experiment and had lovely voting sheets, this time was a little more chaotic. I listened to the chatter and tried to take notes. 

The favorite over all was the Smitten (TM). 4 adults voted for the Versluis Honeycrisp over the Schwallier Honeycrisp. They said the second was more watery. People had a love it or hate it reaction to the Mutsu. And all liked the SweeTango (TM). Lindsay (who grew up in Ohio) and I loved the Spy, but the southern ladies were less keen - except my friend Ashleah, who is from Amarillo. 

A few more notes I made:

The Zestar (TM) held its color best- less oxidation. The Schwallier Honeycrisp went brown first. And the Empire was soft by the 5th week from picking, which was disappointing for me. 

I will also say that the 4 trademarked apples were purchased pre-picked from Robinette's, the Fuji was from a store in Longview, TX, and the others were all picked at Schwallier's Country Basket in Michigan. The tasting took place about a month after we returned from our trip.

We cooked up about half the apples into a dozen quarts of sauce (plus one pint) and about a half dozen pints of apple butter. We sliced apples for about 8 pies and gifted or ate the rest. It is amazing how many people ask for apples when I go north! I may need to start bringing back 5 bushels!

Ducklings and Chicks

 

We have several new members of our little farm this spring!

Last November, on my daughter's birthday, all of our chickens were eaten by something. We have seen fox, bobcat, and racoons in our woods and assume that there have been coyote, as well. We suspect the fox, as the job was thorough and stealthy. 

But that meant we needed to get a new flock! So this year, we ordered 11 chicks from Ideal Poultry. Last year was actually a disaster all around when it came to getting chickens. We had ordered 10 Black Sex Link hens from Tractor Supply company. The website and confirmation email said that the chicks would arrive at the post office and that I was to pick them up when they gave me a call. Instead, our chicks arrived on our doorstep with no call. It was February, and although Texas can be warm, the chicks had come from Minnesota, which is not. 5 arrived dead, 2 more died within 24 hours, and an 8th lasted for 2 days before expiring. We got our money back, but the loss of 8 chicks was a blow. 

The worst part was that my daughters were home with my husband when they discovered the chicks. I was at a home show with a friend. The girls were very excited that the chicks were here! But when they opened the box and found the carnage (they actually thought that all 8 were dead, but I helped them with the semi-living 3 when I arrived home an hour later), they wailed! Daddy had them video call me, but it was too loud at the show for me to hear them, and they were crying while talking, which makes them even more difficult to understand. 

This year, we had a much better time of it. I researched more than I did last year to find either a local producer or at least one that had good reviews. I went with Ideal because they had the breeds I wanted and are located in Texas. They overnight chicks to all Texas locations and that made me feel more confident ordering again. 

When I went to order the chicks, I noticed that they were having a duckling sale! I don't know why, but they were selling a random assortment of ducks for $2.12 each! Currently, ducklings are $6.49 to $7.99 each and that is before the Easter surcharge (apparently, people like to get ducklings for Easter, so they charge a dollar more per duck). I decided to order 5 ducklings! 

All ducks are sold straight line, which means they are not sexed before they are sent to you. This meant that we had no idea if we would have all males, all females, or a mix. The deal was also on random breeds- you could get any of the breeds that Ideal carries. So, when they first arrived, we didn't know what we had. 

The chicks were easier to tell. I ordered 11- 10 hens and a rooster. In hindsight, I probably should have waited to see if all the hens actually were hens before ordering a rooster. There is about a 90% success rate with Ideal, but that doesn't mean anything if you get all of the 10%. Luckily, it looks like we did get what we ordered. Just waiting for our rooster to start crowing to be sure. 

We ordered 2 Black Sex links (also known as Black Stars), 2 Brown Stars, 2 Blue Stars, 2 Rhode Island Whites, 2 Olive Eggers, and a Welsummer rooster. The Welsummer is a Dutch breed, so our kids asked what names were Dutch. I mentioned Holland and they liked it, to which I joked, "We'll call him Tom for short." They were confused until they saw it written down. 

About 3 days after the chicks arrived, though, Timid was sick. She curled up her feet and would not get up. We didn't know what to do, and when I Googled the problem, it said the possibilities were Marek's disease (which does not show up in chickens that young) and a riboflavin deficiency. Timid died the next morning and 2 more of our chicks were curling up their feet. So I ran to the store for some chick vitamins and within a couple of days the two were back to good health. 

The chickens are very easy to identify except for the Brown Stars and Olive Eggers- they look about the same. Even now, the three we have left (Timid was one of those two breeds) are mysteries. I guess we'll find out more as they begin to lay eggs. At different times we could say that 2 looked alike and the other two looked alike, but as each week passes, it is harder. I'm hoping that our early assessment that Stripes and Nibbles are Olive Eggers and Belle and Timid are/were Brown Stars is correct. I'll keep you updated.

It's only been 5 weeks and they are HUGE!!

But if you think chicks grow quickly, you should see the ducks!

You'll notice that Magellan is a bit small. When she was 2 1/2 weeks old, she was dropped on her head on the sidewalk. It was harrowing and my mama heart broke when I heard the cry of the child who dropped her. Luckily, the internet helped us to know how to nurse her. With head injuries, the brain can swell and cause wry neck. This is a huge problem because the duck can't sit up, stand up, or walk. She kept trying to get herself into a position that she could sit in, but her neck kept swaying and tipping her onto her side or back. It was horrible looking. The swelling takes a couple days to go down, during which time you have to carry the duck to food and water. Because she was so small, I did this about every hour during the day. We also separated her from her friends, which was sad as ducks are such social animals. I tried to hold her with her friends every day and I held her while we did school so she could have some society of humans. 

After 2 days, she was able to sit up! It took another 2 for her to be able to wobble to her food and water. The day after that we let her join her friends, who had grown a ton in a week, while her energy had all gone into healing. So, she is about a week behind them in growth. But we don't care because she is back to doing all the duck things and looks like she'll grow into a great duck! 

Now that the ducks are older, we can also begin to see their breeds better and sex them! We were super lucky! It looks like we have one drake and 4 hens, which is what we wanted! Cautious is all boy- he is larger than the others and has a raspy voice. He also looks out for his girls, which is why he is called Cautious. He and Lt. Duckinald Quacklay (formerly Wanderer) are Pekin ducks. The Lt. has a very female quack. They will be all white and large. Ambula is a female crested Khaki Campbell. Magellan still peeps because she is a week behind the others, but we're pretty sure she is female. She is a crested Black Swedish. And Sniffles is a female Black Swedish. We plan to breed from them eventually.

We hope to have tons of chicken and duck eggs by about July!

We have one other addition and one subtraction from our little farm. Out big goat, Oreo, was getting to be too destructive (he broke every fence we put him in) and too aggressive toward our little goat. So, he had to go. Luckily, some very brave friends of ours adopted him and even got him a girl to hopefully calm his raging hormones (I'm not sure that will work, but we'll see!). And a friend of a friend offered us their Nigerian Dwarf as a replacement. His name is Loki, but we usually call him Mini Goat (to keep with the theme). 

Both of these goats are the same breed (although, I will admit that I don't know their family tree). You can see how different they are, which may indicate that one or both have been cross breeds in their tree or else it could indicate that they were bred for different characteristics. 

Loki has not yet warmed up to us. He calls to us to feed and water him, and he is willing to be within a few inches of us. But if we try to pet him, he shies away. The General, on the other hand, is very friendly. We've had him since he was about 10 months old. Both goats are a bit over 2 years now. We may breed one or both of them in future, but right now they are just pampered pets. 

If you're wondering about stats for our ducks and chicks, you can see them on Ideal Poultry's website. 

Fall Revisited (AKA: Pumpkin Experiment #4)

 

I meant to do this post last November, but as I hadn't done any posts in a couple years, I decided to bring everyone up to speed first. This is the fourth installment of my pumpkin experiment. 

If you haven't followed my previous posts, you won't know what this is. Here's a sum-up. Every other year or so, I purchase several different breeds of pumpkin, bake them, puree them, and make muffins from them. Then I feed them to my friends and have them vote. I take copious notes along the way so that there is record of how the pumpkin smells, looks, tastes, and other details. I plan to keep on doing this until I can't find any more kinds of pumpkin to try. Then I'll do a semi-final and final round (or more, if we have more than 8 contenders) to find the best pumpkin for baking. 

I wanted to record some other things, like judging on the best pumpkin for soups or the best pumpkin for pies, but I haven't done that. I may add those to the final round. 

This year, I chose the pumpkins pictured above. They are: The Turk's Turban (the orange and green one that looks, well, like a turban), The Crystal Star (round white one in the middle), The Flat White Boer, and the Cushaw (technically not a pumpkin, see below).

The Turk's Turban

I've anted to work with this pumpkin for awhile, but hadn't gotten around to it. This year, it was on my short list, so when I went to Ellis Pottery to get one, I was saw to find they had only one left! It was a little later in the season than usual- the first week of November- but, still! So, I'm not sure it this one was the best version of the Turk's Turban out there. 

I roasted it whole. When I did open it up, I found that it had almost no seeds and very little pulp. 

The top of the turban also fell in a bit. 

The meat was not very watery. This pumpkin yielded only 4 cups of puree, but it was rather small. Normally, I take notes on the skin texture, how easy it is to peel, and how it smells. But it appears I dropped the ball that day because I'm missing all that info on my notes. 

I did, however, take a picture after I gutted it. It appears that the flesh does not come away from the skin easily.

Some more water came out when I pureed it- but it still wasn't runny like some pumpkins.

Crystal Star

This is a pretty popular pumpkin for decorating the front steps. It is very round, very white, and not too large or heavy. 

Even after baking, the seeds were very white. There wasn't a lot of flesh and this pumpkin yielded 6 cups of puree. It has a mild smell and the puree was a bit extra watery. I had to scoop the flesh from the skin, which had turned leathery in the oven. 

This was after I syphoned off some water. 

Flat White Boer

This pumpkin is another fun one for decorating, as it stacks. This pumpkin breed originated in South Africa. This pumpkin was HUGE- as you can see by the larger tray on which I baked it.

There was a ton of meat on this (yes, I use flesh and meat interchangeably), it filled 4 huge bowls! The water was dripping from the pumpkin before I even scooped out the flesh. The seeds were large. Tasting the meat, it tested the most "pumpkin-like." The skin peeled off nicely and the center pulp removed very easily. It also pureed easily because of the extra water. 

And last, but not least...

The Cushaw

The Cushaw isn't actually a pumpkin. It is more closely related to the Butternut and Acorn Squash. In Tennessee, it is called the sweet potato squash. This species of squash is one of the oldest cultivated crops in the world! They have found evidence of it as far back as 7000 BC in mesoamerica. It is also rarely found outside the Americas even though many other squash breeds have been cultivated all over the world. 

One of the best things about the Cushaw is that it is hard to kill. This is why is has lasted as long as it has as a cultivated food source. It is resistant to the squash-stem borer or vine borer, a common pest that kills almost all other kinds of squash. The Cushaw grows great in humid climates, does not need a lot of irrigation, and is very heat tolerant. 

Like a butternut squash, the neck is mostly meat! The seeds were large and there wasn't too much pulp. The flesh was stringy, almost like spaghetti squash, yet it pureed up just fine. The flesh was pale white but turned yellowish when pureed. The puree also smelled a bit like matcha as it cooled- very grassy. 

Now for the judging!! I used my crochet group this year as the guinea pigs. I've used Alpha Omega (the fraternity my husband sponsors) and Legacy Academy students (the University-Model school my children attended) as tasters. 

I made my favorite pumpkin muffins and was as careful as possible to do everything the same for each one. Disclaimer: The Crystal Star (#3) was a little different. I forgot to melt the cream cheese and butter before creaming them with the sugar, and these were the only muffins made in the large pan instead of the smaller one. 

Number one was Turk's Turban. Two was the Boer. Three was Crystal Star. And four was the Cushaw. 

As you can see, almost everyone preferred the Cushaw! I did note that the Boer made the fluffiest batter. The Turban was the most dense and the Cushaw the lightest after baking. The Cushaw won in every category except "spicy." That was the Crystal Star. Usually, the milder the pumpkin taste, the spicier the muffin is because the spices come through better. 

I had the ladies taste them blind and then told them all about what they had voted on. Every one of them was keen to try to grown Cushaw in their gardens, so I kept some seeds back before roasting all the seeds together. 

Our fall was full of awesome fun! Check out the next post to see what else we did!

Greek Life

 

My husband is a sponsor of a Greek society at LeTourneau University. Alpha Omega is the oldest of the residential societies at Letu and had a rich history and tradition. 

Being the wife of a professor has its perks- including getting to be a mom figure to these awesome men of God! 

On their website it says: "Alpha Omega is a society founded in 1960 by students at LeTourneau University to be an organization dedicated to building Godly men of character and to enhance the college experience.

Its members dedicate themselves to applying God's word to their lives and to a set of three principles:

Unity, Loyalty, and Responsibility." I have seen this lived out by the membership, seen God grow and change these men (and those who have come before), and been so proud of who they are becoming. 

Helping a newly single mother move.

Helping to plant an orchard.

Prayer walking- blessing a new home.

Ancient Greeks passing candy out for Halloween.

Meeting freshmen at STOMP

This week begins the bid and initiation process for the semester. I can't wait to see who God brings into our brotherhood this year!

Quite a Legacy.

Dad

 

I lost my dad on December 9, 2022. 

This is my excuse for not writing after December 5, and as excuses go, it's a pretty good one. 

Like most children, I had a complicated relationship with my father, but this post isn't all encompassing. This is just a memorial to a man that I loved. 

My dad was born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He also died there. He'd been to several other states during his life- I'm not sure how many- but he never lived anywhere else and, as far as I know, he has never been overseas. 

Like me, he was the eldest child in his family. He had one sister and one brother, 4 and 9 years younger than he, respectively. 

My dad went to public school. He attended junior college for a bit and Grand Rapids School of Bible and Music. 

He married my mom at age 20.

They were married for 53 years.

My dad and mom worked most of their lives. My dad owned his own business with a partner for most of my young life. Eventually, the partner retired and my father switched the business form a body shop to a wood finishing shop. He always did physical labor and always seemed so strong to me. 

I remember the last time he picked me up. I was 15 and had turned my ankle while roller skating. He came into the skating rink and lifted me up- all 150 lb of me (which I thought was HUGE) and carried me to the car. I was in awe.

That's me!

For the last 10 plus years of his life, my dad was paralyzed from the waist down. He was hit by a car at Christmas time in 2007 and woke up one morning a few days later unable to walk. He had had back surgery a few years before and bone spurs were growing in toward his spinal cord. They were only discovered because the accident forced them up against the cord and pinched it, causing paralysis. He was in the hospital for months- through the Friday before Mother's Day- and with physical therapy, left the hospital with a walker. But despite attempts to remove the spurs, eventually they pinched off his spinal cord and he lost his lower half. 

My dad was always an extrovert, was very kind to strangers, was generous to a fault, and was usually upbeat. Most people who ever met him got to hear him laugh and almost all remember him fondly. 

We had a memorial service for my dad the week between Christmas and New Year's. It was small (just family and almost-family) and was held in my mother's living room. My husband said a few words, which you can watch here. 

If you knew my dad, I'd love to hear things you remember: stories or impressions, things he would say or whatever you can think of. 

I already miss him. But he loved Jesus, so I'll get to see him again... eventually.