The Apple Club Newsletter
Spring 2006
This has been a late spring, with our apples only now coming into
flower. And so also is the newsletter a little late, but at least
within season.
Our apples are now gone for the year, but in just a
few short weeks, the strawberries will be upon us again. Many thanks
for your custom over the past season.
Gideon's Apple
In
1962 James Curran bought a property in Excelsior, Minnesota. While
clearing out the remnants of an old neglected orchard beside the
farmhouse, he came across a bronze plaque which read: "This tablet
commemorates Peter M. Gideon who grew the original wealthy apple tree
from seed on this homestead in 1864". In the intervening years, Curran
has researched the story behind the plaque, and has published a book
called "The Great American Apple Wizard", which tells the story of
Peter M. Gideon, and the famous apple variety called the Wealthy, which
he named for his wife, Wealthy.
Native apple trees in America were
crab apples, and were consequently unsuitable for eating. When Eurpeoan
settlers arrived, they brought seeds with them, but many of these
apples were not suited to the American continent, especially areas like
Minnesota, where winters were very harsh. However, the work of Peter
Gideon signalled a change in all that. As a child, Peter was always
interested in fruit. In 1825, at the age of five he planted peach
seeds, and as he later recalled, by the time he was nine (he spent his
early life in Ohio), he had the pleasure of eating fruits from peach
trees that he had grown from seeds himself. At 29, he married
18-year-old Wealthy Hull. Soon he developed lung trouble, and was
advised to move to Minnesota, which was reputed to be a uniquely
healthy place to live. And so he moved in 1853, even though he heard
that the winters were too frigid to grow fruit. When he arrived in the
spring of 1854, Gideon began planting as quickly as he could, sowing
350 apple trees, and a lesser quantity of pears, cherries, quince and
plums. In 1855, temperatures plunged to minus 40 degrees, and every
Minnesota farmer lost his trees. In the spring, Gideon only had three
or four surviving saplings. And while his wife and children begged him
to leave, he remained undaunted. Because of the scarcity of apples,
seeds were precious; just how precious is recounted by the following
story about his daughter Florence. "Florence had an apple before going
to bed, and was given the usual reminder to 'save the seed'. In the
morning while Florence still slept, Peter went to her bedside. There he
found a stem and core, but no seeds. Florence awakened, knew what her
father was looking for, and unclasped her tightly clenched little fist,
to reveal embedded in her palm, the precious seeds."
It was not
these seeds that bore the eventual Wealthy apple, but rather one of a
sample sent to him from Maine. A tree from one of these seeds bore its
first fruits in 1867, and while he only harvested half a dozen fruit in
the first year, they were of high quality, and suitable for eating and
cooking. He named the variety for his wife, who by then had borne him
seven children.
News of Gideons freeze-proof apples swept
through the northern states, and they were later displayed at the
Minnesota State Fair. Accolades poured in, and Gideon's Fruit Farm
became a popular tourist attraction. His success was used by the
state's horticultural society to argue for a well-funded research and
breeding program, which still continues to this day in the University
of Minnesota. The governor made Gideon superintendent of the new
experimental station, which was welcome news for his family, because up
to then Gideon had been a poor provider for his family, surviving by
selling eggs and doing odd jobs. Gideon lived long enough to see the
Wealthy apple recognised as one of the US's leading varieties,
especially popular for pie baking.
But Gideon's interest in
spiritualism and his views on social issues conspired against him. He
loudly disapproved of alcohol, slavery, Indian removal and horse
racing, and this left him an outsider among his contemporaries. The
university eventually suspended Gideon's position, and revoked his
stipend, and while his apples survived the cold winter of 1889, his
wife did not. Gideon died in his home ten years later, alone and
penniless. It is still debated whether Gideon was the author of his own
downfall, or whether jealousy and resentment among other University of
Minnesota faculty members led to his ultimate demise. However, the
Wealthy apple still survives.
A new orchard
We have been
planting orchard yet again this spring, with a further four acres of
various apples. Among these are old favourites like Tipperary Pippin,
and some new introductions never planted before, including Wellant and
Autento. We look forward to trying these new apples, which are reputed
to have excellent flavour, and supplying them to you, commencing this
autumn. We have also planted trial trees of old and rare varieties.
Apple Blossoms
The
apples will be coming into full flower during the first week of May. If
you wish to see a beautiful sight, call out, perhaps on Saturday the
6th or Sunday the 7th. If the weather is nice, take a walk around and
breathe in the scent. Better than a Bulmer's advert, and that's not
easy!
Cider vinegar
Following many comments by farmers
about the ability of cider vinegar to reduce somatic cell counts in
milk, we have started to produce and sell a probiotic cider vinegar
specifically for this purpose. Results have been good, with one farmer
who has a sixty cow herd in Dundrum attributing a drop in cell count
from 550 to 160 in a month, to the effects of feeding the vinegar to
his cows by adding it to their drinking water, and more positive
reports coming from other dairy farmers in the area.
Because of the
sceptical nature of people (not least myself) to unproven cures, I have
arranged for clinical trails to be undertaken in the University of
Limerick next autumn. These will compare herds with high cell counts
that receive no treatments, with herds receiving our probiotic cider
vinegar, and also pasteurised (non-probiotic) vinegar. Hopefully the
results of the trials may shed some light on how the cider vinegar may
have an effect on somatic cell counts, and also will help to convince
all involved that the vinegar really does have a positive effect.
If,
in the meantime, you wish to try some vinegar on your herd, or on a
small number of animals in the herd, it is available from our farm.
Apple Frost Protection
This
year the apples are flowering late, and so the likelihood of any damage
being caused to flowers by a late frost is small. It's not the same
every year however. Very often apples come into bloom in early April,
and at that time a frost where air temperatures fall below 0 C can
easily occur. Apple blossoms can tolerate a little frost, but not much,
so if the temperature falls below minus 3 C, even for a short while, an
entire years crop can be lost.
There are two types of frost that can
occur in Ireland in spring. One is where cold winds blow in from the
North or East, and there is not much that can be done to alleviate such
a frost. The other type of frost occurs on still cloudless nights. In
such conditions, the warm air which is normally blanketed over the
earths surface by the presence of clouds, can rise up higher into the
atmosphere (that hot air rises and cold air descends is a fundamental
fact of nature). As a consequence, cold air from higher up streams down
to ground level, causing a frost. However, the warm air from below may
not continue to rise up and up, and it can get caught below another
layer of colder air a few hundred feet up.
When this happens, it is
called an inversion. It can sometimes be seen in a valley at night,
where cold air lies at the lowest point, then halfway up the valley the
air is warmer, and then even further up, there is more cold air.
One
apple grower in Northern Ireland is taking advantage of air inversions
to protect his apple blossoms from frost. He has purchased a "wind
machine" from the United States. This machine looks like a windmill,
except that the blades are angled, and driven by a diesel engine. When
it operates, it sucks down warm air from the inversion, mixing it with
cold air at ground level, making the cold air warmer. So if it is minus
3 degrees at ground level, and 5 degrees in the inversion layer, when
the wind machine operates, the ground level temperatures could rise to
1 degree celcius, which obviously protects the apple blossoms from any
damage. Graham Hewitt's wind machine has already proved itself in
action last year, when he harvested a record crop of Bramley's Seedling
from even the most frost-prone parts of his orchard. It will be
interesting to see whether others follow his example.
Peak oil
I
first mentioned the idea of peak oil in one of our newsletters a few
years ago. At that time, a small number of scientists were predicting
that oil production would soon peak, and that once production started
to fall, that prices would rise steeply, as society (as it is currently
structured) cannot survive without oil.
In the past few years, quite
a number of more mainstream scientists have accepted that peak oil is
very close, and that it is long overdue time to start thinking about
alternative energies and alternative ways of living.
At a recent
talk by Richard Simmonds, who is head of one of the World's leading
investment banks, the type of bank that lends to energy companies such
as oil exploration companies, he outlined how he believed that a
dramatic fall in oil production is very close. He also outlined how
prices could quickly triple from where they are now, leading to petrol
prices of four euros per litre. And this was not his idea of an upward
limit on prices. When pressed on this point, he revealed that he sits
on the board of Jack Daniels whiskey company, which sells at $4800 per
barrel (nearly one hundred times the cost of oil at present), and as he
said, we need oil a lot more than whiskey. He was also asked about the
possibility of going nuclear, but he is pessimistic of this option,
because much of the best grade uranium in the world has already been
mined, and to use lower quality ore means such vast mining operations
that would render the process completely destructive of the
environment, even ignoring the risk of accidents, and the cost of
storing hazardous nuclear waste for thousands of years.
Regarding
gas, he felt that it should be conserved, as it is the raw material
used to make medicines, and is the most efficient fuel where clean
burning is required, such as in cities. He outlined that it was
completely wasteful to use it for generating electricity, and I got the
sense from his speech that the longer Ireland keeps its Corrib gas off
Mayo under the ocean (instead of bringing it ashore as quickly as
possible), the better it will be for the future of the country, as in
thirty years time, it will be much more valuable than now.
And if
you believe him, in thirty years time, and roads of today will be as
quiet as thirty years ago, and cheap air travel will be a distant
memory.
A most interesting talk. To find out more look at www.peakoil.net, and follow the links from there.
Solar grants
Many
of you may be aware that a new set of grants for householders has been
launched by Sustainable Energy Ireland (www.sei.ie). Among the items
that householders are entitled to claim aid on are solar water heating
panels. As someone who installed such panels (for water heating on the
farm) a number of years ago, I must comment that even without a grant,
they would have been well worthwhile. For anyone who is interested, you
ideally need a south facing, south-east facing or south-west facing
roof, which is not shaded, and is inclined at up to a 50 degree angle.
The types of panels that I have installed are vacuum tube collectors,
which are very efficient. I estimate that since installation, the
panels have completely paid back for themselves, and as they are
guaranteed for another fifteen years (and will hopefully last for much
longer), I will get more than half of my hot water free from now until
then.
To be recommended, especially considering the cost of heating water these days.
You can contact Sustainable Energy Ireland by post at Glasnevin, Dublin 9, and by phone at 01-8369080
Religion, By Willem Traas
In our winter 2005 newsletter I wrote about war and peace and how we wish to have peace in the World at Christmas.
Now
it is spring. The swallows have arrived again. I first saw them in
Kilsheelin, and now they are back on the farm, all the way from Africa.
Well they are very welcome.
This time I will write something about
religion. From ancient times and everywhere in the World, people have
believed in a person of power; a God, or many gods. Nowadays, very many
people believe in a God who made heaven and earth, who was there before
we were born, and will be there after we die. A God who is everywhere;
in our homes, in the trees and the swallows, and in you and me. Even if
we don't want it perhaps, there is just that presence.
But we cannot
see God or hear God. And often in the past people tried to make a God
that they could see or hear or touch. Like in the Old Testament of the
Bible, when Israelites made a golden calf to pray to, or in other
cultures, where people worshipped the sun or moon.
I was brought up
as a protestant Christian: we were told that we could learn everything
about God in the Bible. How Adam and Eve sinned, and that paradise was
lost because of that sin. And for Christians, how God sent his Son
Jesus into the World to save us; and that at that time we crucified
Jesus, on the day we now call Good Friday, but that Jesus rose from the
dead on Easter Sunday, and that if we believed in Jesus we could go to
heaven.
We were also told that our Church was the only Church where
you learned the truth about God. And that it was a pity, but people
from other churches would most likely go to hell. Even as a child I
found that hard to believe, and looking back I think our minister was
talking rubbish.
If he was right, there was no hope for the Chinese,
the Eskimos, most of the people in Africa, and even Roman Catholics. So
we had to bring our faith to them through the "zending" (mission). And
to help with our mission, in our school we had a collection box with an
African child sitting on it, and when you put a coin into that box the
child nodded "thank-you". Now I am no longer too worried about what
religion people belong to. If we understood everything, we would be God
ourselves.
Perhaps God is like the sea, and the religions are like
rivers leading to it. A Roman Catholic river, Protestant rivers, Muslim
rivers, and many many more.
I like to think that my mother had it
right: when she was old I asked her what she thought about heaven, and
she said: "I think it will be a very busy place there".
So she
thought it was a place for all people who had lived a life where they
had loved God above all, and their neighbour like themselves.
Newsletter Archive