The third annual Asplundh Arbor Camp is happening this week at Struan Farm. Men up on ropes in our huge feature trees in the Pet Paddock, practicing the finer points of pruning. What's not to like about that? The trees are useful for this purpose because they're 50-60 years old and have grown unpruned for years. There are also many different varieties to learn about, including oaks, Dawn Redwoods, Liriodendron (tulip), Copper Beech, walnuts, poplars, maples, planes, ginko, chestnut, Cedrus Atlantica Glauca, etc. etc. The first year the paddock was mapped for us, with identification of all of the trees planted by John's father, Maurie.
John and I are hosting a BBQ at the house one evening for everyone, including the contractors staying in our Cottage. Since they also work on ropes for commercial purposes, we thought everyone would have that in common. Asplundh is bringing the protein, we're supplying drinks, nibbles, salads and dessert.
For dessert I'm making apple crumble and ice cream. I've been saving most of the crop of Monty's Surprise apples in our orchard for this, venturing out yesterday with my long handled apple picker to scoop them off the tree.
As previously reported, these are HUGE apples. I've put a NZ$2 coin in for gauge (this coin is the size of a US quarter). The biggest one came in at a hefty 614 grams (1 lb. 5 1/2 ounces)! Quite a few have been left on the tree, since what I've picked should be more than enough for two big pans of crumble.
More on Arbor Camp in due course.
614 grams apple :O. It's really HUGE
Posted by: Sussman | 05/29/2017 at 12:00 PM