William's Pride, 2010

     The apples began falling from our William’s Pride tree over the weekend – a sure sign that they were ready for picking.  Since I am a ‘ladder weenie’ and Nyel felt that his new knee was up to the task, he harvested the crop yesterday.
     We’ve known since the first blossoms appeared on the tree that things would be different from usual this year.  The blossoms came along too early and it was some time before the bees appeared to do their magic pollination trick.  So, William’s Pride was in trouble from the get-go.  To compound matters, there hasn’t been any sun to speak of for the past six weeks, so although the apples kept growing, they aren’t the usual all or mostly red apples of the past.  These are more green than red.
     And, they are few in number.  We know that one of the by-products of not thinning apples is that the crop of the following year is puny.  Nyel is religious about thinning.  He thinned last year and, even though there weren’t so many apples this year, he thinned anyway.  Yesterday’s result was just over 18 pounds – not even half of last year’s 40 pounds.  Very disappointing.
     The good news is, they taste delicious as usual.  They are tart (but not too) and juicy, and promise to be good for pies as well as for eating.   We just won’t be able to keep the doctor away for as many days – not by eating William’s Pride apples, anyway.  But our other No-Name, late apple tree is absolutely loaded this year.  They will ripen mid-September and will definitely take up any apple slack we may be feeling from yesterday’s harvest – a nice reminder that some things do even out.