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Apples

When "Johnny Appleseed" visited our house in the late 20's, our Dad fell for his tactics completely. He purchased from him in the neighborhood of 65+ fruit trees, mostly apple. He planted apple trees all over, -about a dozen in the front yard, some in the back, in the field next to our house, and even in our chicken fence. Now Johnny Appleseed in our day was just an ordinary peddler, whose last name was Knope, but he really plied his trade on Dad. These apple trees grew to maturity in a few years. It was a sight to behold when they all bloomed. The smell around our house was the envy of the neighborhood. But when they all bore apples, a big chore was added to our already long list of chores. We had to keep the apples picked up from the ground every day.

When the apples were ripe, our mother made apple sauce, apple pies, baked apples, apple cobbler, apple crisp, apple ripple cake, and upside down apple cake. She used them in every form and shape, but no way could she use up all the apples. Some were fed to the livestock, (many to the kids!), and many just plain spoiled. We sold apples, we gave them away by the bushel, and still there were always more than we could use.

Yet, as kids, we were trained to not pick any from the tree, as they may not be ripe enough and we'd get a "belly ache" if we'd eat too many. We had only one Duchess tree, which is an early summer apple, and we had to wait for the apples to fall before we could eat them. If we happened to be playing outside and heard that familiar "thud", we'd all race to the Duchess tree to see who'd get there first to claim the apple that fell off the tree. With all the apples we had, one wouldn't think it would be necessary to run after the first Duchess that fell.

Every fall, these apples would have to be picked. It was up to Mother, Norma, and me, as we were the only ones around at the time that I remember. It was no easy task to climb the stepladder to pick, and then to carry all the boxes and bushels into the basement, where many of them rotted over winter and had to be carried out again in the spring.

One of the fun things we did with the apples was to pick up the smaller ones, which were the first ones to fall and were not ready for eating. We would tie a string about 3 feet long around the stem, twirl it and send it high into the air. Then it would come down like a parachute, only faster, and land anywhere and everywhere. We spent many hours at this. It gave us a lot of fun, and was quite harmless.

Years later, when we lived in town, we often thought about all of our apple trees, and often wished that we would have just one of these trees in our yard now.

For many years when we lived in town and had no more apples to contend with, we would go to Gays Mills, Wisconsin, -near LaCrosse, during apple season, and pick and buy apples from some of the many orchards found in this area of Wisconsin. I guess we had to do this as it was a reminder of all the apples we picked on our farm. It was always a nice day-away, and while there, we would stop at the Apple Restaurant in Gays Mills and have our lunch, which always included a piece of apple pie.

For several years now we haven't gone to Gays Mills or any of the orchards in that area, but the man from one of the orchards near Gays Mills comes to the Farm Market every fall to display his wares. It is always interesting to stop by and chat with him, and buy some of his apples. Even my sister, Esther, from St. Louis, has patronized him and taken his apples to St. Louis for her friends there. He is usually one of the last people to make his appearance at the Farm Market in the fall. I have been there as late as Thanksgiving, when the snow was flying and the temps were low, to buy some of his Red King Delicious, which surpass in flavor and quality the delicious apples that come from the State of Washington, and can be purchased in the stores.

I will be forever indebted to Johnny Appleseed who went all over the country planting apple seeds. I have visited his grave in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, and I certainly give him credit for all he has done for the popularity of apples in our country.