Heirloom Gardener Magazine, summer issue

[winter_unfazed]

So the old design on the cover is back! It looks like the issues from a couple of years ago.

And Debbie's painting was especially realistic; I like that kind of artwork.

Dr. Chiranjit Parmar has another article in this issue, to make the magazine interesting in an exotic way.

Jeffery

[redbrick]

I haven't had much time to look it over, yet, though there are a few articles that have me perking up. The leek article will be especially useful, as well as Merlyn's article on seed threshing. Your article on Linnaeus is very enjoyable so far (haven't had a chance to finish it). but most of all, I'm excited that this issue carries my first ever full-lenght article, and hopefully not the last!

[GeorgeSims]

Andy,

After reading this thread earlier today, I turned the house upside down for my issue, which I got last week, but hadn't read. Finally found that my wife had put it in the RECYCLE bin!?!?!?!

I'm accustomed to enjoying Jeffery's writing, but am really glad to have seen yours. Well written, and on a subject (one of MANY) about which I knew NOTHING.

Hope Jere paid you the customary $1,000 per page that everyone else gets.

[johno]

I look forward to recieving my issue. How exciting, Andy!

[GeorgeSims]

They did, however, print his picture along with the article. I think Jere's trying to pick up some "sympathy" subscribers:D :D

At least they didn't put your photo on the COVER, Andy:p

[tashak]

Heirloom Gardener is one of the two or three most frequently checked out magazines at our small rural library in another town since we got HG last year.
It's nearly always checked out when I go there, usually once a week.
Guess I'm going to have to get my own subscription again!

[bluelacedredhead]

Andy has an article in the Summer 2007 issue?? How eggciting. I'll be watching for it..

[redbrick]

George, I'm glad to hear you liked it! I found that sending off my first article was pretty nervewracking, wondering whether they'd like it or not.

Whaddayamean, the sympathy vote????!!!! Are you sayin' my picture makes people say, "Aww, look at the poor devil, we better buy an issue!"? Why I oughta....:D And, hey, a grand a page???!!!:eek: I bin robbed! Good thing I can smell a setup, George!

[GeorgeSims]

Before I read the article, I looked at the picture and wondered, "Why is Andy clutching that pot?" Now I know.

I did, however, plant some apple trees last year. (We don't grow them in Louisiana, and I just couldn't wait.) Called the lady at the nursery (Johnson Nursery, in Ellijay, Georgia) and asked for varieties that were resistant to just about everything and as "idiot-proof" as possible. She sent Freedom, Enterprise, and Liberty (3 each), semi-dwarf. They arrived (in Louisiana) on a Wednesday evening. I got up at 2:00 on Thursday morning, drove to Missouri, to arrive in a snowstorm. Got 'em all planted, and can't believe they are all still alive!!!

You do good work. Can't wait for the next article.

[winter_unfazed]

Andy, I read your article all the way through without stopping to see who the author was! I didn't know you were in rare-cultivar apple orchardry.

George, I don't know where you got the "$1,000 per page" thing. Jere always pays us $125 for each article.

Jeffery

[johno]

Geez, Jeffrey - You're getting ripped off!

[redbrick]

I didn't know you were in rare-cultivar apple orchardry.Jeffery

Yeah, I find it every bit as exciting as rare heirloom tomato afficianados! Some of the stories attached to different varieties are simply amazing. One example is Rhode Island Greening. This variety was one of those chance seedlings, growing in the Greenings' front tavern yard in Rhode Island, hence the name. The story is that the apples were so good that travelers kept taking scionwood to graft trees of their own. They took so much wood, in fact, that they killed the mother tree!

There are also a few varieties that hail specifically from this area, like Smokehouse and Paradise. Smokehouse began as another chance seedling growing beside the smoke house on the Gibbons homestead in Quarryville, Lancaster County PA, while Paradise comes from Paradise PA (also Lancaster County). I don't know any more of Paradise's story, though.

[GeorgeSims]

Jeffery,

Trust me on this. EVERYBODY else is getting $1,000 a page.

[Joan]

Say Redbrick can you recommend a local apple that compares with the McKeon apple? I first found them in new england and run into them every once in a rare moment here. I love them. Good for baking and eating.

[winter_unfazed]

There are also a few varieties that hail specifically from this area, like Smokehouse and Paradise. Smokehouse began as another chance seedling growing beside the smoke house on the Gibbons homestead in Quarryville, Lancaster County PA.

I thought it was a seedling growing behind the Spargers' smokehouse in North Carolina. That is, unless Smokehouse and Sparger Smokehouse are two different cultivars.

Jeffery

[redbrick]

Joan, I'm afraid I can't give you a fair answer, since I don't believe I'v hade the pleasure of tasting a McKeon. I can tell you that for an all-purpose apple. I really enjoy Macintosh and Winesap. Both of them are sweet-tart, though Macs tend to run to mush with age, something I can't appreciate very much.

Winter, around here there are two Smokehouse apples as well. One is Old Smokehouse and the other simply Smokehouse. One is believed to be an "improvement" over the other. I used quotes because most people who discuss the two feel that Old Smokehouse is by far the better apple! It is very possible that one of these is Sparger Smokehouse and the other Gibbons Smokehouse, or that Sparger is a third totally separate line. About as confusing as tomatoes, eh?

[johno]

Read both of your articles today, Jeffrey and Andy. Fine, fine work!

[redbrick]

Joan, I had a thought while I was at work today. Could your McKeon be a Macoun? This is a Mac descendent that does have good flavor as an all-purpose apple. If it is the same apple, it grows rather well here.