My Parents' Farm

On my parents’ farm is a small orchard of six apple trees and two pear trees near the house. We don’t know what they all are, as they were planted long before they bought that farm (Incidentally, my dad told my husband on our wedding day that my husband had now bought the farm). The area in which they live has an endangered deer species, so my dad fenced off the orchard as a kennel for the dogs, which makes us responsible pet owners for having the dogs tied up without chaining them, allowing the dogs to run, and it keeps the deer away from the trees.

We do know that one of the trees is a yellow transparent. They ripen in late July. There is another tree that is a Spartan, but beyond that, we aren’t sure. Since I have gotten started in cider and researching apples, I have found out that one needs to pay attention to the bloom time, time they are ripe, along with looks and taste to try and find out what it is. However, I think that one may not be a standard apple, as the tree got diseased and Dad cut it down, but it sent up a new shoot and we have apples again. Since all apple trees are grafted, I doubt that it is the original tree that was grafted, but instead it is the rootstock apple. I guess there is a third option of it being a seedling tree, but the odds would be against that.

As for the two pear trees, I think one of the pear trees is a Bartlett, also known as Williams in Europe, because they are so popular. Since pears are not self pollinating and require a different variety for pollination, my best guess is that the other tree is a Anjou because it is the most popular pear that blooms at the same time as the Bartlett, but it would be easy to be wrong.