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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1995-10-04, Page 8Pkage 8 Times -Advocate, October 4, 1995 `tis the season for apples Brenda Burke T -A staff LUCAN - "I think 11 has some- thing to do with the apples on the hill over there," said owner John Godbolt when asked how Apple - Dale Orchard got its name. 1 't year Godbolt took over the 30 acres of 10,000 apple trees north of Lucan. Eighty per cent of the or- chard's McIntosh, Spartan, Red and Golden Delicious, Ida Red, Cort- land, Empire, Spy and Mutsu ap- ples are shipped directly to apple packing companies near Colling- wood. Although the orchard packed its own apples for Lucan and Exeter grocery stores last year, it no longer con- tinues that opera- tion. Instead, it has turned its apple packing area into a cider press. This year the orchard's cider -making began in mid-September and may continue until Easter. Because Godbolt has a cold storage area for apples, he was able to make cider from last Sep- tember until June from that year's crop. During orchard's cider - making process, apples are first put through a washer before a hopper elevator takes them to a grinder. The ground pulp is then pressed be- tween cloth blankets stacked be- tween plastic sheets. The resulting cider is pumped into a holding tank. One bushel of apples makes, on average, three gallons of cider. However, it depends on the variety and age of the apples. McIntosh ap- ples produce more juice than De- licious apples, for example. Mature apples also make less juice but are sweeter because they contain a higher sugar content. "The cider we make in the spring • (is) sweeter than the cider we make in the fall," said Godbolt who add- ed the secret to making a good cider is pressing a variety of apples to- gether. But according to Godbolt, "apple varieties really don't start getting plentiful until October." October is the popular month for apple cider with Thanksgiving weekend being especially busy as people seek out the sweet apple treat. Apple -Dale's cider press, which is running one day a week this fall, is able to pro- duce 500 gallons of cider per day, to be sold to local markets and grocery stores. This year the orchard is add- ing to its U -pick services by of- fering custom-made cider so people can watch their own apples trans- form into cider. Due to a combination of a lack of late spring frost, plus abundant precipitation, Godbolt said this year has been a good for growing ap- ples. A late spring frost may dam- age delicate apple blossoms, caus- ing them to produce small, misshapen apples. "Misshapen fruit is hard to sell," said Apple -Dale Orchard Manager, Paul Jef- fery. Extra dry condi- tions not only make the fruit grow smaller, it also en- courages it to drop off the trees too early. "As a grower you make sure trees always have what they need to hold onto their fruit," said Jeffery. "Healthy seeds develop into healthy fruit," he added, explaining it's nature's way to put flesh around apple seed. Because of the way apples are graded, with packers paying only for perfect apples, quality is more important to the grower than price, which is set by the Apple Mar- keting Commission for retail stores. "Misshapen fruit is hard to sell, " said Jeffery. Because the appearance of apples is so vital to their salability, apple scab, usually appearing as black spots of fungus on the apple's skin due to spring moisture, is a big worry. Eighty per cent of sprays used in most apple orchards consist of fun- gicides which condol diseases such as apple scab while the rest of the sprays include insecticides, and herbicides to keep weeds under the trees in check. Apple trees are usu- ally sprayed every seven to 10 days. "It's not the insects that are the big enemy. It's apple scab," ex- plained Jeffery, adding the orchard has not had a problem with apple scab this year. "You can't kill it. All you can do is stop it from spreading." Controlling weeds makes it easier for apple pickers to maneuver and at the same time keeps the number of mice down. When mice girdle trees in the winter by eating the bark all the way around the trunk, the tree's food system is inter- rupted. Hungry bea- vers are also en- emies of apple trees. "As a grower you have to make sure trees always have what they need to hold onto their fruit." the rub with raspberry and cider 3 i f 1 1/2 cup liups cider cup raspberry me.juice ger root, cuYru �lix ►'ell grated a gerale The 4 pp?CC01 nl. (0 2 Caps) Cookbook Besides orchard pests, growers worry about weather that can cause lasting damage. "One year's weather can affect the next year's fruit," said Jef- fery, explaining fruit buds are developed in mid-July for the following year's growth. A drought one year may damage blos- soms for the next. Growe,s must also watch out for fire blight, a bacterial disease that seeps into leaves tom by wind and hail and moves down into the tree. Because fire blight is known to devastate orchards, it must be pruned out and the trees sprayed with an antibacterial substance. However, some strains of the dis- ease can become resistant to sprays. Because of the summer's record- breaking hot spells, many local ap- ple growers are witnessing some- thing they haven't seen before - spots of apple sunburn. Also, July's storm bruised and dented some lo- cal orchard apples. Because they are imperfect, these apples can't be sold to the packers. "You can't sell green apples ei- ther," said Jeffery, explaining the difference between a greener apple and a red one is not ripeness but simply color. A perfect McIntosh apple should contain 30 to 40 per cent red coloring. That's why the winter and sum- mer pruning of the apple trees is so important. Not only does it stim- ulate new growth, it keeps the sun on the apples, a major factor when it comes to their coloring process. The first picking of McIntosh ap- ples is done from the outside of the trees and the second picking from the inside, according to how the ap- ples ripen. The second picking is generally known to yield riper, sweeter apples. Three to five days of sunshine can make a huge differ- ence in the redness of apples. A combination of sunny days and frosty nights also helps the apples turn red. "The trick," said Jeffery, "is the harvest has to be over before the big freeze." "We're usually pretty safe until the end of October," added God - bolt. Last year's harvest ended the sec- ond last week of October. Apple - Dale Orchard hires 10 to 12 apple pickers for harvest time from mid- September through October. After harvest, the rows of trees are fer- tilized. With the arrival of winter, pruning is done, followed by the spring fertilizing, planting and re- placing of trees. Grafting, the process of changing tree species by attaching a small stem of a desired tree into the trunk of a tree to be eliminated, also hap- pens in the spring. Twenty trees were grafted at Apple -Dale Or- chard in May as an experiment used to transform Spy apple trees in to Mutsu trees. A newly grafted tree takes two years to produce fruit. The orchard's rows of dwarf trees, the majority of which were planted 15 years ago, are eight feet apart with 13 feet of space between rows. The spacing of trees varies from orchard to orchard depending on the root stock. Apple -Dale Orchard manager Paul Jeffery, left, and owner John Godbolt with some of the sea- son's apples. Farm Hiker tour enjoyed Muriel Lewis GRANTON - Several from the Granton area took the Farm Hiker's Tour to various farms in North Middles- ex on Sunday, October I. Elizabeth Parkinson was a Sunday guest with Cathe- rine and Dwayne Jeffery near Lucan. Here's hoping the pleasant autumn weather of Sep- tember will continue for October as the conditions have been excellent for harvesting and all kinds of oth- er outside work. At the Granton United Church on Sunday, October 1 which was World Wide Communion, Pastor Normalie Voakes led the service and gave the Communion Med- itation based on the lessons from Jeremiah 32, 1st Tim- othy 6 and Luke 16. The anthem by the choir was 'Cal- vary Covers it all'. A breakfast preceded the service when donations of canned goods were brought in for the food bank. At the St. Paul's Anglican Church in Kirkton on Sun- day, the Harvest Thanksgiving service was held when the Rev. Timothy G. Connor was the celebrant and his message was about the true bread which comes down from heaven and about being channels of God's Love in the world. The children's focus was about the mira- cle of sowing seeds and reaping the harvest. The lessons were read by Norma Paul and Bill Schaefer. The choir anthem was 'While the earth re- maineth'. our Views Letters to the editor Cartoon not funny "The serious consequences of not wearing a helmet are overshadowed by the cartoon's mockery..." Dear Editor: I was sorely disappointed by the message being sent by your editorial cartoon of September 13, in which a police officer is stopping a child for not wearing his helmet. The serious consequences of not wearing a helmet are overshadowed by the car- toon's mockery of how the law of wearing protec- tion seems absurd in comparison to terrorist bomb- ings. In the meantime, over the last few months, I have been instructing my daughter on how impor- tant it is to wear her helmet even before such a law comes into effect. It's really very sad that there even has. to be a law to make people take a common sense approach towards protecting themselves and their children. Even I would have wondered at the need for adults to wear helmets until one lovely spring day, my family and I went over to a nearby park on our bikes (minus helmets) and were met by the after- math of a serious accident on the bicycle path. A middle-aged man, someone's husband or dad, had been riding his bike along this paved path when a stick popped up and jammed the spokes of his front wheel. The bike came to an abrupt stop and the man flew over the handlebars and hit his head on the pavement. He died instantly from his head injury. From that moment on, I have never taken the dan- gers of bike -riding for granted. I no longer see this upcoming law as another infringement on my rights. But alas, just as people need laws to protect them against the hazards of smoking, we must obviously need this helmet law to overcome people's reluc- tance (or perhaps embarrassment?) at wearing a hel- met. Please help people realize the benefits of wear- ing protective headgear. If I saw a police officer approach a child about wearing a helmet, I know he would have the welfare of that child at heart and not just a law. Sincerely, Barbara Gorman, Dashwood County taxpayers to get short -end of the stick `made -for -Toronto' solutions should not be applied across the . province. Dear Editor: Once again, Huron County taxpayers are about to get the short -end of the stick. If amalgamation of school boards as proposed in the Sweeney report goes ahead, we are in trouble. By linking the Huron and Perth public boards, Huron County taxpayers will have only three representatives instead of the current 16. If you have concerns about your educa- tion tax, you will no longer have a local trustee to contact. Likewise, parents with complaints will have no local recourse. • Huron and Perth are the lowest spending public boards around. As long as education is financed with local property taxes, things can't improve. There is nothing to gain by merging the poor with the poor. • The creation of county boards in 1969 was sup- posed to save money. We all know what happened. The creation of "super boards' will lead to the same kind'ofincreases. • We spend only 3.5 cents of every dollar on head - office administration. In some large boards, it is claimed that less than 1/2 the dollars are spent in the classroom. • Amalgamation may reduce spending in some high-cost boards, but those of us already at the low- er -end will no doubt see costs escalate. • We know that 'made -for -Toronto' solutions should not be applied across the province. A better solution for Huron is to keep working at building partnerships. That is where.the real tax savings will be made. Trustees in Huron have already shown leadership in cutting costs. Taxpayers with concerns about education spend- ing would be well advised to investigate the real costs of amalgamation: The time to act is now. If you want to keep costs in Huron under control, call 1-800-562-6954 to express your concern! For more information, contact your local trustee. Sincerely, R. Brown Chair of the Board Remember September 11, 1995 Taxpayers can still have the last word... Dear Sir; September 11, 1995 was a day taxpayers must re- member. That was the day that every Member of Parlia- ment had the chance to opt out of the outrageously rich parliamentary pension plan. The good news is that 57 MPs - fifty-one Reform- ers and six Liberals - had the guts and principle to put their conscience ahead of cash. By doing so, they saved taxpayers an estimated $33 million. The bad news is that the other 238 MPs who de- cided to keep clinging to the pension trough could potentially cost taxpayers more than $218 million in lifetime pension payouts. Bike found in recyl i ng box EXETER - A red bicycle was found in the recycling box behind South Huron District High School Saturday night. The owner may contact the Exeter OPP to claim it. Two more bikes stolen in Exeter EXETER - On Thursday a 20" blue BMX boy's bicycle was stolen from an Exeter residence. On Friday morning a green rene- gade mountain bike and a black CCM Ice mountain bike were sto- len from Exeter Precious Blood School. Both were 18 -speed bicy- cles. Man's wallet stolen from parked car EXETER - An Exeter man had his wallet stolen from his car that was parked at his residence over- night Monday. A nearby neighbor had his tool box stolen from his unlocked trunk the same night. Stereo equipment was stolen from the trunk of a vehicle in Cen- tralia Sept. 25. It's wrong for MPs to keep a pension that's far richer than anything Canadians in the private sector could ever hope to afford. Even worse, Liberal MPs are keeping this perk while hypocritically preaching restraint to the rest of us. It's a case of "do as I say - not as I do." Fortunately, taxpayers can still have the last word. When the next federal election rolls around, remem- ber September II, 1995. If your MP refused to do the right thing and opt out on that day then make him or her pay with your vote. That's the only tactic many MPs seem to under- stand. Ladies' Comfort alking Shoe CONTINUES ALE.... Sincerely, David Somerville, President The National Citizens' Coalition Capsule Comments with Ernie Miatello The most common blood group in the world is Group 0 found in 46% of the world's population. In some areas of the world, like Norway, Group A Is the most common type. Combining "Rh" factor typ- Ing to the blood groups, the rarest blood type is AB -Negative (0.7% of the world's population). Human hair grows at the rate of 15 cm (6 inches) per year. A large research study on the relationship between prostate gland en- largement and body weight found a direct relationship: if your waist size Is 43 Inches or more, you have twice the chance of having to have your prostate removed as men with waists 35 inches or less. There are many purported "cures" for hiccups. You may not have tried this one: Pu pinch Just below inside yourighr monouth between your teeth and uppdr Hp and Medications are like apples: they have to be stored property but will not keep forever. Clean that medicine cabinet and get rid of those rotten ap- ples! If In doubt, check with us to see If a medicine Is OK to keep. ricp 'Your Health Care Pharmacy' HURON APOTHECARY La Phone 235-1982 440 Main St., Exeter 6 1