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Apple Memories by Joan CollinsHi,
Fall in New York State with fields of pumpkins in the golden light beaming
on their orange smooth surfaces, WOW! A trip to the cider mill and the smell
of apples penetrating every pore, watching the juice run out of the cider
press in a dilapidated barn and the black dirt of the fields getting ready
for the harvest. I grew up with barns and fields on my relatives farm on the
reservation in southern Canada. Barns of every description and for every
use. There is nothing cuter than a pen full of tiny pink piglets in the
barn, all looking your at the same time, waiting for one of those cement
hard corn cobs. There is nothing more terrifying than a bantam mama figuring
out you want one of her tiny chicks to play with and marks you for the race
of your life or get skewered with those long spurs in your arm or head. Who
said chickens couldn't fly. We bought a gallon of fresh cider still warm
never filtered of pasteurized like today and a box of cake doughnuts and see
how long you could last before you had to pull over drink the cider and
gobble down those doughnuts. Before we got home half a gallon of cider was
gone and all the doughnuts and we didn't bat an eye. To this day I love
everything apples. I could go on like Forrest Gump and name all sorts of
things to do with apples. For my sixteenth birthday I didn't want a cake or
ice-cream, I asked my mom to make me 2 apple pies and I ate them both all by
myself. My mom bakes the best pies from scratch, from apple pies, rhubarb,
cherry to rabbit pies with peas and carrots. But apple is my favorite for
nearly 40 years. Thanks for the trip memory lane.
Joan Collins submitted June 23, 2007
It is so nice to remember the good times I had not remembered for many
years. Which reminds me of some more good times. The article mentions
apples at Halloween and I remember in my teen years my family was associated
with a church and the people were old time farm folks. Some had cattle
farms, some had dairy farms, some of the best fun were the church suppers
when these farm folks would cook and it was the most delicious food we ever
ate. Their was nothing pretentious about these people, they had been in this
community a very long time, and it was fun to grow up with them. The area
was called the Denonville Trail of New York State and I found out my
ancestors settled that area in the 1700's and were forced to go into Canada
because of war about the 1760's. Anyway, the church decided to have a
hayride for Halloween and the hayride was the real thing with a hay wagon,
horse and tons of real hay. At that age I was crazy about horses and still
ride. We got back to the church after an hour of being chauffeured around to
find a scary house and a big vat of water with apples floating on top. Of
course being the daredevil I was, I had to get an apple. It is allot harder
than it looks and I couldn't find the stem to grab onto so I had to open my
big mouth and chomp on the apple and not drown. The Denonville trail is on
the shore of Lake Ontario and we all had to learn to swim as part of our
curriculum; I could hold my breath and I finally got my apple. and I bobbed
up to the surface soaking wet. I am amazed at how many memories I have the
center around apples. Thanks it does bring a smile to my face.
