That’s right! Apple season has BEGUN! We have started to pick the McIntosh! Here’s a little background on these fabulous, classic apple!

This is taken directly from the Wisconsin Apple Grower Association Cookbook.

Nothing announces the arrival of fall more clearly than the scent of a freshly baked apple pie. And what better apple to choose than the McIntosh?

The McIntosh remains the most popular apple in the Eastern United States.

Characterized by a perfect balance of crispness, tartness and sweetness, the McIntosh is also one of the oldest apples. Today more than 3,000,000 McIntosh apple trees flourish throughout North America, [we have about 350 trees growing at our Kroncke Road Orchard] all stemming from a single tree discovered by John McIntosh in undergrowth on a farm in Dundas County, Ontario, in 1811.

The survival of the variety and its ultimate popularity almost 200 years after its chance discovery was the long-time effort of several generations of the McIntosh family.

When fire swept through the McIntosh farm in 1895, John’s son, Allen, managed to nurse back to health the badly singed original tree that was still producing apples. In fact, the tree outlived him. Allen died in 1899, but the tree continued to bear fruit until 1906.

McIntosh apples are medium-sized oblate fruits that are red on a green background. There are many strains available with many color variations from red-striped strains to full red-brown blushed strains.

The flesh is white, soft and fine-textured. The flavor is distinctly tangy and aromatic. This variety is excellent for eating fresh, sauces, salads and pies, and is available in Wisconsin during the month of September, with storage capability through early spring.

Unfortunately mother nature has determined that I will not be heading to the Sun Prairie's Farmer's Market this morning. I do apologize. It's just too rainy and it looks like it's going to continue to be that way for the rest of the morning and into the afternoon. I would like to note that the apple store is OPEN! So, feel free to take a short day trip up the orchard to pick up your apples (Honeycrisp, gala, cortland, mcintosh, wealthy, spartan, fuji, paulared, NW Greening and wolf rivers), cider, and caramel apples. We would love to see you there.

Hello Everyone! We saw a lot of familiar faces yesterday and it was very refreshing! We definately had a decent crowd of apple lovers at the store and the Sun Prairie Farmer's Market.

Well, the apples are finally starting to ripen. The boys picked some McIntosh, Cortland, Jonamac, Gala, and Wolf River yesterday. It is so nice to see our shelves filling up with APPLES! Because of this mixture of apples we are also know offering our Baker's Mix filled with Paulareds, McIntosh, and Cortland to give your baking a wonderful mixture of flavor and texture. Diane always bakes like this and trust me, her family is not disappointed.

My sister-in-law, Karma, just sent me this email that I found interstering and you may too:

Hi Kim. I was just reading my new Runner's World and it had an article on "fresh thinking" when it comes to eating. They talked about a "locavore" who tries to buy local and had some interesting facts... one study found that people are 10 times more likely to have a conversation at a farmers' market as they do at supermarkets. Another study found that local-based food systems used 17 times less fuel than conventional food systems. Thought you might like to hear those :) Karma

We're also starting to gear up for our upcoming garage sale next weekend. The garage has been cleaned and empty. Jared and I have started to deliver boxes of things to be sold. It is going to be a multi-family garage sale and for anyone who is a dedicated garage-saler, you know those are the best ones to hit.

Well, I have to go and make some caramel apples!