🍎 Test Tasting 12 Apples Grown From Seed 🍎 Plus Heirloom Varieties

[@Frozlix]

I found a wild red fleshed apple tree close to where i live and I am going to graft it on some seedling rootstocks this spring. The taste of it was quite bad, very acidic and tannic. I made a cider with like a fifth with these red fleshed apples and the cider was red at first but became more of an orange color after fermentation. The cider I think is quite interesting, tasted like cranberry juice but could change with aging. I really like your videos and I have learned a lot!

[@SkillCult]

That's really cool that some of the red flavor survived fermentation. The one time I made a tiny bit of cider from Grenadine, it pretty much lost that.

[@SkillCult]

the reddest one in this batch tastes a little like pomegranate. It's still not very strong though. I'm hoping as the tree matures it will shape up, or under better cultural conditions.

[@WaterLilly91]

It is always nice to see a person who is passionate about his job! I respect such people! I watch your videos until the last minute! )

[@seff2318]

“Here.. This is them doin’ it” best quote of 2018. Don’t worry that wasn’t my take away haha. I needed a good laugh.

[@SkillCult]

Oh good :)

[@MrChickadee]

Great video, you often describe some apples as having a "modern apple" character, could you define what the differences would be from an heirloom desert apple to a modern grocery store apple? I for one and perhaps others have only eaten grocery store varieties and would not understand the difference.

[@SkillCult]

I think I mean just crisp, crunchy, with light, easy to eat flesh. Many older apples are either much harder and chewier, or even tender. When we think of apples that aren't crunchy, we tend to think of old mushy or meally apples, but there are tender apples, rubbery apples an other soft textures that are still good. Typically modern apples have also not had very rich flavors. For instance, A classic English dessert type apple is usually fairly hard, with rich, complex flavor, often quite small and usually very rustic looking with some degree of russeting, none of which are likely to be found in abundance in modern grocery store apples. The market is not dominated by a particular type of apple and high crisp/crunch mean dollar signs to breeders and growers. That is why citizens need to grow and breed other types like russets, and also why we can have a higher success rate in growing from seed, because those attributes among others are not necessarily our measure of success.

[@olddave4833]

all of those apples look like the ones that were on the trees up in our cow pasture seventy five yrs ago, my dad said that during the depression, a guy would pick a few bags of them and hop a freight to NYC and sell them, one cent for two. there was one dirty looking apple that looked like a dirty potato but it was a great tasting apple, I wish now that I had tasted more of them and learned about grafting. I would have bred an apple with yellow skin, mint smell, and caramel flavor.

[@SkillCult]

You probably only need a hundred years or so to pull that off. Better start today :)

[@suttonelms1]

Nigel Deacon here - Another excellent video - interested to see the seedlings and your assessments of the tastes. The sugar levels are very high in some of those. We had a very hot summer, no rain for 12 weeks in the UK - Wickson sugar reading was only 18% though it tasted good. Pleased to see you got a good flavour this year with the Mere Pippin. We like this one.

[@SkillCult]

I was surprised by the sugar levels when I finally started measuring them. I knew my apples were especially sweet, but getting 20's pretty regularly is interesting. Of course I also have more sun and more dry even than 12 weeks, especially this year. We had a brief spat of rain early, but then it dried out for a long time and was unseasonably warm. None of that is uncommon though. The downside is that many apples don't hold up to the draught and heat. I would guess that Wickson and maybe a few others could be got even higher with a combination of good nutrition and water management. 25 brix is a whopping 15% alcohol potential and 30 brix, 19% alcohol potential. A friend of mine that is a wine maker was telling me he doen't like his grapes to even be that high, because the wine is too strong and he ends up diluting it with water, which dilutes the flavor. Imagine a good sweet cider, like the french ciders, made with 25 brix apples. I haven't made cider for some years now, but these apples make me want to get into it again.

[@alexanderhinman4454]

This project is so outside of my skill set, I love it. I garden a little but this is so much more intricate and thoughtful. Thanks for the vid, amigo

[@SkillCult]

I'm really not that sophisticated about it. I haven't studied plant or apple breeding much. It does take some long term intent though and I've got some time into growing and testng parents.

[@ProfKSE]

I was waiting for you to say "This one tastes a little inky"!

[@SkillCult]

I did bite the writing off at least one of them :)

[@UnstoppableTramp]

My Wife and I actually found that very interesting, we had never seen an apple with red flesh before, thanks mate :)

[@SkillCult]

I think red flesh may be the future of apples, or a major player anyway.

[@ProfKSE]

"This is these two 'doing it' and they make this one. " LOL. You sir continue to be a word-meister.

[@SkillCult]

lol

[@WarGrrl3]

I absolutely love apples, however I've never tasted a blood or blush apple. I will be on the lookout for some as you make them look so good. Good luck w your harvest.

[@SkillCult]

They're pretty awesome. Some white fleshed apples can have berry flavors, but not as intense or the same as these. There are more of them available on the market now that you can buy as trees, but it may be a few more years until they come into stores. They are on the way though. There are a number of modern breeding programs working toward them.

[@mikepettengill2706]

Thanks for doing all the work and letting us watch.

[@SkillCult]

your welcome . It is quite the project. Fortunately, I mostly neglect it, so that helps lol.

[@KilldeerSurvival]

WOW!! I guess there's a lot more to apples than just being a apple. PRETTY COOL!!!

[@SkillCult]

yeah, super diverse lot, those apples...

[@RunninBird]

Awesome stuff as always. I can't wait until my new rootstocks come in this march!

[@SkillCult]

I should have scion wood available this year after Jan 1st sometime. That's the plan anyway.

[@SkillCult]

Are you grafting seedlings you grew?

[@DerWeschi]

Hey Steven, greetings from north rhein westphalia. I watched all of your apple breeding videos now, very exiting, your a very sympathetic guy. I have some of the same thoughts as you do. I am very happy to discovered your content :-). I started growing seeds from apples in 2013, i think. I am really interested into genetics and breeding, in chickens too ;), love your "loud ones" by the way. Back at that time i found some seeds already growing, planted them, trying to graft and started collecting apples :-). Anyway, even in the German internet and forums(?) people always say that there will just be green sour small apples from seeds and i thought it can´t be, i mean, why should wild apples come out of culture apple seeds? They don´t believe that some small breeder can have some good apples, i think because of this big breeding programs. My argument are the way different goals they have, for example. I never thought that you can´t breed apples by yourself, no matter what they said :P. Over the years I researched what i could, i watched a lot of Markus Kobelt´s Videos, his breeding videos helped and inspired me quite a bit, even if i think he sometimes uses the wrong varieties, but thats his "problem", i think he breeds some exiting varieties, i got most of the red fleshed apples out of his program :D. I planted the seeds from a lot of apples out of the supermarket or from apples i got on some "Pomologen"-meetings. I grafted my own trees or on older trees, mostly old varietis, but even some new ones. This year a lot of the graftings grown apples, some of the open pollinated ones are planted now, and some supermarked apples :-). A total of 14 varieties with 4 to, well, i think 40? seeds, al lot of work to do :D. A lot of little baby apples. I love to see them grow, one variety is standing in my room, by now we got 4. The first seedling who had apples is a golden hornet seedling, i was just exited to plant some seeds, the golden hornet tree ist grafted over now, the seeding apples are the same disgusting as it´s parent, but it´s nice looking. I got no apples from eating apple seeds by now but i grafted some on Pi 80/Supporter 4 and M9 rootstocks. My space for little trees is full by now so i will produce a lot of "franken trees", and i will plant them on "Streuobstwiesen", meadow orchard(?) and graft them over too... Anyway 2.0: Next year i will do some apple sex :D. I ever thought I need some kind of bags to protect the blossom, but you helped me in that point ;). I´m exited for your new vids, maybe we can share some informations some day :-). Hope my text is a little bit understandable :P. I understand everything you english people say but the writing and speaking part is some different :-). Sorry for that long of a text, woa, have a nice day from Thorben ;-).

[@DerWeschi]

Hi, is my text to long? Shall I shorten it a bit?

[@beeneverywhereman]

Awesome, thank you so much! Looking forward to grafting some of these varieties if I can find them at my local scion exchange on the 20th of Jan.

[@SkillCult]

Cool, good luck! I have lots of apple review videos that cover my favorite varieties here. You must be in Central or Northern Cal if you scion exchange is around then?

[@beeneverywhereman]

@@SkillCult Yeah, I'm in Rio Vista so I'm part of the Sacramento chapter. I could do the one in Santa Rosa on the 26th as well. Let me know if you want me to look out for anything. I'll mail it to you. Thanks for the videos. [e-mail] P.S. You are doing a huge public service and you rock. Those that reach master level enrich others with time and effort they have applied into a select field and thanks for doing that for us.

[@SkillCult]

I haven't been to the sacramento exchange, but I used to go to S.R. every year. I'm lucky anymore if I make it to the boonville exchange even. Most of the stuff I'm still looking for is very obscure at this point, but thanks for offering. As far as what to look for, you are probably in the great position to grow late hanging apples. My favs are pink parfait, lady williams, pink lady, pomo sanel, Katherine (may be mislabeled), Waltana (just fruited, but pretty late and really nice), whitwick pippin. rubaiyat and grenadine are pretty late, but more like end of mid to late probably.

[@beeneverywhereman]

@@SkillCult They just went on the wish list!

[@666Necropsy]

these apple reviews have been so helpful to me. the work you are doing is so unique, wish we had more people doing this kind of thing. i was curious if you have ever tried any of the Limbertwig family of apples? if so any thoughts would be appreciated. im adding another dozen scions to my 4 trees largely based off your extensive knowledge. im running out of yard space. started to get into stone fruits and thought about planting a persimmons lol.

[@SkillCult]

I grafted Brushy Mountain limbertwig and a few others, but I think I lost all of them. At this point, I could easily do a large purge and collect an entire second round of promising apples to test. I probably won't get to do that though. But, it seems like I've inspired a lot of people to play around with apples, so someone else can take the next steps. Using restricted forms, especially oblique cordon and multigrafted dwarfs, you can squeeze a lot into a small space.

[@666Necropsy]

@@SkillCult thats unfortunate. these are about the last apples i have of interest you havent touched on. im sure i will figure out a way to keep adding to my collection. planting at friends and family is my next step. i had an issue after making so many grafts on my m111 yellow delicious. it didnt want to carry any of the fruit. it dropped all but 3. they were only the yellow delicious so not much loss there. the tree is 4-5 years old so in time im sure it will take more grafts easier.

[@markcampolo577]

hOW WOULD i GET A FEW BRANCHES TO GRAFT ON MY TREE WITH THE PINK PARFAIT AND RUBAIYAT AND KING WICKEN ? Thanks for your videos !

[@Korsvejgaard]

Hi, last year I collected seeds from storebought apples and got some apples from a wild tree in my parents' woods and grew about 200 seedlings. Most (except 1) ended up dying for various reasons. This year, lesson learned, I'd like to try again, but mostly with seeds from roadside/woods apple trees or older trees in friends and family's yards (one neighbor has trees planted before the 1950's I'd definitely like to use). My question is, with such diversity in non-store bought apples, how do you determine the apple variety? Also, do you have any recommendations for seed stratification? I did the damp paper towel method last year, but had about 70% germination rate (some varieties had like 20% germ. rate, others were 100%).

[@Korsvejgaard]

Also, with my one lone survivor, it's never had a ton of leaves, instead growing straight upward with a poor leafy top. Any suggestions on how to make it more lively?

[@Korsvejgaard]

One more thing! I have access to apples from an Asian market. If I tried growing apples from China, do you think it would fare alright in Michigan?

[@SkillCult]

Determining variety is largely about being familiar with major varieties. Newton Pippin, rhode island greening, rome and such popular apples like that were widely planted and account for many. It can be very hard to identify them though.

[@Menstral]

Amazing, thanks!

[@douglasanderson7301]

I was inspired by your videos and while I have plenty of apple trees in the neighborhood ,that people are happy to let me pick, and limited space (suburbs!) I went ahead and planted an Albert Etter Pink Pearl. In watching this video I'm kinda thinking I should have gone with the Pink Parfait but perhaps I'll figure out a way to squeeze that in also. The point is what you are doing IS inspirational and like a seed from a cross might not turn out quite like you want or hope but....

[@SkillCult]

You my friend need to learn to graft :) It's easy to graft apples. Then you can have a bunch of varieties on that tree and change them over if you don't like them. kzbin.info/aero/PL60FnyEY-eJAWNlofdsx0G81aycmAW1U8

[@russellhowe9631]

Great work, do you record your findings on a qualitative chart for cross referencing, especially from year to year? Also do you record flowering data, ripening and storability of the various varieties, potential for rootstock etc.? I guess your criteria for keeping a variety depends on your situation, in that a commercial orchard would cull for a much narrower spectrum of qualities than say a homesteader or a market gardener. I have some apple seeds stratifying in the fridge at the moment, but none were from deliberate breeding schedules, just random apples. There isn’t much space in my garden so some of these will be ‘commando’ planted in my local area.

[@SkillCult]

I haven't done any spread sheets or anything. I probably won't. I'm not a very good record keeper. I do keep notes and the ones that are worth looking at closer I will end up recording bloom time etc eventually. Yes, commercial criteria are very demanding and increasingly so. Some is for good reason and some not so much. It's much, much more likely for me to get a usable apple.

[@truckerenoch8824]

If you like it, black coffee might be better while tasting. It's neutral aroma and flavor resets your ole factory receptors and clears your palate. That's why they have bowls of coffee beans in some cologne stores, when you're smelling multiple types.

[@SkillCult]

Intersting, thanks. It is an issue for sure.

[@Adnancorner]

have you tried the gala and chinese big ones ??

[@giansotolongo9715]

This is preaty cool

[@GraniteValleyDave]

The only red fleshed varieties I can find are Huonville crab and Redlove. I'll be buying a tree and some scions of Huoville next winter which I'm very keen for. I bought 8 young trees back in April and May - just planted in pots until I can get a site prepared next year. Irish Peach has one apple on it a bit larger than a golf ball, and Cripp's Pink has two small apples, about 15cm diameter so far. Very excited but with such a small crop I have no idea when to pick the apples.

[@SkillCult]

I know about the redlove line, but haven't seen them in person yet. Irish peach is a very early apple. If it's not ripe a long time ago, it might be mislabeled, which happens a lot. Cripps can hang till new years here and be at it's best. Learn to graft and you can start collecting all the obscure stuff for cheap or free. I have a whole series on grafting.

[@GraniteValleyDave]

@@SkillCult Ah sorry, I should've mentioned I'm an Aussie. Our fruiting year is from late Dec/early Jan til around mid May. I haven't been able to try redlove either. I wonder if it shows any promise like Albert's red fleshed do, or if it's a bit of marketing trickery.

[@SkillCult]

@@GraniteValleyDave I think if you look, you'll find some reviews online of some of the red love group of apples. You can also check out Markus Kobelts vids on youtube. He's the breeder. Nice guy. I think irish peach is august/early sept in the north here.

[@GraniteValleyDave]

@@SkillCult Brilliant, thanks for the advice Steven.

[@truckerenoch8824]

Can you recommend a few varieties that don't need a rootstock that would grow in zone 5?

[@SkillCult]

I really don't know too much about cold region apples. I would look into the minessota breeding program srtuff, Sweet 16, chestnut are a couple of them.

[@truckerenoch8824]

@@SkillCult Thank you!

[@Tmakepeace]

About your Dolgo Crab, I'm pretty sure that is not a Dolgo. Dolgos are redder often with red stained flesh, pretty tannic, and more ovate. I started a Rubaiyat on your recommendation last year. I'll let in know how it goes in 3 years. Thanks for posting this video.

[@SkillCult]

I'll have to look it up. It's defnitely crabby in a good way and refined. I'm not tasting any excessive bitterness or high acid or anything like that. I'm not sure where I got the scion.

[@SkillCult]

Good luck with the Rubaiyat. It can be really good, but it's window of perfection is short and some years it just doesn't get there.

[@manatoa1]

Doesn't look like a dolgo to me either. Dolgo is very common around here and is super red and oblong. I don't think I've ever seen yellow on one. High sugar, but very tannic and acid.

[@SkillCult]

Thanks. I've collected a lot of apples and mislabeling is extremely common.

[@squarepegman]

Yes, I was going to say the same thing...Dolgo is reputed to mean "long" in Russian, and refers to the oval shape, which I'm not seeing in the video example. They're popular here in Fairbanks, being one of the oldest (1917) super hardy crabs available, and not only are they elongated, the skin is a very dark red and the darkish yellow flesh can be red streaked (which characteristics appear in the Kerr applecrab, a cross between Dolgo and Haralson). It's commonly reported that it comes true from seed, and although it may be capable of apomixis, that doesn't mean it can't also be cross pollinated, so there are probably a lot of seedling strains floating around that don't conform to type. Also, a Dolgo out of hand will be extremely tannic, although it can be palatable if ripe enough. If you want to see a good representation of the classic Dolgo form, check out cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/2473/3486/products/35757741544_1a1121a67f_o_Dolgo_Crabapple_from_John_Feir_Flikr.jpg?v=1535201971 .

[@martinbernstein5662]

Some nice results so far. Would you consider selling scions in the spring? Could be interested to work some of your crosses into my own projects which are focused on red-fleshed for cider.

[@SkillCult]

I'm probably not ready to let anything go yet, but pollen for sure. I think trading pollen might be more useful. Especially as more of us get some results we can say trade pollen with red fleshed traits to mix with other new varieites with the red flesh genes to hopefully reinforce those. Like the Grenadine x Goldrush that is yellow and looks like a goldrush, seems like a good cider potential and even though it's barely expressing it at all, I would suppose it carries the potential. Of course, these might not flower again next year and there is timing. Where are you located?

[@kingjames4886]

wtf! I've never seen a red fleshed apple before! O.O

[@jordan9503]

what u do is a dream i have ounce i have the land for my own orchard ! but im just a little curious on how you stay so organized with what is what ? co sidering that you need 2 apple trees that would take 4 years to grow fruit if there dwarf and grafted . ad then up to 10 years for the seed you've got from the fruit to become a fruit bearing tree of its own .

[@SkillCult]

I use aluminum tags for marking everything. I also keep notes on the seedlings every year. health, size, flavor, season and stuff like that. There are a lot of tags and a lot of information, but it's manageable.

[@jordan9503]

@@SkillCult thanks for the info . one more thing . when deciding what the parents are gonna be how do you know they are compatible if they are not well known ?

[@SkillCult]

@@jordan9503 I don't worry about it. They are usually compatible. If the pollination fails, it could be because of incompatibility, or some other reason. Just pick what you want and try it.

[@Jay-tk7ib]

Is sugar content the same every year for a particular variety, or can it change depending on the year?

[@SkillCult]

No, it varies with the weather, water and all that stuff for sure.

[@Jay-tk7ib]

@@SkillCult Thanks.

[@steelace]

Long time lurker to your channel. Bum deal on the blood red apples you was going for, but interesting results. Hopefully at the end of the year I can get things squared away to start on my gardening projects you inspired me to start. I look forward to your next seed sale and when you grow that apple that bleeds. I Know your into death metal but I have to throw this Hunn Rock your way. It's called: The HU - Yuve Yuve Yu

[@SkillCult]

That's pretty different than the standard musical fare, which I have to respect. Definitely some metal influence there. It may very well be that I only produce a new parent in furtherance of the next good red fleshed apple and not the apple itself. I knew not to expect a lot of dark red apples. I'm hoping that the second generation of crosses using some of these as parents will produce a higher percentage. Thanks for lurking :)

[@azor6090]

Do you think planting apple trees or any other fruit tree from cuttings is worst or better than seedling? I mean apple trees or any fruit tree suitable to plant from cuttings. I have read seedling is better for the resistance to plagues and diseases, but with such diversity... I would like to know your opinion in this sense. Thanks and regards.

[@SkillCult]

I don't have a strong opinion. If anyone tells you so, ask them what convinced them to be so sure. For root disease and also top disease, some rootstocks are better than the original trees. That is one of the reasons they are used. Every list of rootstocks has information on disease resistances, waterlogging, dry soil, wooly aphid, crown rot etc.. I coul see ungrafted trees being healthier in some respects, but most of what I've seen people say seems like a sort of blind faith in the idea that it's always better. Rootstocks can be a valuable tool at least some of the time. They are also very handy for dwarfing trees.

[@darfjono]

man i really want to try one of those super red apples.

[@SkillCult]

They are still hard to find, but spreading fast.

[@nateb8245]

You said you’d have some scion wood in January? I’ve got three overgrown, unmanaged apple trees on the property. One is huge and might just need cut down. The other two are a bit more dwarf but none of them produce anything worth eating. The house was built about 25-30 yrs ago and I assume previous owner planted the trees about the same time. I’ve watched a good number of your Apple pruning and grafting videos and would like to try redeeming the smaller two trees. Maybe have a couple trees with several varieties on each. We’re in the mid-south. Might check out that Old Southern Apples book you mention.

[@SkillCult]

That is the plan. It's still a little early to cut. It will be sometime after jan 1st I haven't decided yet. The seeds are mostly harvested, and I usually cut scionwood in Jan. If you have a tree something like 15 feet wide and tall, you can very easily fit 30 or 40 varieties on it. I think frankentree is around that size, or maybe a little bigger, and it has 150. That is really too many to manage well, but 40 or 50 is very manageable. If I want to work the whole tree over, I'll usually just go for it and do it all in one year if the scions are available. You can do it in stages too though. I have blog post on frameworking trees you should read before proceeding. There is also a video in the grafting series that covers topworking and frameworking. consider doing one tree, or part of one tree, this year and another the following year.

[@nateb8245]

Good thought about one tree per year. I tend to bite off more project than I can chew. The most dwarf of the three trees produces some tiny red delicious covered in some sort of blight. I suspect they are so tiny because I don’t prune blosssoms? On another note, Old Southern Apples is 70 bucks! Better hit up the public library for that one.

[@SkillCult]

If they really are red delicious, yeah, that can do it. They can get really overgrown, which distributes the resources of the tree out too much. If it goes into alternate bearing, it will bear a ton of small apples one year and none the next.

[@SkillCult]

here's one for 52.00 still pretty pricey. www.alibris.com/booksearch?keyword=old+southern+apples&mtype=B&hs.x=0&hs.y=0

[@nateb8245]

That’s exactly what that tree does. Tons of tiny apples one year. None the next. They sure taste like red delicious apart from the chalky nastiness imparted by whatever disease they get. It’s the only one of my three trees that produces anything of consequence. And it’s very short. Quite likely the first one I graft if I decide to try that.

[@Hayley-sl9lm]

Have you ever grown Airlie Red Flesh -- also called Hidden Rose or Pacific Rose? I don't think it's as red as those two though.

[@SkillCult]

I have grafted it twice, I think the first one died and the second might be mislabeled. It's not the list :)

[@toddgillespie8165]

What's the yearly lowest temp in your region? I like the idea of a February ripening date, but I usually get a couple days at 15F in January. Seems unlikely they'd survive that.

[@SkillCult]

I really don't know anyone who has tried to grow those super late apples in colder climates than mine. I did hear about a guy that collected seedling apples that hung super late and I think he was from New York. I wish someone would try than and see what they will tolerate. Candidates are lady williams, pink lady and granny smith, which are all related. Pink Parfait is peaking soon, so it Hauer Pippin. There are others, but many are unknown or hard to get like my Pomo Sanel

[@trollforge]

@@SkillCult I have never seen an apple hang till February, but I do know that Granny Smith is common enough grown in USDA zone 3B where it's not uncommon to have a week or two of -40 in January or February.

[@RadioRoxx.FM_90.1FM]

OMG! I have mie a new KZbin guru to subscrise and watch . Thank you

[@SkillCult]

Careful, there are some deep rabbit holes to go down on this channel. Pretty soon you'll be tanning roadkill and trying to chop down the forest with an axe when you're not planting orchards :)

[@RadioRoxx.FM_90.1FM]

SkillCult this wont mind, but will be a pleasure to try and learn

[@David-kd5mf]

What refractometer did you go with?

[@SkillCult]

Vee Gee. I didn't do a lot of research, but there didn't seem to be much to do. It's very solid, machined metal mostly. It is not temperature compensated, but I figured that is just another thing to break. It's easy to calibrate right before use with distilled water. the only thing I don't like is the rubber grip is kind of lame slips around. I may just take it off.

[@xaviercruz4763]

It would be so nice if you watered them to keep them healthy until harvest so we could see what they really taste like. Which ones are actually from seed vs grafted and why do you think so many of the same crosses bred so different results?

[@SkillCult]

It's just the nature of apples. It's a good thing. We can get huge amounts of variety to find new fun characteristics.

[@xaviercruz4763]

@@SkillCult mm so its a cross of two varieties but seed random or two pure crosses even give variety

[@dudexhill6741]

grenadine and goldrush 11/4 breed her with the parent gold rush again

[@ronruddick2972]

heritage apple variety(red, yellow, green, light brown/tan) inverted colors; peptide sweeteners low cal sweetners super low sugar, high vitamins, high protein, high fiber, semisoft carrotesque+ ripe cucumber texture, raw peeled almond and vanilla marzipan with almond/apple honey and mild walnut and mild sour cider apple flavor profile, chloropharmacognacy and nootropic factor? honey caramel butter pecan gold apple calm conscious intent effect.

[@SkillCult]

OMG, exactly

[@Sixrabbbit]

When a long time ago when they were making terra Preta or biochar in other regions, I think they might have also thrown their poop and possible deceased people in the char pits

[@SkillCult]

I agree on the poo. Why wouldn't you, it's a perfect set up to get rid of it and use it at the same time. that's pretty much what I'd like to be doing here if I can get it together. My biochar pit system really started as an idea for a portable latrine, which I wrote about, but turned into an all purpose catch pit. Bodies I'm not so sure about. It makes sense, but death rituals rarely make much practical sense and people are particular about what happens to the dead. Makes sense though. I used to want to be tanned whole like a bog person, but now I'm more inclined to be tossed in a charcoal pit and a tree planted on top :). A famous biochar experimenter from way back, I forget his name, was buried in charcoal. I think that might have been all the way back in the 1700's, at least 1800's

[@Tmakepeace]

How did your "Bite Me!" turn out this year?

[@SkillCult]

The few I had were about the best apples in their season. I did a tasting by myself and another with a couple of other people and clearly rose to the top of the heap along with sunrise. The downside is a short season. It's not great before it peaks and doesn't keep long. Also seems extra prone to scab.

[@David-kd5mf]

Have you considered getting a pig to convert waste apples to meat?

[@SkillCult]

I've had a couple in the past. I don't have one currently though. Chickens eat quite a few, but they can't keep up.

[@darnellbrawner3659]

So why not hard cider videos?

[@SkillCult]

I don't really make it anymore and was never really that good at it :)

[@ethanchouinard2533]

With the name Lee Calhoun and being from the south, i can’t not think about the 2 most influential Confederacy supporters. Robert e. Lee John calhoun

[@SkillCult]

He's definitely born and raised in the South, so probably not an accident. He was also a high ranking military officer if I recall. right

[@Adnancorner]

man you should sell these... i mean we need variety.. the pathetic red apply... yuk...