http://www.tallcloverfarm.com Homeward bound on Puget Sound. Putting in a good day on Vashon Island time. Wed, 16 May 2012 17:03:31 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5001/apple-dumpling-recipe-comfort-food-with-a-cap http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5001/apple-dumpling-recipe-comfort-food-with-a-cap#comments Mon, 10 Oct 2011 16:27:02 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=5001 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } Fruity, doughy,  buttery goodness on a plate… When I first moved to Seattle in the early 80s, I may have taken up residence in Pioneer Square, but I ate in Pike Place Market. A quick trip on the free-zone bus would land me at First and Pike, and a mere brioche’s throw from my favorite [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5001/apple-dumpling-recipe-comfort-food-with-a-cap/feed 35 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/4938/pomologically-speaking-how-do-you-like-them-apples http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/4938/pomologically-speaking-how-do-you-like-them-apples#comments Fri, 07 Oct 2011 17:30:15 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=4938 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } Boz the apple connoisseur at an impromptu tasting. Great Apple Trees for Western Washington While my pear and peach trees have forsaken me, my apple trees continue to bloom with promise. And after a year of promising, the goods are in. The following apple varieties seem well suited to our cool maritime climate and produce [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/4938/pomologically-speaking-how-do-you-like-them-apples/feed 31 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/4621/preserving-tips-how-to-thicken-jam http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/4621/preserving-tips-how-to-thicken-jam#comments Tue, 30 Aug 2011 18:46:10 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=4621 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } Countdown to ecstasy… The goal: Jam that drops from a spoon but stays on a biscuit (at least until I eat it, which is usually less than T minus ten seconds). As a jam maker from way back, I never really embraced commercial pectin. This had more to do with my end results than any [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/4621/preserving-tips-how-to-thicken-jam/feed 19 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/2799/over-the-pass-to-apple-country http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/2799/over-the-pass-to-apple-country#comments Wed, 17 Nov 2010 20:02:06 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=2799 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } View from the Lancaster’s apple and cherry orchard on the Columbia River. Last weekend, my friends Nancy and Scarlett invited me to a cider pressing east of the mountains, the mountains being the Cascades.  I eagerly accepted. I’ve lived in and traveled to many places, but Washington state holds my heart. A land of stark [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/2799/over-the-pass-to-apple-country/feed 13 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/2492/favorite-apples-give-me-liberty-or-give-me-pests http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/2492/favorite-apples-give-me-liberty-or-give-me-pests#comments Fri, 22 Oct 2010 21:46:40 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=2492 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } I picked my first Liberty apples this year, and I have to say that I’m impressed. Liberty is a great choice for the home orchard, packing a one-two punch of exceptional, sweet-tart flavor along with disease resistance.  In university trials, Liberty exhibited good resistance to apple scab, cedar apple rust, powdery mildew and fire blight. [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/2492/favorite-apples-give-me-liberty-or-give-me-pests/feed 17 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/2534/planting-apple-trees-varieties-matter http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/2534/planting-apple-trees-varieties-matter#comments Mon, 18 Oct 2010 17:29:15 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=2534 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } Apple trees are a lot like people; plant them in the wrong place and they just aren’t happy. What’s great for one apple tree may be intolerable for another. That’s why one of the most important things you should do before planting any fruit tree is to research the best varieties for your region. A [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/2534/planting-apple-trees-varieties-matter/feed 10 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/1330/an-apple-named-opal http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/1330/an-apple-named-opal#comments Thu, 15 Apr 2010 18:33:39 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=1330 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } As I coasted down the steep hill to the Pt. Defiance ferry dock, actively praying that I would make the boat, the security gate which separates running vehicles from bone-chilling Puget Sound teetered like a failing flag pole. With gravity (and a punctually-minded ferry worker) now in charge, the striped barricade fell back to earth, corralling me on the dock while the sweet little [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/1330/an-apple-named-opal/feed 11 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/665/apples-to-apples-this-years-favorites http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/665/apples-to-apples-this-years-favorites#comments Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:55:15 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=665 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } Comparing Apples to Apples: Easy-to-Grow Trees With Great Tasting Fruit I’ve lived in my fine old farmhouse for five years, and before I sanded one baseboard, patched any plaster or fussed with the foundation, I planted trees—trees that I had been nurturing in pots for years, trees awaiting their liberation from city to country living. Half a [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/665/apples-to-apples-this-years-favorites/feed 33 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/634/634 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/634/634#comments Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:45:43 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=634 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } Boz is obsessed with apples. In his world and from his point of view, they fall from the sky, which is something you can’t say about a dog biscuit. Milk-bone handouts or kibbles found under the couch are not as forthcoming as the windfall of twenty apple trees, all of which are a short jaunt [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/634/634/feed 4 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/150/bramleys-seedling-eye-on-the-pie-apple http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/150/bramleys-seedling-eye-on-the-pie-apple#comments Tue, 11 Nov 2008 04:05:07 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=150 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } Gracie is banking on my poor sense of balance and propensity to be easily distracted. Today is hug-a-Brit day, as I’d like to personally thank the island nation for not only bringing us the most beautiful dog breed in existence, the British Bulldog, but also for cultivating the best baking and pie apple to bless a [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/150/bramleys-seedling-eye-on-the-pie-apple/feed 7 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/117/apple-jelly-recipe http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/117/apple-jelly-recipe#comments Sat, 20 Sep 2008 17:36:19 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=117 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } Bramley’s Seedling apple atop a jar of subtle sweetness In the world of making homemade jams and jelllies, apple jelly is the starter kit. It’s your paper airplane, your pencil and paper, your tin roof sundae, your khakis and tees, your clean palate. Simplicity sets it apart; adapability provides its charm.  After I waxed on about its virtures in Jam Up and [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/117/apple-jelly-recipe/feed 40 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/10/benchgrafts-arrived-3-new-old-apple-varieties http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/10/benchgrafts-arrived-3-new-old-apple-varieties#comments Fri, 21 Mar 2008 03:30:53 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=10 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } In my neverending quest to cover every square inch of Tall Clover with anything that bears fruit, I stumbled across a remarkable site: Greenmantle Nursery of Humboldt, California. The nursery’s been in business since 1983, and features some old homestead varieties from plant breeder Albert Etter (1872-1950). Today three small benchgrafts (on M111 rootstock) of his small dessert/cider apples  that the [...]

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