Apples we can Harvest

Non-Persistent Crab Apples

These Apples are a priority for our efforts two fold:

Firstly, they represent the largest animal attractant in our community as non-persistent fruit is fruit that freely falls from the tree when ripe. This quality of the apples leads to large fragrant piles of animal attractant that draw large ungulates, birds and BEARS into our subdivisions, alleys, and backyards. Apart from being specifically barred by Teton County Regulations, this also leads to wild animals habituated to human sourced foods, which leads more frequent and more catastrophic interactions with humans (big suprise… the humans always win)

Secondly, the ability of the fruit to fall from the tree makes these infinitely easier to harvest than their persistent cousins.

How to tell if my apples are Non - Persistent: Non Persistent crab apples are ususally bigger and will often fall in large waves and groups prior to a frost. They are often fleshier and if one wanted you could eat them without your mouth revolting completly.

Our favorite Apple (shown to the left) is a Dolgo Crab Apple. It is slightly oblong and has a deep red skin and bright white flesh. They are about 1-2 inches in size, and while being very tart don’t have a displeasing flavor.

Persistent Crab Apples

These can be a wide variety of apples which don’t fall from the tree with out vigorous effort, often with damage to the tree as a byproduct. Persistent apples are often smaller (lacking the mass to shake free from their stems). They often will fall over time rather than in one large pile, and are rounder than the oblong parabaloid that is common to our favorite the Dolgo (above).

How to tell if my tree is Persistant:

If the apples are smaller than 1 inch on average you might have a persistent crab apple.

If the apples don’t fall from the tree until December, you might have a persistent crab apple.

If when you bite into the apple it causes an uncontrollable reaction of displeasure… you might have a persistent crab apple.

If you have asked us to harvest your apples and we have shown up and not harvested those apples… you might have a persistent crab apple.

We will likely not harvest your apples if they are persistent. This is because they often will fall after bears have gone into hibernation, thus not a large priority for mitigating human-animal conflict, and they are unuseable by us in our cider making.