) I • { Orono Weekly Times, Wednesday, November 20,2002 - 5 / Basic Black by Arthur Black «iinhiiiiignii! GIVE ME SPOTS ON APPLES... There are some things I never expect to figure out. Such as: Why does the coffee in Prairie restaurants always taste so bad? How come we have a Prime Minister who can't speak either official language? language? And . how come the Delicious isn't?; Delicious, I mean. The apple. You know the one I'm talking about. The bright red hand grenade with the little boobies on the bottom. Red as Madonna's lipstick; shiny as a Mountie's boot. And tasteless as a mouthful mouthful of pages from the telephone telephone book. Believe, it or not, they actually actually planned it that way. There was a time when the Delicious apple really was delicious. You have to go back 130 years - to 1872, when a farmer in Iowa crossed a couple of apple types and came up with a fire-engine- red, slightly elongated apple that no one had seen before. At a fall fair that year, the judge took one bite and bestowed a name on the new fruit that would stick for good. "MMMmmmm," said the judge; "Delicious!" And it stayed that way for the next eight decades or so, until somebody decided they could make the Red Delicious even better. The supermarket chains were demanding an apple with more eye appeal, better packing qualities and a longer shelf life. The apple growers experimented and came up with a thicker- skinned, shinier, more conical fruit The new product resisted bruising, could be stored for Newcastle House A# 6 ' G l* ^ CHRISTMAS OPEN HOUSE Sunday, November 24 10 am to 4 pm • Holiday Trims • Festive Wreaths •Antiques •Quilts • Holiday Gifts • Christmas Ornaments Newcastle House is located in a "circa" 1830's home at 210 King Ave. West, Newcastle 905 987-1978 . Enjoy 15% off all your purchases up to a year and was cosmetically cosmetically perfect - just what the supermarkets ordered. Unfortunately, it was also next to tasteless. "Nobody should feel sorry for us" says Doyle Fleming, an orchard owner in Washington. "For almost 50 years we've been cramming down the consumer's throat...a product that was bred for colour and size and not for taste." The sad truth is, we've been 'dumbing down' apples for longer than most of us have been alive. We all know Delicious, McIntosh, Spys and Spartans - but how about White Astrachan, Hightop Sweet, Maiden's Blush, Red Cheek Pippin, Yellow Transparent and Western Beauty? All varieties of apple that a hundred years ago you could buy by the barrel barrel at the comer store. They're not extinct, but they're definitely definitely on the endangered species list - and you'll never find them in the produce section section of Loblaw's or IGA. There are something like 8,000 varieties of apple that we could be cultivating, buying buying and chomping into - but it would be inconvenient and cost-ineffective for the grocery grocery tycoons, so we are left with five, maybè ten varieties to choose from. There was once a fella from Brampton , Ontario by the name of Bill Davis. He was the dullest, most uncharismatic Homo sapiens ever to strap on a necktie. He was also Premier of the province for approximately two ice ages. When a reporter asked him the secret of his success, Davis almost broke into a smile and murmured "Bland works." Unfortunately, it . also works for apples, it seems, which is why you and I will likely never know the thrill of having the juice from a Hubbardson Nonsuch run down our chins. Not to mention mention a Roxbury Russet, a Newtown Spitzenburg or the magnificently monikered Westfield Seek-No-Further. Or maybe I'm being unduly unduly pessimistic. Some apple farmers are bucking the trend. They're going back to the old ways and the old days when producers didn't take their marching orders from some supermarket executive geek with a clip board and a fistful of flow charts. In Wisconsin, 300 growers currently bypass the big American chains, selling selling directly to consumers. They're selling antique varieties and whole new strains of apples. Apples bred for - gasp! - good taste. The same thing is happening happening in New York's Hudson Valley, where growers are marketing apples some of which don't even look like apples. They're putting out fruit that's striped or multicoloured. multicoloured. Apples that come in odd, non-standardized sizes. Some even droop off the trees like pears. There's a guy on the B.C. island I live on named Harry Burton. He grows 180 different varieties of apple on his farm and he does it without the use of herbicides, fungicides or pesticides. Is it profitable for him? You bet your Sweet Winesap it is. Oh, I'm not sure if he's making a good living. But he looks to be making one helluva helluva good life. F 1 MORRIS FUNERAL CHAPEL LTD. SERVING DURHAM REGION SINCE 1841 ALL FUNERAL SERVICES PREARRANGED AND/OR PREPAID BURIAL - CREMATION - TRANSFERS •WHERE PROFESSIONAL ETIQUETTE IS IMPORTANT" FUNERAL DIRECTORS PAUL R. MORRIS DOUG R. RUTHERFORD GARY M. CONWAY DEBRA D. KELLEHER 623-5480 4 DIVISION ST- BOWMANVILLE - AT QUEEN ST. Durham M.P. Alex Shepherd awarded 20 local volunteers including Mrs. Lorna Atkins of Orono with a commemorative commemorative medal marking the Queen's Golden Jubilee. The ceremony ceremony took place at the Royal Canadian Legion, Bowmanville Sunday afternoon. Vote by mail Continued from front by poll reporting the traditional traditional vote provided. In reviewing reviewing his campaign, he said he would like to know in what areas he was strong, and where his support came from. The Vote by Mail system only breaks the municipality into four wards for vote tabulation. If amendments to the Municipal Elections Act in Provincial Bill 177 passes second and third reading, candidates candidates will be given two additional weeks for campaigning campaigning purposes. Voters using the Vote by Mail system are advised to have their ballots ballots in the mail three weeks before election date to ensure they are processed in time, thus shortening the candidates campaigning opportunities by three weeks. Nominations for the November 10, 2003 election may file starting on January 2, 2003. Swan Continued from front the swan's wing was supposedly supposedly clipped it its first week of life, which was to prevent it from flying any distance. Klose assumes the operation was not done properly at that time, allowing the swan its summer of freedom. Obtaining a definite identification identification of the bird has been difficult. While it has been identified as a trumpeter swan by some experts and a number of local avid birders, it had characteristics that defied that breed according to Harry Lumsden of the Ontario Trumpeter Swan Restoration Program. Lumsden who observed the swan on November 7th decided that due to the pink colouring on the swans bill it was not a trumpeter, and therefore no concern of his. He did say it was a rare bird indeed, a hybrid, probably a Whooper/Mute swan cross. Being a hybrid, he saw no problem with leaving the bird in the wilds, since it would be sterile, and would not have the opportunity of weakening the wild swan gene pool. Since then, noted local naturalist, naturalist, Jim Richards said as the swan on the pond had a definite bump at the base of it's bill it was more likely Whooper/Trumpeter cross. Being a hybrid swan it would have been bred in captivity, and likely never was a wild bird. Loyal Printing 905-983-5301