Honeycrisp apples will never win the beauty prize. That — and the premium price required by their finicky cultivation requirement in central Kentucky — kept them in the back of Reed Valley Orchard’s farm stand at the Lexington Farmers Market for all the years I’ve been a customer — until now.

The big news is that Honey Crisp apples are in the front row at Reed Valley Orchard’s stand this year. The apples are HUGE from the rains of spring and early summer, and — thanks to Dana Reed’s persistence in learning to grow these treasures a couple of zones south of their preferred climate — they are the same price as all the other fabulous apples (Macintosh/Ginger Gold/Sweet 16/Liberty/Cortland and many more).

Read the rest of this entry »

Bless Reed Valley Orchard! Dana Reed, orchardist extraordinaire, and Trudie Reed, front-of-the-business manager and marvelous human — these are people even more wonderful than their fantastic apples. I always cheer up substantially when the Reeds’ season at the Lexington Farmers Market begins.

That season is now well underway. I got an early start this year. Trudie Reed suggested Earli-Gold as the best early saucing apple, and that’s what you see here. With my trusty Foley Food Mill, I have made and frozen about half our winter’s supply of applesauce. Having homemade applesauce from Reed Valley Orchard in my new freezer almost makes me look forward to winter.