Fall Granny Smith
12” x 48”
acrylic on canvas
Malux Sieversii
32” x 48”
(Triptych)
acrylic on canvas
Venus 2
36” x 48”
acrylic on canvas
Good Luck 2
36” x 48”
acrylic on canvas
Good Luck
36” x 48”
acrylic on canvas
Fish Crow Discovery (detail)
12” x 36”
acrylic on canvas
Apple Canopy
33” x 39”
acrylic on canvas
Pink Lady
14” x 14”
acrylic on wood
Gala
20” x 20”
acrylic on canvas
Flowering
24” x 48”
acrylic on canvas
Albemarle Pippin Fall
12” x 36”
acrylic on canvas
Red Delicious Fancy
8” x 10”
acrylic on canvas
MacIntosh Fall
12” x 48”
acrylic on canvas
SOLD
Tree of Life
18” x 36”
acrylic on canvas
In Greek mythology, Gaia, or Mother Earth, presented a tree of golden apples to the god Zeus and his bride Hera on their wedding day. Guarded by a serpent, Ladon, who never slept, it grew in the garden of the Heperides, who were the daughters of the Evening Star. One of the the 12 labors of Hercules was to steal these magic apples from the garden. (No Greek or Roman garden was complete without its tubs of apple trees and groves of fruit.)
Apples Traveling
“At its height the Roman Empire extended from Armenia in the east to Britain in the west and
encircled the entire Mediterranean. The network of trade routes collectively known as the Silk
Road linked Rome with China and, via it various side branches, with India, the Baltic, and beyond. The caravans inevitably passed through or close to the wild fruit belt, and through regions where both the cultivation and enjoyment of fruit was at its most refined. There was a caravanserai at Almatu, near Alma Ata, and the main silk route crossed the Tien Shan range
through Kirghizia and the Ferhana Valley to Samarkand and across Persia and Syria, or traversed Armenia and Georgia, to the Mediterranean.”
-from The Book of Apples, by Joan Morgan and Alison Richards
“The apple blossom exists to create fruit; when that comes, the petal falls.”
Kabir*(1398-1519)
(*mystic poet, or poet sant of India, whose literature has greatly influenced the Bhakti as well as Sufi
movements of India.)
“Adam was but human-this explains it all.
He did not want the apple for apple’s sake, he wanted it only because it was forbidden.”
-Mark Twain
“in parasol shade
we salt green apples
have we been married so long”
-Haiku by LeRoy Gorman
Venus
Apples were said to be sacred to Venus , the goddess of love, and symbolized her. “She was
worshipped on one half of the apple as the evening star Hesper....and as Lucifer*, son of morning, on the other.”
Note* : ‘ The scholars authorized by ... King James I to translate the Bible into current English did not use the original Hebrew texts, but used versions translated ... largely by St. Jerome in the fourth century. Jerome had mistranslated the Hebraic metaphor, "Day star, son of the Dawn," as "Lucifer," and over the centuries a metamorphosis took place. Lucifer the morning star became a disobedient angel, cast out of heaven to rule eternally in hell. Theologians, writers, and poets interwove the myth with the doctrine of the Fall, and in Christian tradition Lucifer is now the same as Satan, the Devil, and --- ironically --- the Prince of Darkness. So "Lucifer" is nothing more than an ancient Latin name for the morning star, the bringer of light.’
Apple blossoms bloom
On too-warm winter days, then
Frost, dead. No apples.
-Too-Warm Winter Haiku
Dr. Bill Chameides of Environmental Defense
Domesticated vs. Wild
Red Delicious and Golden Delicious are the parents of about 90% of the hybrids we eat today. This shallow gene pool has helped promote pests and disease. To cater to modern consumers, who like the look of “perfection” in their fruit, U.S. farmers spray against pests and disease 10 times a year on average.
The wild apples (Malus sieversii) found in Kazakhstan are believed to be the original parents of all apples and do not have the same problems with pests nor disease.
Scientists believe in order to solve the problems ravaging our fruit trees, we need to go back to this original gene pool of the wild apples, and create hybrids which will be resistant to the pests and disease.
Unfortunately one of the main forests that hold the world’s “eden” of trees has been
disappearing. The oil wealth of Kazakhstan since the Soviet break-up has brought more
development, and the 125,000 acres present in the 1940’s has decreased to 10,000 acres today.
The World Conservation Union has listed the Malus sieversii on the Red List of Threatened
Species.
Apples are a $50 billion a year global industry.
Malus sieversii
Malus sieversii is a wild apple and believed to be the soul ancestor of most of the domesticated
apples ( Malus domestica) we consume today. It is a native to Central Asia, between Tien Shan
(“Celestial Mountains”) of western China, to the shores of the Black and Caspian Seas.
Kazakhstan’s (a major land holder in this region) former capital is Alma Ata (“father of the
apple”), now its largest city with a new name, Almaty (“rich with apples”) pinpoints origins of our
famous fruit. Other countries in this region are: Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Xinjiang, China.
Discovery Apple (and Fish Crow)
The Discovery Apple was created in 1949 in Essex, England, combining a Worchester Pearmain and Beauty of Bath. It was originally named Thurston August, but renamed in 1962.
The Fish Crow is a inhabitant of the east coast from New England to Florida. Crows
symbolize creativity and divine inspiration.
“ An apple a day, keeps the doctor away. ”
This saying comes from an old English adage, “ To eat an apple before going to bed, will
make the doctor beg his bread.”
The U.S. Women’s Temperance movement commandeered this adage for their own PR
campaign, encouraging farmers to chop down their trees used to make the alcoholic hard
cider. The same trees mostly planted by John Chapman, a.k.a. Johnny Appleseed for the
frontier trailblazers. The cider made was a rare comfort for many in the new wilderness.
The apple trees planted by Johnny Appleseed also aided in the government’s need for
commitment of the new land, for any fruit trees planted were signs of a long term residency of property.
Albemarle Pippin (Virginia) or Newtown/Newton Pippin
'Albemarle Pippin' was one of Thomas Jefferson's two favorite apples, the other being 'Esopus
Spitzenburg.' He planted as many as fifty 'Albemarle Pippin' in the South Orchard at
Monticello between 1769 and 1814. The variety originated in Newton, New York, in the
eighteenth century, and is sometimes known as 'Newtown Pippen' for that reason. George
Washington also grew this favorite apple. Benjamin Franklin reputedly introduced the variety
into England, as an example of a superior American fruit variety, and in the nineteenth
century, Queen Victoria fancied the fruit so much as to exempt Virginia-grown apples from an
import tax, helping it to become an important export, commanding premium prices in the
English market. After World War I, Parliament levied duties again on non-Commonwealth
fruit, and the Pippin's market waned. It is difficult to find today (its difficult to grow!), but
when well-grown, remains one of the world's finest apples. Generally when the apple is grown
in Virginia it is known as the Albemarle Pippin, while outside of Virginia it is known as the
Newton or Newtown Pippin.
Granny Smith
Found in Australia, 1868 by Maria Ana Smith from random seedlings. Introduced to the UK circa 1935, and the U.S. 1972.
This is one of the few varieties to survive the modern“sweetness” bred into apples, with the Granny Smith being a tart favorite.
In the medieval kitchen:
“Sharp apples used to enliven cereal porridges”
“Apples boiled and mixed with almonds, honey, breadcrumbs, and spices”
“Apples mixed with brown and white meat dishes”
-British apples turned into “verjuice” or as seen below “vergis”, slightly fermented apple juice, for flavoring sauces and preserving pickles.
“ Be sueer of vergis (a gallon at least) so good for the kitchen, no needful of beest”
-Thomas Tusser ,
agriculture writer and poet, 1560
Apple “Cures” through the ages:
• Medieval laxative
• 17 century cough cures
• A cup of apple juice for melancholy (the older version of “anti-depressant medicine)
• Middle ages and Victorian farmers soaked rags in crab-apple vinegar-verjuice-to relieve aches and pains.
• Combining cooked apples with warming spices such as cloves, and cinnamon has its origins in dietary prescriptions in the ancient worlds
• The crab apple in traditional herbal treatment is cleansing and a detoxicant for both internal and external wounds. It helps to heal skin tissue, is anti-inflammatory and anti-septic - hence the connection in our folklore with beauty. A poultice made from the boiled or roasted fruit will remove burn marks from the skin. The same boiled fruit is good for sore or inflamed eyes.
• An ointment mentioned by John Gerard in his Herbal of 1633 suggests mixing apple pulp with pig fat and rose water to make a treatment for rough skin.