To view or leave comments on this story, click HERE.
Fall has definitely arrived on the Old Mission Peninsula, and not just because of those lovely grape sweaters covering all the vineyards.
Apples are starting to pop up on all the roadside farm stands, including these at Bern Kroupa’s rock wall – a.k.a. Old Mission Fruit Company – across from Old Mission Tavern on Center Road.
Old Mission Gazette is Reader Supported.
Click Here to Keep the Gazette Going.
And if you just want a couple apples, he’s got you covered.
These are McIntosh, or as we call them around here, “Macs.” One of the first apples to ripen in these parts, Macs have a red and green skin with a tangy-tart flavor and tender white flesh inside. They’re one of my favorite “old-fashioned” apples, although I will say that the newer Honeycrisp are definitely a contender.
So many of my childhood memories are wrapped up in apple season, including getting off the bus at my Grandma Stella’s house across from Peninsula Fruit Exchange – corner of Kroupa Road and Peninsula Drive – where my mom and dad would be working in the apple orchard we affectionately call “The Forty.”
Here they are in the Fall of 1946, shortly after they were married in August of that year.
The apple orchard on The Forty is still in the family, being excellently farmed by my brothers, Dean Johnson and Ward Johnson. Here’s Mom and Grandma in the orchard, with Dean’s dog Duke, probably sometime in the 1970s. I love Grandma’s fabulous red coat.
Also Read…
SUPPORT YOUR INDEPENDENT LOCAL NEWSPAPER: I started Old Mission Gazette in 2015 because I felt a calling to provide the Old Mission Peninsula community with local news. After decades of writing for newspapers and magazines like the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Family Circle and Ladies' Home Journal, I really just wanted to write about my own community where I grew up on a cherry farm and raised my own family. So I started my own newspaper.
Because Old Mission Gazette is a "Reader Supported Newspaper" -- meaning it exists because of your financial support -- I hope you'll consider tossing a few bucks our way if I mention your event, your business, your organization or your news item, or if you simply love reading about what's happening on the OMP. In a time when local news is becoming a thing of the past, supporting an independent community newspaper is more important now than ever. Thank you so much for your support! -Jane Boursaw, Editor/Publisher, Old Mission Gazette
To keep the Gazette going, click here to make a donation.
To view or leave comments on this story, click HERE.
[…] Here they are in the Fall of 1946, shortly after they were married in August of that year. walter johnson, mary johnson, apples, apple season, the 40 … View full source […]