A Year of Blogging: March 18, 2011

March 18 is Johnny Appleseed Day. Although I've also read it was March 11. He died on March 18, 1845, so we'll celebrate it today. He is credited with introducing apple trees to Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. These states were still wilderness in his time. I imagine him walking, introducing this foreign fruit to the natives and pioneers. After all, you couldn't just walk into Kroger and pick from a large selection of apples from all over the world! I love apples. They are a big part of living in the Northeast. Apples mean fall. Or maybe fall means apples. When I moved to Ohio, I had to find an orchard. The first orchard we found has since gone out of business. It was a small family orchard, and we had a couple of years of very dry summers followed by a hurricane in 2008. What the drought didn't kill, the hurricane did. I was very sad to see them go. I found another orchard closer to home, and we've been going there for a couple of years. It is more of a touristy place- getting people from Cincinnati who's only farm experience is walking into this barn, or seeing the goats in the children's area. But they do grow the apples, and it is a nice place. And they have the best apple cider donuts! So thank you, Johnny Appleseed, for walking through Ohio. Perhaps some of your roots are still here! On a humorous note- today is also Goddess of Fertility Day. I would like to ask her to stay FAR away from me!