Welcome Back by Lin Stepp

Author:Lin Stepp [Stepp, Lin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2016-01-11T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 12

The week flew by, and John had little time with Lydia before Friday. A storm blasted through the area that they needed to clean up from, and June drop started in the orchard.

“What’s June drop?” Bucky asked, as he and Billy Dale followed John and Sam around the orchard.

John smiled at the twins. “It’s a natural phenomenon, when apple trees begin to drop some of their young fruit as the new fruit is being formed.”

“Can you make it quit?” Billy Ray stopped to pick up a handful of small ripening apples that had fallen from a Jonagold tree.

John stifled a laugh. “Actually, June drop is good for the trees. In fact, we’re going to help the thinning process today by removing more of the overload of apples forming.”

The boy frowned up into the tree. “But wouldn’t you always want all the apples you could get?”

“Not if it overtaxes the tree.” John put his hand on Billy Ray’s shoulder. “We experienced a heavy flowering spring, and so the trees are creating more fruit than they need to. In a natural way, the trees drop some of the fruit they don’t need in June, usually the inferior apples. Too much fruit would strain the trees’ resources and make the branches weigh too much later on.”

“Is that why you told Sam you’re gonna thin more off of the trees today?” Bucky asked.

“That’s right.” He reached up to pick a young, ripening apple to examine it. “We often need to go through all the orchards to help the thinning process. It makes for a stronger, healthier crop of apples.”

“Can we help thin?” Bucky’s eyes lit up as he asked.

John glanced at Sam, who nodded.

“Sure. We could use some extra help.” John smiled at the boy.

“Me and Billy Ray are going to run your orchard one day when you get old. Is that okay?” Bucky slipped a hand into his.

“Yeah, Sam’s daddy, Grandpa Sheppard, said you’d need someone since your own boys are doing other stuff.” Billy Ray crowded against his other side affectionately. “Do you think you could teach us all the stuff we need to know?”

John found it hard to answer around the lump in his throat.

Sam ruffled Billy Ray’s hair, answering for him. “I think we can teach two smart little boys like you to be fine orchard farmers.” He grinned at the boys. “But maybe I’d better give you a little quiz to see what you know.” He paused for emphasis. “First question: Billy Ray, what are the two varieties of apples that Cunningham Farm created on its own from grafting and experimenting?”

“The Cunningham Red and the Cunning Sweet,” Billy Ray recited, pleased to know the answer.

“Pretty good.” Sam turned to Bucky. “How about you telling me a couple of the farm’s earliest fruiting apples?”

Bucky wrinkled his nose in thought. “The Early Joe, the Parmer, and the Lodi—that last one’s a yellow apple.”

“The Pink Pearl comes early, too,” Billy Ray put in. “Ela and Mama like it because the insides are pink and it makes pink applesauce.

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