Oh Apple Trees

We have three trees in our backyard that produce apples. The trees were a part of the natural landscape that existed before my neighborhood was developed and produce the apples known as crab apples. Of the three, one produces many more apples than it's sickly siblings.

Here is a picture of the healthiest tree. Those are some nice looking crab apples.

In case you were wondering, yes, you can eat crab apples. There were crab apple trees behind the elementary school I went to and I ate a few of them. I remember them being sour but not unpleasant. I prefer apples that are more on the tart side anyway.

The appple tree above has baffled us for years. Woodpeckers have done a lot of damage to some of the trees in my yard and this one might be the worst victim. Less than half of it's trunk is still coming out of the ground. And, the part that's remaining looks dead and brittle.

The middle picture shows what I think is saving this tree from collapsing. About four feet up from the base of the ratty trunk a newer, healthier looking branches suddenly emerges. It looks like a new tree grew out of the old one.

On top of that, the whole tree is bent over in an arch shape. The branches are mostly bare but it does produce a fair amount of apples.

We don't eat any of these apples. Eventually, they just fall and litter the ground underneath. That's when nature's cleanup crews make their appearance.

Around here, the most diligent of these workers are the woodchucks. Or, maybe it's just one of them. I don't know. Only one ever shows up at a time, but there has to be more. Right? Multiple times a day you'll see a woodchuck waddling around the yard, stopping only to munch on an impressive amount of apples.

There is no way for me to get close enough to them to get good shots. For this shot I had to use my camera with 70X zoom. This camera sacrifices resolution for range.

For this next shot I tried to use the better camera but, predictably, the woodchuck scurried off once I got too close. I managed to get this right before it disappeared into the reeds.

The woodchucks are not the only ones who help us with our apple problem. Every so often, in the early morning, deer can be spotted having a crab apple breakfast.

The first few times only one deer showed up. Then, it started to bring a second deer around. And, just like with the woodchucks, they would run off as soon as I went outside. So, I tried to get the best images I could.

This first shot was taken from inside of my house through a window. You can see the deer standing under one of the apple trees.

For these next two shots, I was able to get myself outside long enough to get something before they ran off. You can see the one is eyeing me suspiciously while the other is still preoccupied with apple dreams.