A few pictures from around the place

These are Spigold.  They are a very large apple with a well balanced taste and texture.  Dollar included in picture to provide size reference.

Mrs ERJ and I went out and picked her "breakfast apples".  She likes to start the day with apple slices and peanut butter.

I picked up a few Butternuts.  There is a tree next to Playground of Dreams in Eaton Rapids.  Butternuts are widely distributed but they are rarely common.

They are the size and shape of a kiwi.  They are also fuzzy.

Soaking them softens the husks.  I will stratify these guys for seed.  The reflection of the clouds makes the water appear to be viscous as cold gravy.  It is a neat visual effect.

This is a picture of Keepsake apple.  It is one of the parents of Honeycrisp.  It keeps well and is extremely cold hardy...maybe capable of surviving -35F.  That is about 15 degrees lower than what Delicious, Gala or Jonagold can handle.

GoldRush apple is a very heavy bearer and the apples keep all winter long.  Part of the magic of GoldRush is that it ripens so late that it is easy to find a cool place to store them.

This is a seedling Idaho Sweet Burr Oak.  It is very productive.  I removed some leaves to make the acorns more visible.

Mrs ERJ ran across a box of "trumpet" lily bulbs that showed up this week.  She asked me to plant them.  They were a "promo" mix.  That usually means the vendor throws together whatever overproduced.  I planted some of them around one of our younger yard trees.