I'm interested in Ontario history, including our rural heritage. (I volunteer with Ontario Barn Preservation).

Today I found several links about heritage apples, forgotten apple varieties and trees in Ontario, and information about pruning and growing trees from the seeds of the old apples you might find on a road trip here and there.

My Mother and Grandparents talk about the apples they used to have for making pies and wonder where they could still find those now. They don't see them sold in farmer's markets and certainly not in stores any more.

I found a few good links and then this book, by Sher Leetooze, "Identifying Heritage Apples Across Ontario". I bought a copy of the book. I'm hoping it will include greening apples. A variety my Mother mentions every year. She remembers them being the first, early apples available each year. They grow (grew) here in Ontario but we haven't found any yet.

Orchard People

The Kitchen Orchard

The Ontario Heritage and Feral Apple Project

Pick some wild apples this year. You could even try planting some of the old trees seldom seen any more. Give them a chance to get a new start and have apples close at hand when you get into pie making mode.

This is called a dawn redwood tree. In 2015, it was voted as the most unique tree in the Great Toronto Tree Hunt. Unfortunately this is now 404 on the site and I could not find the photographs of the winning, or nominated trees. This is a very strange looking tree. I hope it is still standing and lasts a very long time.

This type of tree has been around from the ages of dinosaurs and it can grow in zone 5 but likes lots of sun and water. I looked for more photographs of this tree. Not all were as red as this. It might depend on the lighting at the time the photograph was taken, or the conditions may have been just right for it where this tree is planted.

Interested in growing one in Ontario? I found a post about growing dawn redwoods, a variety called gold rush, for Ontario gardeners at Canada's Local Gardener magazine: Dawn Redwood.

Near the Children’s Centre and Teaching Garden sits a massive and rare find – a dawn redwood (aka metasequoia), believed to be one of the oldest deciduous conifers in Toronto. It was a winner in the uniqueness category of LEAF’s Great Toronto Tree Hunt, submitted by author Jason Ramsay-Brown. It’s said to have been planted in 1960 on a plot bathed in early-morning sunlight on June 20 each year – the birthday of the wife of the gardener who planted it.

Source: Hidden Toronto: a growing list of the city's best-kept secrets

Rusticity... isn't it just so very... rustic? Don't you love that care worn, old pioneer, rustic look? Things like log cabins, stone houses, tin rooves, enamelware dishes, and cast iron stoves just make me feel so close to nature and history and all the people along the way to here. I love it.

I've got a picture from WebShots on my computer as wallpaper. It's the perfect run down looking log cabin. I look at it every day and wish I was there. Not permanently, just for an afternoon or a few days here and there. After all, I'm a city woman. You can't convert to outdoor nature woman entirely. I'd miss indoor plumbing, the internet and all those other essentials. I am not someone who will be happy camping outdoors. Just thinking of being unprotected from all the hordes of insects makes me start itching. You're laughing? Think black flies and mosquitos. Ughh! They can be entirely too nasty.

Still, I pine for pine. Those rugged looking trees, branches hacked off by the elements yet still they grow so strong and free, stubbornly enduring. I like to see all the wildflowers perk up each Spring. I love seeing the birds that over winter here suddenly thrive on all the new growth - both plant and bug related. It's all great. But, I have to admit I'd prefer a front row seat inside that cosy cabin than out there facing bug life head on.

Don't get the idea that I'm a wimp or don't really love nature. I love to be outside during a storm. Whether it's snow, rain or thunder and lightening, I love to feel the danger of the elements all around me. Driving in it isn't so much fun. I'd much rather park and feel the wind whipping my hair around. Enjoy the cold air turning my breath to smoke and chilling my fingers until I can't feel them any more.

That's how I feel about that old cabin on my computer. It's man made but not so different from those pine trees. Both are enduring the elements, rusticly, keeping their patch of ground.