Reblogged from Tallis Steelyard:

It has to be said that I’m rather partial to a nice crisp apple. The area around Port Naain is quite good from them, northerly but not too northerly, and the weather is quite bracing which apparently blows all the pests away. Or so I am reliably informed by those who claim to know.

As you can imagine there are a lot of orchards scattered about and many houses will have a tree or two in their garden. But I know of only one fortune built on apples. This is the business run by three consecutive generations of the Mistresses Garon. (Note that although all these ladies have married, they retained the family name.) The first Mistress Garon inherited the orchard, and took it in hand, planted a lot of new trees and generally got it running properly. The second Mistress Garon, presented with an orchard that was running as smoothly as a well oiled watch, concentrated on selling the apples more profitably. She it was who started supplying apple sauce to butchers, and experimented with apple juice which she sold to some of the more prestigious restaurants.

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