At 10/19/2008 11:33 PM, Mike Miller wrote: >He tells me that he loves Jonathan apples and he wants to buy some. Another idea: Take him to the U of M fruit farm, ~25(?) miles SW of Minneapolis, across from the Arboretum on MN Hwy 5 I think, near the town/development of Jonathan. Back in the sixties, when I was a wee lad, a high point of the season was my family's pilgrimage to the fruit farm for their fall open house. Back then they used to take visitors on hayrides through the orchards, and I was especially fascinated by the sorting machinery in the big barn -- they'd dump onto a conveyor belt at one end, and over a distance of maybe 20 yards the spinning rubber wheels would kick out different sizes into side trays. It's been decades since my last visit, so I'm not sure how much of any that nostalgia survives, but I'm 95% sure they still sell their apples/pears/whatnot at a small store on site. The U is renowned, I believe, among apple cognoscenti for having developed several varieties of apples suitable for growing in northern climes -- in fact, one of them (I think) is the Jonathan. Somewhere on the grounds, if I recall, is the original honey crisp tree, still alive. They grow all sorts of experimental and not-safe-for supermarket varieties -- supermarkets want long shelf life and rugged bruise resistance -- some of which are ultra yummy and unavailable anywhere else. Anyway: set him up on a cook's tour with one of the agronomists out there, and RMS will experience the closest thing to apple heaven this side of the Gulf of Mexico!