Apples apples apples

Yes, I lived in the Zanesville, Ohio area at one time and dated a girl who came from Coshocton, Ohio. She took me to her hometown which was once a large terminal on the Erie Canal and that part of the town was restored as Roscoe Village Heritage center.

There was a Canal Boat that had been built by "canal historians" there that you could board and be towed along the canal. There are kayakers using the canals today for sports and recreation. Some of these recently built canal boats are used for towing tourist out and back on open stretches of the canal. A lot of fishermen fish the canals too.

Roscoe Village in Coshocton, Ohio

Waverly, Ohio was another large terminal on the canal too. When driving to Columbus (state capital) north on S Rt 23 thru Waverly you are driving right over the old canal channel. The Post Office there has this old WPA era mural painted on one of it's walls. You notice the red brick building with the wooden outdoor stair case on the side of it ? It is still there. (or was the last time I went thru there)




Waverly, Ohio Canal Park

But all across Ohio there are ruins of the Erie and the Miami canal. In New York there are similar. Some segments of these canals have been restored for historic value and tourism.

The lower part of the Ohio Erie Canal was prone to flooding. Farmers and timber businessmen clear cropped a lot of trees and there was nothing to help stop the big floods after the Civil War. So by 1913 the last huge flood thru that area nearly destroyed that end of the canal. Had it not been for this unchecked agricultural practice.....Portsmouth, Ohio may have become as large as Cleveland, Ohio today. The last huge flood was in 1937. Since then the Corp of Engineers has worked to build lakes along side the rivers to serve as catch basins for water run off. They have spillways so that they can release the water they fill up with once the rivers begin to return to their normal levels.

Some ask how canal boats got from the New York Erie Canal at Buffalo, NY to the Ohio Erie Canal at Cleveland, Oh. Well, steam boats (tugs) were built to ply Lake Ontario and Lake Erie so that groups of canal boats could be tied together as floatillas and towed across those stretches of the Great Lakes to get back and forth. With the help of these tugs the canal boats could be towed across those parts of the Great Lakes just a few days. So that within 13 days or so one could travel from Albany, NY to Portsmouth, Oh.

As a final post on this thread, and the movement of apples and other agricultural goods thru our early America I'd mention the Canadian contribution to enable the Canals to be much more effective. It was to their benefit to join in the canal building industry as well with their cooperative spirit.
The Canadians offered the missing link to our canal system.

Niagara Falls was a steep declining area to attempt to build a canal bypass around it from the American side of Lake Ontario. But the Canadians were willing to build on their Canadian soil the Welland Canal which was 27 miles long with 8 sets of Locks to better enable navigation between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. Their contribution brought the American Canal system to a much better state of operation. Certainly it benefited them commercially but they also went on to built steam boats that could tow canal boats about Lake Ontario as well.

The Canadian PS Frontenac was a side paddle wheel steam boat that could travel at 10 mph. It was constructed in Earnesttown, Ontario in 1816. A year later the Ontario was built on the American side of Lake Ontario. Following it were more like the Ontario, built for a fleet owned by an American shipping company.



1816 Canadian Steam Boat PS Frontenac on Lake Ontario


American Steam Boat "Ontario" 1817 built at Sackets Harbor in New York City.
It sailed from there to Lake Ontario for freight & passenger service.


On Lake Erie the first steam boat that towed canal boats was the Walk-In-The -Water.



1818 American Steam Boat Walk-In-The-Water was built to serve on Lake Erie, Lake Huron, and Lake Michigan as canals connected all of them.

The Walk-In-The-Water was a slower boat that traveled at 8 mph.

An artist painting depicting Steam Boats towing a flotilla of canal boats across the Great Lakes. Canal boats w.eren't powered as they were more like barges, so they had to be towed





This map shows the Welland Canal that the Canadians built and the miles between Buffalo, NY to Cleveland, Oh and on to Toledo, Oh. This canal was constructed roughly five miles west of the Niagara River & falls.



In the time of the Welland Canal about 40 million tonnes (88 billion pounds) of cargo per year, including iron ore, wheat, corn, soybeans, bituminous coal, and manufactured iron, steel, and cement passed thru it.

Travel on water was much more efficient and faster than over land then. Steam Boats could travel 100 miles a day (even 150) where wagons or stage coaches could only travel 7 to 12 miles a day in the early 1800's. This is how the Erie Canals reduced shipping cost up to 90% and helped to build America's westward movement.

By the 1850's Railroads began to be built.

In this time the first apple that was a commercial success for shipping was the Ben Davis apple. The rapid transport of the canal system undoubtedly prompted it's success. All of my life I've heard old folks talk of Ben Davis apples and wondered why.

All because I had so many apples
I find it fascinating how some things bring up other things and where the conversations go along from there. The whole history lesson (I like History lessons).
I like to find spots that have a bit of history to study. So far I have been on the trail with Louis and Clark and I have walked cannery row from Steinbeck's books And I drove on a part of the wagon train road in Calif. and I walked around some pueblos in Arizona also the old before really badly touristy the Ok corral. I have walked the fort in Sacramento and ground acorns and corn in the old family ranch flint field, chipped arrow heads (badly). Several Missions in Calif. are fun and were part of our school field trips. As well as a trip to old court houses and jails (Dad liked those). The light house George Washington commissioned, and the old fort Knox was fun.
The trail road is well known for ghosts. Just thought I'd put that out there. But ask me if I ever got good grades in history, nope! I like to read good bio books.

Interesting are some of the things you mention here vanbrat. I read "Cannery Row" way back in school days and later "Undaunted Courage" (story of Lewis & Clark expedition) by Stephen Ambrose in 2004. For those who travel in our rigs there is a lot to see and learn about in America. Especially for the families who are home schooling to be able to visit sites of historical interest and connect the dots as to how they have made possible the quality of life we enjoy today. Whether it be food items (such as apples) or to gain deeper understandings of what made America Great.......beyond just those words cast about by politicians seeking votes.

Where I live here in Appalachia there is lots of Limestone and where that mineral exist you will find lots of Flint. So if flintknapping appeals to you find an area near you that has lots of deposits of Limestone.

As far as grades in school, some kids learn easy and make A's easy. (withing a few weeks they forget anything about what they studied) I once had a professor who explained how he had Summa Cum Lade students in his class who the next year passed by him without even being able to remember who he was when he spoke. Yet kids who struggled to make C's would happily greet him years later and discuss with him the things they studied in class. This is the frustration so many Teachers have when trying to explain to parents that grades don't matter that much.....when those parents are obsessed with their kids grades instead of their learning anything....especially how to think for themselves.

It sounds like you've done well for yourself vanbrat

eDJ_ said:

Interesting are some of the things you mention here vanbrat. I read "Cannery Row" way back in school days and later "Undaunted Courage" (story of Lewis & Clark expedition) by Stephen Ambrose in 2004. For those who travel in our rigs there is a lot to see and learn about in America. Especially for the families who are home schooling to be able to visit sites of historical interest and connect the dots as to how they have made possible the quality of life we enjoy today. Whether it be food items (such as apples) or to gain deeper understandings of what made America Great.......beyond just those words cast about by politicians seeking votes.

Where I live here in Appalachia there is lots of Limestone and where that mineral exist you will find lots of Flint. So if flintknapping appeals to you find an area near you that has lots of deposits of Limestone.

As far as grades in school, some kids learn easy and make A's easy. (withing a few weeks they forget anything about what they studied) I once had a professor who explained how he had Summa Cum Lade students in his class who the next year passed by him without even being able to remember who he was when he spoke. Yet kids who struggled to make C's would happily greet him years later and discuss with him the things they studied in class. This is the frustration so many Teachers have when trying to explain to parents that grades don't matter that much.....when those parents are obsessed with their kids grades instead of their learning anything....especially how to think for themselves.

It sounds like you've done well for yourself vanbrat

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I have 2 kids who didn't do good grades but both are kids/adults that if I needed to be stuck on a deserted island, they would be my first choice to be stranded with and not just because they are my kids. They don't hesitate at hard work they know how to go from raw junk to something useful and even pretty. They know how to solve problems. (Can you tell I am proud of my sons)

I have kids I have had in my preschool class come up to me in the store and give me hugs. Weird sometimes but ok. My job is not to teach kids anything except to love to learn, that learning is fun and mistakes are good for rethinking things, and they are always capable, and just because this is hard for you and it is easy for him that doesn't mean anything. There are lots of ways to be "smart". Everyone is good at something. Sometimes it is just not here yet. oh yea and now that I am an ol' fart they are starting to bring their kids around and into class.

I am on my 3rd generation of apple pressing this year I had a lady who was in my first class at this center as a teacher intern and her son had his kid come to apple pressing.

^^^ vanbrat wtote:

My job is not to teach kids anything except to love to learn, that learning is fun and mistakes are good for rethinking things, and they are always capable, and just because this is hard for you and it is easy for him that doesn't mean anything. There are lots of ways to be "smart". Everyone is good at something. Sometimes it is just not here yet.
________________________________


If you can impress on kids the joy and importance of learning at a young age, that's a lot of the battle. So often kids hear "grades, grades, grades" and compare themselves to "the smartest kid in the class". And that isn't healthy.
Old school types still hold to notions that "it ain't a fair world and those kids have to knuckle down and work hard and learn to compete". But as we've learned more about the development of the brain we've found that kids brains aren't fully formed when they enter school. That isn't even finished until they are out of school.

The Prefrontal Cortex is the late comer to the brain's development. It's why so many companies and corporations refrain from hiring those under 25 years of age. A lot of the mischief and troubles kids get into comes at a time before their prefrontal cortex has developed. A lot of veteran teachers have seen this trauma play out between teens and parents and notice that there a few who elect not to rush right into marriage and having kids right out of school Often they weren't thought to have been the smartest in class. But again, intelligence takes many forms.

As we labor this apples thread one can see that there is a lot more to "things" than meets the eye. How often do kids in school get encouraged to investigate
how the apples they see in the grocery store got there....or even into their lunch box. That's the underwater part of the iceberg that is learning.


About the Prefrontal Cortex:

The prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for planning, decision making, and other executive functions, is usually fully developed by age 25:

• Development
  The prefrontal cortex is one of the last parts of the brain to mature, and its development primarily occurs during adolescence.
• 
  
  
• Brain scans
  Different parts of the brain mature at different rates, and brain scans show that the prefrontal cortex doesn't fully mature until around age 24.
  
  
• 
  
  
• Brain remodeling
  The brain's remodeling process speeds up during the teenage years, peaking between ages 13–15.
  
  
• 
  
• Cognitive functions
  Higher cognitive functions like language and intelligence continue to develop into the third decade of life.

The prefrontal cortex connects all parts of the brain, including those associated with emotion and impulses. This allows for better involvement of all areas of the brain in planning and problem-solving.

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This is an image of Lock 1 the entrance to the Ohio Erie Canal at Cleveland facing out towards Lake Erie. It is pretty well preserved and the tourist center has working models of how the canal worked. Well worth visiting for Nomads looking for interesting places.



Apples grown in Ohio would leave here to points east as far as New York City.
Cuyahoga National Park in Cleveland has the entrance to the Erie Canal in fairly well restored condition.

On the other hand Portsmouth, Ohio's Lock 146 at the Ohio River doesn't fare so well. It is a ruin that reminds local people of what their town could have been. (much like Cleveland) But this area along the Ohio river was once a hardwood capital of the world and the ease of clear cropping timber in the Scioto Valley led to the wash out of the Erie Canal that ran thru it. Timber harvested here was purchased by ship builders and other wood working industries.

This is the greatest thread!

This is what being a van nomad means to me. Even if I'm not full timing. But to go and see these kinds of things that exist in each state rather than just wander aimlessly from one Walmart, Cracker Barrel, free State or Fed campground just to sit around campfires in the evenings chatting with whomever about things of little interest to me. There is a life to be had out there on the road and I've proven it to myself in my own travels.

Anyone can google and find loads of list of things to see & do in each state. One can always fall back on chatting around the campfire, fishing, hiking, campfire cooking, attending outdoor theater where stories of the area are portrayed, or swimming & sunbathing at the beach if the park has a lake that makes it possible.

This is why today I subscribe to the 2-2-2 system of traveling the country, rather than driving hours at a time between point A & B burning thru my fuel money and wearing out my rig. A nomad can take it easy and see & experience so much more that way.

With a few keystrokes I found this on Google.....and there was loads more:

Epic Bucket List: 150 things to do in every state

The Captain's Log board (in the Share Your Story Category of this Forum) is a great place to blog about your travels:

Captain's Log

So if you are a new nomad, consider reading the Captain's log and interacting there to see......what you could be seeing. Then when sitting around the campfire with others in the evenings.....you may have some travel stories to share too.

If you take lots of photos of the places you visit with your Cell Phone, consider installing an app that will have your Cell being able to work like a digital projector. Thus you could rig a projection screen with a white bed sheet and share your stories while offering a slide show.

Top apps that convert your phone into a projector

USHHHH I thought I had delt with the last of the apples and hubby just brought in another bucket full! The trees out did themselves this year! Ok more pie.

LOL, so what have you done with those apples by now vanbrat ?

It's a frosty cold winter morning here and the snow is blowing. I just finished a bowl of oatmeal and am getting to prep some stewed apples and bake some biscuits.

Then cook some rice and a can of Tomatoes-Okra-Corn seasoned up with sliced smoked sausage atop the rice and dusted with some Parmesan cheese.

So far this year I have in my freezer... 10+/- gallons of sauce, 4-5 gallons of pie filling. 4 gallons of cider left. 20 + went to friends and neighbors. I have 3 batches of fruit leather. I have not made as much fritters or pie or strudel this year but still time, 10 or so applesauce cakes. Some still frozen for instant friend foods and gifts that I can pull out quickly. I have had apples in grilled cheese sandwiches and in all my salads and oatmeal for Mom. I have added apples to every lunch for work and take it up to mom whenever I visit. I have not made any apple chips just to frickin' busy this year. This last bucket of apples is still sittin' on the counter. I am appled out! I want to make some apple sausage stuffing. Maybe for the Christmas turkey.... If I stay out of the funny farm that long.

Here are the apples I found at the grocery store. Have no idea of the variety.
The flash kind of overexposed the photo.



and stewed ready to eat



After I cut the apples up I put them in the saucepan with some apple juice, salt, and some white sugar to cook/simmer. When they become more transparent (like cooking onions to transparency) I add brown sugar, cinnamon, a bit on nutmeg, and butter until incorporated. Then a shot of Beam's Eight Star Bourbon and a little vanilla extract.....using the Bourbon like an extract. When it is gently bubbling I add a mixture of corn starch and water mixed together and stir until thick.....like in the picture. With hot biscuits on a 25 degree F morning with coffee these are a real comfort.

They look good and yep warm cinnamon apples are supper good on cold days. I have not done that with biscuits yet mostly though that is very similar to the pie filling I make. except I didn't add the bourbon and vanilla. I can add those later now that I have a new idea for the filling. Sounds like it would be good for a Christmas breakfast.

Vanbrat, if you want to make a pie filling with this recipe you may want to use arrowroot powder for the thickener. That way it can be reheated, as in baking it in a pie, and still retain it's thickness.

eDJ_ said:

Vanbrat, if you want to make a pie filling with this recipe you may want to use arrowroot powder for the thickener. That way it can be reheated, as in baking it in a pie, and still retain it's thickness.

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I have not done anything yet with arrow root. Is it anything like xanthium gum? I used that when I was cooking for a kido that could not do wheat or oats or corn.

Arrowroot is used when a recipe stands to be reheated possibly several times. Unlike using cornstarch or flour which will thicken and hold once, an arrowroot thickened dish will stay thick. It would take twice as much arrowroot to thIcken a sauce as it isn't as robust of a thickener as Xanthan gum. (which I've only used a few times)

In the photo of the stewed apples above I just used corn starch as this would be consumed in one meal. Cornstarch makes a clear thickener without imparting a distinctive flavor.
It also produces a glossy eye appealing appearance especially when used in confections.

Where I live I can find Bob's Red Mills brands of some of the more exotic cooking/baking items.



This company also produces Xanthan gum

Reminds me of stocking up on apples at u-pick in the national park near Fruita campground. So many apples get wasted and rot there, its a pity and no bears to eat them, but they are not free, and only somewhat cheap if one gets a lot at once. My rig got stuffed to the gills, they last me months. I eat them raw, apple is a key staple for road life as they store well remaining fresh.

Regarding walmart type of stops, yeah not sure why people do that, all the crazies are in towns, extremely stressful to sleep in a parking lot, as to campgrounds again not my cup of tea. Dirt roads to nowhere is what living it up means to me. I do like 2-2-2 system - 2 hours on highway, 2 hours scouting the dirt roads, on foot too, 2 hours to setup camp lol

twomountainlions said:

Reminds me of stocking up on apples at u-pick in the national park near Fruita campground. So many apples get wasted and rot there, its a pity and no bears to eat them, but they are not free, and only somewhat cheap if one gets a lot at once. My rig got stuffed to the gills, they last me months. I eat them raw, apple is a key staple for road life as they store well remaining fresh.

Regarding walmart type of stops, yeah not sure why people do that, all the crazies are in towns, extremely stressful to sleep in a parking lot, as to campgrounds again not my cup of tea. Dirt roads to nowhere is what living it up means to me. I do like 2-2-2 system - 2 hours on highway, 2 hours scouting the dirt roads, on foot too, 2 hours to setup camp lol

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I always carry fresh apples too. They are so good while reading while walking while picnicking while sewing while painting while driving while playing games and while doing just about anything.
This year the apples where so many that even the food bank had to turn them down...they just ran out of storage space after 200+ lbs were dropped off. My neighbors tried to give them 40-50-pounds but got turned down....

vanbrat said:

I always carry fresh apples too. They are so good while reading while walking while picnicking while sewing while painting while driving while playing games and while doing just about anything.
This year the apples where so many that even the food bank had to turn them down...they just ran out of storage space after 200+ lbs were dropped off. My neighbors tried to give them 40-50-pounds but got turned down....

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I wish, I wish..Im rationing my granny smith apples now, luckily every walmart sells organic apples these days. I really like various rare heirloom apples, unfortunately with my travels I have no access to them, getting a bit tired of fuji and granny smith. Looking forward to having own apple trees, hopefully soon. Nothing is better than having tons of real homegrown or semi-wild apples I can eat them all day any day.