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My amazing Kerr apple-crab tree

Singing Gardener: Plus a useful breathing technique to help you sleep

Published: February 10, 2023

Delicious fresh apples picked in late September 2022 from the same Kerr apple-crab tree that has produced a bountiful crop annually for more than 30 years. If trees could talk, what memories and stories they could tell.


If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, then it sounds reasonable that two apples a day are even better. Yes — apples are on the agenda of words today and I’ll tell you about my amazing Kerr apple-crab tree.

While I was a youth at home, it was common for friends or neighbours to drop by on the day of rest after a drive in the country. One of my duties was to catch a roasting chicken for Sunday dinner using a gaf. So, what is a gaf? The word has more than one meaning and in this instance it’s a long sturdy wooden pole with a curved metal hook at the end for grabbing onto a chicken’s leg. If you’re from a rural area or raise chickens, you’ll know the rest of the story. 

Yes, you can catch a cold merely from feeling cold, getting the chills or shivering for too long while outdoors. My gramma and mother often said that very same thing. For too long it was called an old wives’ tale, but now it turns out that grandmothers and mothers were right all along. A new study from The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology agrees with such wisdom, leaving naysayers wrong. The research showed a newly discovered immune response inside the human nose can actually trigger a respiratory illness like the common cold and flu. The research also showed the nose uses the same immune response to defend against viral threats. 

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I recall an at-home remedy my mother made when I was a young 12-year-old gaffer with cold feet and a runny nose after being out on the backyard ice skating rink too long. She would stir a tablespoonful of dry mustard powder and about 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar into a big bucket of quite warm water for my feet to soak in until my body warmed. I passed that tip on to a close friend who did a lot of swimming. He later told me the same foot soak remedy was a good way to keep athlete’s foot between his toes under control. 

So, what’s a gaffer? ’Tis said to be a person who likes to tell secrets, gags or jokes, or a foreman of a gang of workmen. Well, I was never a foreman, but it sounds like I got off to an early start in life after puberty to become a rustic, storyteller and a gardening kind of fellow, among other things. I have some other basic and long-established cold and flu remedies for another day, but a breathing technique worth learning shall follow further along.

[MORE: ‘Singing Gardener’ with Ted Meseyton]

Let’s all remember to stand proud and sing “O Canada” loud and clear whenever attending functions that include the singing of our national anthem. I’m as proud as punch to tip my hat and say welcome to my audience of Grainews readers with a parade of words. Proud as punch is an expression derived from the traditional English puppet show called Punch and Judy that left audiences with feelings of happiness, pleasure, pride and satisfaction. Well, I’m proud to have you with me and provide some good information here too.

Canadians grow a lot of apples and small tree fruit orchards are popping up here and all over, but there’s always room for more. We’re hearing a lot about gut health these days, and a recent study points to apples’ ability to significantly improve, change and transform gut microbial activity for the better. Healthy gut flora is a key part of our overall health because it affects the entire body. Note that I’m also including myself.

It used to be “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.” Now research specialists are saying two apples a day are even better. In light of an increasing awareness of the connection of apples to gut health and overall human wellness, let’s shout it out not only to the rooftops but to everyone who hasn’t yet planted apple trees. Apples have superfood status! Believe it or not, just days before Christmas I got a call from a first-time but keen apple grower wondering whether he did the right things while planting an apple tree last fall.

My Kerr apple-crab tree (Malus)

This type of tree is actually a fire blight-resistant old-timer, having been introduced way back in 1952 by the Morden Research Station in Manitoba. That’s half a century ago, and the one Kerr tree of mine in particular has done marvels for me. It has flowered and produced abundant crops non-stop annually for over 30 years now. Thousands of Kerr blossoms attract bees and pollinating insects of all sundries by the hundreds. Such essential creatures of nature are most welcome doing their duty and at no cost. In fact, I don’t know what I’d do without them, or any other fruit pollinator.

Each spring I always think of that song “When It’s Apple Blossom Time in Annapolis Valley” while taking in the scent of my Kerr tree. No wonder I love and thank that Kerr tree, and I tell it so. Kerr apple-crabs are all purpose too — ideal for canning whole in jars, making jelly, apple crisp and the most wonderful tasting, natural, pink-coloured apple-crabs juice. You might be lucky enough to buy some at a farmer’s market unless you make your own.

I also appreciate Kerr’s lateness of maturity. When most other apple varieties are finished, Kerr apple-crabs take on a crimson, almost black coloured appearance after a few cool nights or even after a light frost or two at end of September and into October. But what takes the cake is eating them fresh out of hand. Bite into one Kerr apple-crab and you want another and a third and fourth as the tasty flesh and oh-so-sweet juice squirts on your face. Under ideal storage conditions they’ll keep fresh a considerable while too. Inquire at your nearest nursery or garden centre for a Kerr apple-crab tree or do a Google search for Canadian nurseries that sell them. In closing this section, I’ll just mention that apple slices (any variety) and red cabbage make a great combo sauerkraut and are also very good for the tummy and digestion. 

The 4-7-8 breathing technique

This may well help some Grainews readers as it certainly puts me to sleep fast when I’m in bed lying on my side. If you’re too stressed out to enter slumberland, here’s the same pathway to sleep I use instead of taking melatonin or counting sheep backward from 100 to one. Take time to diligently learn the 4-7-8 breathing technique and see what happens, as it comes naturally very quickly. It was popularized by Andrew Weil, a medical doctor, and is based on pranayama, the yogic practice of breath control. A lot of people struggle to fall asleep because their mind is racing. This exercise gives the practitioner an opportunity to settle down and be at peace, something we all need more of before going to bed. Here are instructions to follow for conscious regulation of breath and happy thoughts. Use a counting pace that’s right for you.

Let’s begin. Place the tip of your tongue behind your upper front teeth and keep it there during the entire process. Doing so will help you make a whoosh sound when you exhale air through your mouth and around your tongue. Let’s try it. Breathe in through your nose to the count of four mentally, then hold your breath to the count of seven and finally exhale through your mouth to the count of eight. Don’t rush it. I’ll repeat it one more time. Begin by inhaling through your nose to a mental count of four, then stop and hold your breath for a count of seven and finally exhale through your mouth with a whoosh sound to a count of eight. Do this methodically without rushing, three times in succession. Close your eyes and drift off to sleep in 10 minutes. This breathing exercise is a natural tranquilizer for the nervous system. That’s it but one word of caution. This technique may not act as fast if you go to bed with a stomach filled with heavy food. I wish you sweet dreams.

About the author

Ted Meseyton

Ted Meseyton

Columnist

This is Ted Meseyton the Singing Gardener and Grow-It Poet from Portage la Prairie, Man. I salute all gardeners and farmers who help make our world a little safer and more ecologically balanced, and who toil to provide health-giving produce to others who cannot produce their own. It takes all sorts to make a world. One half of the world doesn’t know how the other half lives. The best physicians are Dr. Diet, Dr. Quiet and Dr. Merryman.

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