The best investment I ever made was buying two little Jonathan apple trees 10 years ago to plant in our yard. This year we have an estimated 1000 pounds of juicy, delicious apples. We began harvesting them today, just making a small dent in the crop after canning 60 quarts of the best apple sauce ever (my wife’s recipe – a combination of fine sauce and chunky bits prepared two different ways and blended), and also giving away lots of apples to friends. We’ll give away lots more tomorrow. The apple trees cost $30 each when we bought them – and this year’s harvest is worth nearly $1000. And no store-bought apples I’ve tried taste any better. Best investment ever (though I’m also hopeful that my high-dividend avocado stock will stay in the green — please don’t ask me any questions about the difference between the stock market and gambling unless you have a good explanation yourself to share).
I really appreciate the Church’s recommendation that people do things to become more self-sufficient, things like planting gardens, saving for a rainy day, having a food storage program, working hard, getting all the education we can, staying out of debt and following the requirements for one’s parole. To the extent that we listen to this advice, our lives will be blessed immensely.
Avocado stock??
Um, yes. I’m thinking that the growth stocks I have favored in my 401k will fade as the economy feels the strain of ridiculous levels of deficit spending, hurricanes, and high oil, and that high-dividend stocks will become hot sometime soon. One such avenue I just tried is Calavo Growers, a large producer of avocados with a good track record and a lot of growth potential. You all be sure to use lots of guacomole!
Well, frankly, I enjoy discussing some of the “things of the world” like investment strategies – not really appropriate on this blog, though. Sorry about that. Investing in avocados sounds really off the wall, I admit – but I like the idea. And I love avocados! One of the foods that Book of Mormon peoples probably used.
500 pounds per apple tree?
Jeff, we had an apple orchard, and though we never sprayed or really cared for the trees, 500 pounds per tree is amazing.
Did you tithe that in raw apples or in apple sauce? 🙂
This is the time of year you have to keep your car doors locked at church. Otherwise, you’ll return to find your back seat filled with squash. 🙂
Why do you feel compelled to ascribe common sense that is applied by millions, if not billions, around the globe, to the Church? You’re not self-sufficient; you are easily controlled by a church that is more interested in its controlling rather than its ministering. Like a child, indeed.
Sure it’s common sense, James. Sorry that ruffled your feathers so much. I did not say that the Church’s healthy advice for it’s members is proof of supernatural knowledge or proof that we are the only true church – come on. It was just a little comment after sharing a personal note.
On the other hand, for something that is just obvious common sense, it’s amazing how odd Mormons seem to the world for their practice of having a year’s supply of food. We’ve even been told by other Christians that it somehow shows a lack of faith in God, as if we don’t trust God to take care of us in the future. And how often do you hear other ministers harping on the common-sense and even Biblical concepts of staying out of debt, becoming self-sufficient, getting all the education we can, and preparing for long-term hardships? How many other churches have the equivalent of bishop’s storehouses that are ready to start shipping supplies to disaster areas long before state and federal agencies take action? Some do, but is this really so common? The Church’s welfare system after all these years still stands out as something unusual.
Staying out of debt is common sense, but one of the most uncommon varieties. The average savings rate in this nation is NEGATIVE – people are getting more into debt and have on the average nothing saved. What are our fellow Christian ministers doing about this?
Sexual morality is common sense. Not living together before marriage is common sense advocated by many pundits. But thank God we have a living prophet that can really teach the people the importance of this divine principle – and how sad that so few religions of our day teach their people God’s laws. Some do, but it’s incredible how many ministers wink at living together, and do not take any action to stop such immorality.
And James, what’s this about being controlled by the Church? I choose to listen to most of what the Church says – and am a slacker in other areas. But nobody is controlling me. And those who disagree with the Church or want out just leave or quit coming. Who’s been feeding you this stuff about an all-powerful controlling Church?
Step back and ask yourself why you had this extreme reaction to an innocent little comment about the Church. Maybe some thought control has been going on – I’d be careful about whoever has been trying to manipulate you to despise the Church this way.
Yes, I think we’re getting about 500 pounds per tree. It’s amazing how many apples there are. One branch was so heavy that it broke off in a storm recently, and all the branches were drooping – even though I took off about 1/3 of the apples earlier this year when they were tiny.
I did spray twice – last year about 2/3 of the crop was lost from insects, and the apples were smaller. This year, only about 1% of the crop had insect damage.
Jeffs best friend also has two apple trees. His best friends crop failed—-completely.
You would think he would shared 1/2 of his gain with his best friend.
Just teasing on that last one Jeff.
It is amazing how a little work can go a long way. And apple trees take up very little space.
I smell a parody in the works about taxes and tithing on backyard garden and agricultural gains.
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We fill two very large pans with apples and little water. One contains peeled, cored, sliced apples made using a commercial apple peeler (spiral slices). The other pan contains whole apples cut into quarters. That pot is boiled until the quarters are soft. The other one is brough to a boil and allowed to simmer a couple minutes. The quartered apples are then put through an applesauce maker (ground and extruded through a fine mesh screen, while all the real solid stuff goes out the end and is separated and discarded). The fine sauce is then mixed with about 1/3 or so of the chunks from the peeled, cored apple slices. Sugar and cinnamon are added. This results in chunky applesauce with a slight pink color (sometimes) and a
wonderful flavor.