Happy National Apple Month!

Time to wrap your lips around apple pie, crumble, crisp, pandowdy, buckle, slump, cobbler and dumpling. Inhale the heavenly fragrance of cinnamon and nutmeg. Sip some warm cider. When it comes to apples, they can’t be beat for variety and versatility.

What’s your favorite type of apple? I’m partial to Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, and Granny Smith because they’re pretty much available year round. Have you ever wondered whether Granny Smith was a real person?

I recently found out in this crunchy picture book biography, Granny Smith Was Not An Apple: The Story of Orchardist Maria Ann Smith by Sarah Glenn Fortson and Kris Aro McLeod (Peter Pauper Press, 2023).

Back in the 1800’s, Maria Ann Smith, an English “tough to the core” itinerant worker and orchardist, struggled to find work when manual laborers were being replaced with faster, more efficient farm equipment.

Since she and her husband could barely support their family, Maria Ann helped deliver babies in her village (historically, midwives were called ‘Granny’). She received payment in the form of food and clothing, then eventually worked in an apple orchard, where she learned about grafting and harvesting.

One day, two foreign agents arrived at the orchard looking for experienced laborers to work in Australia with a free voyage. Ignoring her neighbors’ warnings not to go, Maria and her family boarded the ship to Australia, enduring the arduous 4-month journey during which her five children fell ill. Maria kept her spirits up by thinking about a better life.

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