♪♪ -Hi, I'm Allen Smith.

Welcome back to Moss Mountain Farm.

I don't know about you, but trees fascinate me.

Particularly the larger and the older they are.

It's been said that trees are a silent witness to history, and I believe that.

Today I have a friend coming over to take a look at our Big Sister Oak to see how she's doing.

For a treat for our flock of white Dorper sheep, we'll let them out to eat some acorns beneath the great oaks.

They love it.

And I want to show you how I've created a display using some Osage oranges and talk about the rich history of the bodark tree.

Then I want to introduce you to Miss Big Fig, our very old fig tree.

And in the art studio, we'll do some pressed botanicals that will last for decades.

And finally, we'll head into the drying houses for one of my favorite treats, tasting Heritage apples.

And we'll bring them into the kitchen to make a mouthwatering apple brie galette.

So come on, let's get started.

-Funding for "P. Allen Smith's A Sense of Place" is provided in part by... -Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company.

Since 1998.

Growing, saving, and sharing rare heirloom varieties.

Seeds with stories and a sense of place.

Seeds worth saving.

Learn more at rareseeds.com.

-And... -First Community Bank Where community comes first.

♪♪ -From time to time, we allow our flock of white Dorper sheep to come out and enjoy grazing underneath the oak trees.

And it's not the grass they're after, it's the acorns.

It's not good for them to eat a lot of acorns, and it's certainly not good for them to eat green acorns.

But these can be a nutritional supplement this time of year.

You can see they love the little tree.

It's fun to watch them out here.

Now another tree that we use that we feed them and they actually love the flavor of it is the foliage of the eastern red cedar -- Juniperus virginiana.

You can see them growing right over here.

You know, it was once believed it was a really good wormer.

And it can help reduce some intestinal parasites.

But they love it.

But it's fun to give them some of these treats from time to time using the trees here on the farm.

♪♪ My friend Dean Goodson has stopped by to check on our Big Sister Oak.

He's a highly-skilled arborist who helped shore up the tree many years ago.

Dean, I can't believe it's been 12 years -since you've been up here.

-I know.

-Well, you sure helped us out with the old girl.

Sure appreciate what you did.

And what do you think?

-It is one of the most majestic specimens of a post oak tree in this area.

-I think so too, yeah.

-Yes.

-We were having issues because she's so broad.

I mean, I think this tree is almost as wide as it is tall.

-Yeah.

It's a co-dominant tree.

-Right.

-And having these long limbs parallel to the ground, these tend to split, which this one had.

-And you came in and helped us by putting a rod in there.

-Yeah, we put a rod through here to help hold it together and support it.

-Right.

-Because the inside is hollow... -Mm-hmm.

-...where it's been rotting out.

So it holds it together.

We put in a lightning protection system.

These trees are really susceptible to lightning damage.

There's a lot of wet sap in there, which is very conductive to electricity.

It's not uncommon for these trees to be struck by lightning, particularly these really large oak trees.

-You know, one of the fascinating things about trees for me, Dean, is how these limbs defy gravity over the centuries.

And it's because of that tissue right at the base of the trunk.

-The branch collar.

-Yeah.

The strength of these trees is just stunning.

-Now, you can see here where over the years you may have pruned this one up here, but it's so important to prune it at the right place isn't it?

-Yeah.

The cut is very, very important.

You don't want to cut it out too far.

You don't want to cut it to flush.

You want to cut it at the branch collar where the limb meets the trunk of the tree.

And then, as you see, because this one's older, it'll grow over and heal the tree.

-Right, so that upper one is closing.

-It's still closing.

-Right.

You can see the branch collar tissue coming back -over the wound.

-Right.

-And then this one's almost closed.

-It's almost closed.

And given enough time, you won't even really notice it was ever there.

-Yeah.

It's just amazing.

Dean, I appreciate always your advice on these big trees, not only here, but on other projects we've worked on together.

How did you get so interested in trees?

-Well, I -- I got into it about 30 years ago.

-Yeah.

-And I just found that I loved it and I've been doing it for those 30 years and became an arborist, and I feel very fortunate to get to do something I love.

-Of course, I know you feel like I do.

Trees are such special creatures.

-Mm.

-And like this one, I mean, she's our North Star, as I call her.

She's the Big Sister Oak here.

But you know, you see these big trees on projects all the time.

-Yeah, it's an honor because when you think about it, this tree has been here for generations.

-Yeah.

-And it'll continue to be here and to get to be a part of the care for them, they're this living part of nature, it's such a huge contribution in so many ways.

I just really enjoyed it, just really resonates with me.

-I like to think of trees as the silent witnesses to history.

-Yeah.

If they could talk.

-Yeah, yeah.

♪♪ ♪♪ I'm sort of nostalgic about this pear tree, or this variety of pear.

This is a pear that my great grandparents had on their farm.

And you see them on farmsteads all throughout the country.

This is a Kieffer pear.

It's got an interesting history.

It came about as a chance seedling in a garden in Philadelphia about 1863.

And this chance seedling was a cross between a Chinese sand pear, which are very hard, and a Bartlett pear.

And what you ended up with was a disease resistant, tough pear in terms of the tree, but with delicious fruit.

It's a pear that you have to wait until it ripens.

And you can see I'm cutting into it.

I'm picking these a little early, but what I like to do is gather them when they're still firm like this, and you can set them in the kitchen and they'll -- they'll slowly ripen.

But the -- the flesh is really sweet.

Mm.

That's really good.

And these make very good preserves and an outstanding pear cake.

Now, what's curious here is that I'm growing these in an unconventional way.

I'm growing these on an espalier.

You can see that this has a form to it.

And this particular form is called the candelabra.

And you can see the central trunk and you can see the arms of the candelabra, hence its name.

Now where did this come from?

My understanding is that you saw this in monasteries in the 15th, 16th, 17th century, and there's a very practical reason for it.

The idea of planting it against a wall would protect the flower buds in the spring from a late frost, because the stone of the wall would be warm.

And so you had a higher chance of these flower buds forming into fruit.

So if you're looking for an easy pear to grow, I would recommend this Kieffer pear.

♪♪ Fruit trees are a popular subject for espalier.

Now you can apply espalier principles and shapes and designs to just about any plant.

Some work better than others.

These are crabapples and this is a classic form.

We've seen the candelabra, and in this case what we have is the cordon.

This is a two-tier cordon.

So you see the central leader.

And you see then these two horizontal tiers that are going out to the right and left of the plant.

This variety of crabapple is a very good one.

It's called Prairiefire.

It's been around a long time.

You can see the little fruits on it.

Now, this plant is about four years old.

And if you look at this one, this plant is about 5 to 6 years old.

So it takes a while, as you can imagine, to get to this form.

The pears that we saw, gosh, those are probably 18-year-old trees.

But you have to stay on them.

You have to prune them.

It's a little bit like the old adage about children, you know, spare the rod, spoil the child.

If you spare the pruning on these, it'll get out of hand and you'll have nothing but a mess.

But I think they add such a beautiful dimension.

An artistic dimension to a garden.

It's just that little touch, that little bit of magic that it can add to a space.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Well, as you can see, we're in the midst of creating an autumnal display.

And of course, I love to gather things from around this place.

And that's what you see here.

So we have this built up on some wood blocks and then covered with some burlap.

And then this is that marvelous reindeer moss that grows here on the farm as well as this club moss.

So that sort of lays the base.

And then on each end, I've got pumpkins with a pair of turban squash on top.

And then I've brought in some more things here, some of the pumpkins that we've grown that I'll just tuck in here, and some apples.

A backdrop, of course, is this marvelous magnolia.

But I think to me, one of the star performers in here is a curious fruit that you find in this part of the world.

You can see here's one and here's one here.

This is the fruit of the Osage orange.

They're often called hedge apples.

The botanical name is Maclura pomifera , and they are native to this part of the world.

Arkansas, parts of Texas, and Oklahoma.

But if you look very closely at a limb, you'll see these tiny little thorns.

And what this plant was used for in the 19th century was creating hedges.

So you'd break up this fruit, which is full of seed, and they would sow these seed and create hedges, and they would grow up and they had all of these thorns.

They would say about an Osage hedge, hence the name hedge apple, that it was pig tight, horse high, and bull strong.

That's quite a testimony, don't you think?

An added benefit is that they have this marvelous, very subtle, sweet aroma.

I don't know quite how to describe it, but it's very pleasant.

Now, the thing about the tree is that the tree was called, by the French who came here in the 17th century, called the bois d'arc, and it was bastardized to bodark.

So you hear people call this fruit a bodark.

But the Osage orange is what it's really known for because of that Native American tribe and people who were here before the Europeans came, and they actually -- part of their territory was just north of the farm here across the Arkansas River.

And they were a vast people, a big number of people, and they were big people.

For instance, Black Dog, who was painted in 1834 by George Catlin, George Catlin recorded that he was over seven feet tall.

And we keep a picture of him in the back room here, just really a nod to the Native Americans who were here before Europeans came.

Now bringing it back to the tree.

The reason it was called the bois d'arc, or the bodark, translated it is the "bow of the arrow."

And the Osage used this wood to create these amazing bows.

So if you look at the tree and how it grows, you can almost see these arcs of these bows and the limb structure of the tree.

So I've always found it fascinating and just wanted to share this with you because 'tis the season.

The fruit is ripe, the aroma is sweet, and I think it makes a beautiful decoration.

♪♪ ♪♪ Sitting under one's own fig and vine is a symbol of prosperity and peace.

This is a fig tree and this is one of my favorite varieties, probably because I grew up around it.

This is a Celeste fig.

They're called the sugar fig, and you're seeing it here just before cold weather sets in.

And I'm just out here checking it out.

This old girl, we call her Miss Big Fig, has been the centerpiece in the lower terrace garden, Rondell.

Now, she's been here since we came.

In fact, she was here before we came to this place.

And what a great gal she is.

Now, here's the thing.

We had a terrible freeze that came along about three years ago, and I thought we had lost her.

But all from the base and the roots, she sprang up.

And this is what you see.

She's a phoenix.

She's come back, and it's just fantastic.

When we came here, we had a small fruit expert come and look at her size and estimated her age to be well over a hundred years.

So this particular type of fig will live a long time.

Now you ask yourself, what is the hardiness of this plant?

Well, zone 7 is probably the coolest, down to zone 10 where it's warmer.

The beauty of the Celeste or the sugar fig is that it will take drought and really hot temperatures and does very, very well.

I think the anatomy of fig trees is really quite extraordinary.

The leaves, of course, are beautiful, but you can see these little figs here late in the season, these aren't going to produce anything.

So we'll just take those off.

But you can see right here where the leaf comes in here you can see these tiny little buds.

And those are the figs for next year.

I think many of us who live in the South have a love affair with figs.

I grew up eating fig preserves.

My great grandmother had an enormous fig tree in her back garden.

And so it's kind of a sentimental tree for me.

And I think that the leaves are so beautiful.

If you could have seen this mound of foliage just a month ago, you wouldn't believe it.

And the leaves, I think, are so beautiful just in their own right.

♪♪ I think the leaves of plants are often so beautiful.

In some cases, they're more beautiful than other parts of the plant, like the flowers.

I want to show you something that I did.

If you open up this newsprint, you can see I've pressed these amazing figs and they've been in here for about, oh, 30 days or so, and they're beginning to turn.

Look how flat they are.

And just by taking a newsprint pad like this and stacking books on it, they'll get flatter and flatter and they'll change a beautiful color.

If you take a look behind me, I've pulled this one out for you to see, is the one I did 20 years ago when we first came to this place.

Those are some leaves off this big fig.

And they've held up beautifully.

What I did was actually a total of six of these compositions.

So this is just one of six.

And what I love about other than just the shape of the fig leaf, is the color.

It's that beautiful sort of soft golden hue.

And I did other plants as well.

I did three different types of fern and then some other broad leaf plants like plume poppy that press really well.

And I just hung them up here in the studio.

They're so good looking.

You know, you could use them really in a very formal setting or in a, you know, a setting like this, which is very relaxed and casual.

But there's just nothing quite like what nature produces with these gorgeous leaves.

And you can just look at the anatomy of them just absolutely splendid creatures.

And this is a wonderful way to preserve them and enjoy them.

♪♪ ♪♪ I love diversity, and diversity in food is so, so important.

It's just staggering to me.

There's so few varieties of so many things available to us because they're not commercially viable anymore.

For instance, if you take apples, they reckon 30,000 varieties of apples, maybe worldwide.

Probably 20 to 40 in commercial production.

I mean, how many can you name?

You've got Granny Smith, Red Delicious, Yellow Delicious, gala.

Uh, maybe a Honeycrisp.

Kind of stops there.

But there's so many gorgeous varieties of apples, and the late summer and fall is the perfect time to really sample the apples.

I want to tell you a story.

When I was in graduate school in England, I had an amazing meal with friends in Oxford, and the dessert course was all these apples that they brought and laid out on the table.

They knew the variety because they had like 12 varieties of apples in their small orchard.

And what we did there was a little bit of chocolate, a little bit of caramel, but it was all apples.

And everybody had a knife, and we passed the apples around and we tasted them and tasted them and tasted them and remarked about the flavor, the aroma of each one of those fruits.

And it was unbelievable how each one of them had a subtly different, nuanced flavor.

And I thought, why don't we have these apples?

And you think about the genetic diversity that comes with them.

What if something happened?

Some kind of virus destroyed the commercial crops.

We need to go back to these varieties and bring it to the forefront again.

You know, this is a beautiful one called an Oxford Black.

And it reminds me a lot of one from here, the Arkansas Black.

And like the Arkansas Black, this particular apple is very good for keeping.

It's a good keeping apple.

You can store it and it'll last until spring.

The flavor of it, I think, is the most important thing.

And I do like the flavor.

Very good.

And very crisp.

Apples are known for different things, some eating fresh, some storing like the Oxford Black.

This is a Northern spy.

Northern Spy rhymes with pie.

James Fenimore Cooper wrote a book called "The Spy."

This apple's named after it.

It's a very good pie apple.

And if you could just smell the aroma of it, distinctly different from the Oxford Black.

So just sampling these, you think, gosh, apple flavor.

We just think of apple flavor.

There's not one apple flavor.

There are a lot of apple flavors.

And that's what we're missing out on.

That's why this diversity is so important.

Take a look at this one.

This is called the Winter Banana.

It's supposed to have the fragrance of a banana, but I've never really picked that up.

It was developed in the 1870s in Indiana.

So it's an American type.

And then this one is called the Orleans Reinette.

And apparently this is very good with port wine, so keep that in mind.

So now I have your attention about these apples, don't I?

You'd love to taste them, wouldn't you?

Well, why don't we come up with a delicious little surprise using them.

♪♪ So here's that little treat.

It's very simple to do.

Just get you some parchment.

Put it in a tin like this.

Take your puff pastry and lay it in like this.

It's a delicious apple galette.

And what could be better with apples than brie?

So we're going to take the brie, about 8 ounces of it.

And I'm just going to lay it here long.

The bottom.

Warm brie and apples, you cannot beat it.

Then what I've done with the apples is you have a medley of those beautiful apples we've been talking about.

I'm just going to scallop them along like this.

So we've got Baldwin and Northern Spy, as well as one that we all know, a Granny Smith.

There's some of the Granny Smith.

I'm just sort of mixing them up here.

So hopefully all those flavors meld together.

So it's sort of a fish scale approach.

Now what I'm going to do is crimp this puff pastry just along the edges to kind of hold all the juicy bits.

You're kind of making a little tray because the brie is going to get very liquid-like.

All right, we've built a beautiful galette here.

And before we put it into the oven, I'm going to take a little egg wash and I'm just going to put it on the pastry so it browns evenly and beautifully.

All right.

Here we go.

And some cinnamon over the top.

A little bit on the pastry as well.

This is going to go in the oven.

It doesn't take long now.

15 minutes, maybe 20 minutes.

You want all this to cook and you'll see the pastry will brown beautifully.

Oh, it's a thing of beauty.

Look at this.

Isn't that gorgeous?

Just to finish it off, I'm going to add a little more of this honey.

Our own bees here.

Marvelous.

And you really want to serve it warm.

And then just a little bit of thyme on top of it.

Look at that.

Isn't that beautiful?

Look at that.

Sort of a flat cake.

Beautiful presentation here with some fresh Blue Pearmain apples.

This is such a good one.

It's from the 1700s, New England.

And was Henry David Thoreau's, one of his favorites.

So there's a little history there.

What I'm going to do is I'm going to cut a piece of this.

Smells absolutely heavenly.

Mmm.

Really good.

I've got to get a little more apple.

Extraordinary.

Really, really extraordinary.

And then you take some of this.

Mmm!

Taste of history.

Beautiful.

♪♪ When we plant a tree, for a while its life depends on us.

Then eventually, time reverses that relationship.

Its shade shelters us.

Its fruit feeds us.

Its roots hold the earth.

Beneath the soil trees can join their roots, sharing water and nourishment.

Even a stump can remain alive because the trees around it remain connected.

Perhaps this is what community means -- To need and to be needed, and to hold one another through seasons when we cannot stand alone.

Now that is a sense of place.

I'm Allen Smith.

I hope you've enjoyed our time together as much as I have, and I'll see you next time.

-Funding for "P. Allen Smith's A Sense of Place" is provided by... -Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company.

Since 1998.

Growing, saving, and sharing rare heirloom varieties.

Seeds with stories and a sense of place.

Seeds worth saving.

Learn more at rareseeds.com.

-And... -First Community Bank Where community comes first.

-Behind every episode of "A Sense of Place" is a story that extends beyond the screen.

Alan's companion coffee-table book brings those stories together through more than 500 photographs he selected of the house, gardens, flowers, and animals that define life at Moss Mountain Farm.

Available at pallensmith.com.

-Learn more at my website, pallensmith.com, and dig a little deeper with our weekly newsletter.

And make sure you follow along with our social media.

♪♪ I'm often asked, is the Osage orange edible?

Well, it's not poisonous, but I don't think it tastes very good.

It's bitter and it's kind of got a milky sap to it.

However, if you break it open, there's a lot of seed in here and you can separate the seed from the flesh and then just roast it and you'll get these little seeds that have a marvelous flavor.

They're like a sunflower seed.

So those are edible, and I think nicer than the flesh of this thing.

It looks like a green brain, doesn't it?

♪♪