Heavy lifting

Posted at 11:08 AM on May 10, 2006 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

Maybe I should take the comment in one of the earlier posts back. The Minnesota Senate today will consider naming the Honeycrisp apple as the official state fruit.

Seriously.

It's the branchild of Sen. Brian LeClair, who was persuaded by a 4th grade class' letter, apparently favoring the honor upon the apple (which, just for the record, is way too expensive).

11:16 Sen. Kiscaden: "Senator LeClair, honey, can you give us a crisp answer as to why this should be the state apple?"

11:18 Sen. Warren Limmer: "Thank you for bringing up this core issue."

11:18; We have some no votes on SF 2302. Bachmann, Betzold, Chaudhary, Foley, Frederickson, Koering, Limmer, Marty, Pappas, Moua, Skoglund originally. Then, a bunch of sudden switches to make the final something like 53-4.

Great, we now have a state fruit.

After this lengthy work -- amost 10 minutes -- the Senate recessed.

Comments (2)

Actually, the Honeycrisp apple is a marvelous example of U of M agricultural work. Years of work at the arboretum by a number of folks have yielded a number of successful apple "breeds". The "U" even gets a royalty for the Honeycrisp apples grown as I understand it. Naming this the state apple (and the time it took at the capitol) was more worth the time it took than some of the other "important" issues they have spent time on this session!

For the "record", the apple is currently too expensive as it has been in the public domain for growers for less than 10 years and that means there are nowhere near the number of these trees as there are for other types of apples. Give it time -- or plant some Honeycrisp trees in your yard -- they were designed for Minnesota's climate. In the meantime, enjoy our soon to be state apple when it appears again around Labor Day.

Posted by Gary Cohen | May 10, 2006 4:02 PM

Right, well, yes, I'm aware of the Minnesota pedigree and Minnesota's fondness for things with a Minnesota pedigree. I think it's a damned fine apple. Personally, I'm a Pink Lady fan, myself.

BTW, it wasn't designated the state apple, it was designated the state fruit. This will, no doubt, come as sad news to the folks at the U who were this close -- THIS CLOSE -- to a breakthrough cumquat for the northern climate.

Maybe this is the Senate version of health care, since it's steered well clear of doing anything on that issue this year. You know, here... "have an apple."

BTW, I believe Minnesota now leads the nation in official icons. It's nice that we can still lead the nation in something.

Posted by Bob Collins | May 10, 2006 4:54 PM

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