Vern Palowski showed off his 65-year-old pear tree to the Goat recently. The pear tree is from Manitoba and called a John pear. It was a grafted tree. A bear had wrecked the tree and yet it’s still blooming heavily. Vern figures it was pollinated through the wind similar to corn, as he didn’t see any bees. In the end the tree had hundreds of pears which are ripening now at the beginning of September. The pears show a reddish blush where the sun shines on them. You have a short window to pick them once they are ripe, he says. They are excellent for pear crisp and are more tart and have a stronger flavour than d’anjou or bartlett. /SANDRA JAMES
