Also, I shared that my neighbor just over the fence has trees not 20 feet away and they got a very small crop and they didn't taste good. My apples tasted wonderful, had no bugs and were prolific.
This year, I didn't get one piece of fruit off my three plum trees, no cherries, no pears, no nectarines and on my three apple trees, there may be 20 apples total and buggy at that.
We will not have any apples this year and none to dry. In the 20+ years we have been here, we have had a few years where the plums and other fruit were a bit scarce but NEVER have we not gotten apples. Late storms this year caused all the buds to die. Due to that, we got no fruit.
Princess Five was commenting the other day about how sad she is that there are no apples on the trees. She and her friends always pick them and eat them as they are WONDERFUL apples and everyone asks why my apples taste so great. I have no idea other than my mulch pit is within about 6 feet of the trees, which may give them nutrients and make them taste better.
I mentioned to Princess Five that I think God was trying to tell us last year that we would have "famine" this year by blessing us with a bumper crop. She knows the story of "Joseph" and Pharaohs dream about seven years of plenty and during that time, they needed to store up all they could so that when the seven years of famine came, they would have sufficient for their needs.
Here is my post from last fall sharing about how I had already filled most of my Tupperware and still had lots of apples to dry. While pruning and harvesting the apples, I saw a double rainbow. The trees were in "Technicolor" while I was harvesting them. I do believe that God was letting me know that he blessed me with a bounteous harvest through the double rainbows and now, looking back, it was a miracle that we got so many apples. I filled every Tupperware I had, then I filled FOUR five gallon buckets with gallon bags. I still have all you see in these pictures and I gave away LOTS for Christmas as I get requests from people asking for them for Christmas.
I thought it would be a nice gesture for Princess Five to take a bag of "apples for the teacher" on the first day as they are stressed not having the school done and may have to teach in different buildings around town for a week. When I filled these bags for her teachers, I was amazed at how blessed we are to have more apples now after giving many away than we get most years total.
God has blessed us greatly. In a way, I also feel like it was a blessing that I didn't get any fruit this year. You know how my July was and how horrible I feel. I think if I had the fruit, I would have forced myself to use it and right now, I just don't feel up to it. I barely slept last night and woke with a storm migraine and I had to take pills over and over today to keep it under control. My feet have started to swell and hurt again and I actually gave gratitude in my prayer tonight that we didn't get fruit this year. 
Sometimes, things that may look like a sad or horrible situation at times can really be a blessing in disguise. I am grateful that I was able to get so much fruit last year when I was feeling better and that I could dry it for use this year.
So, now you can understand my title about "Princess Five and the Amazing Technicolor Apple Trees."
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