I am eating a perfect, freshly-picked Honeycrisp apple.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

Just picked it right off the tree in my side yard. Yum. Apples are why I like October.

[rurallib]

1. We have a delicious tree that bears every other year

which will be next year.
OMG - and off the tree apple is so incredible!

[Ikonoklast]

2. Find half a worm yet?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. No worms. I bag my apples.

It's kind of a bother, but I don't like to use pesticides. So, to keep away apple maggots and other icky bugs, right about the middle of June when the apples just start to grow out of the flowers, you encase each one (after thinning) in a ziploc bag with the corners cut off for water drainage, zip the bag shut and staple it around the stem. The apple continues to grow inside the bag and by the time it's ready to eat it's bug- and worm-free.

[Generic Brad]

4. Are those hard to get in other parts of the country?

We have an abundance of them up here in Minnesota, but I wonder of the rest of you are as lucky.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. They prefer cold winters but apparently can be grown

as far south as zone 8, though in that climate they tend to overproduce with the result that the apples might not taste as good unless thinned. They were developed by the University of Minnesota specifically for this climate (zone 3-4).

[Shagbark Hickory]

6. I'm jealous. We can't grow them here unless we spray spray spray

And even then...

I turned my Apples into firewood this past spring.