SOMETHING
Now I've said it.
The end.
Not really.
This past year has been one of the worst of my life. I'm not going to go into why, but it has been awful.
But, one thing that has been better this year than any other since moving here, is the apple harvest. We have three little trees. Two of them are dwarf varieties--Cortland and Fugi, and one is a regular-sized Jonathan. They are all about ten years old, but it's only been about 8 since we planted them.
Last year was such a bad year for fruit around here due to a late freeze that killed all the blooms. The kids and I went out and picked the Cortland apples a couple of weeks ago as they ripen earlier than the others. I just made an apple pie with the last of them the night before we decided it was time to pick the last two trees.
Mr Farmer thought it would be a quick chore, so he offered to help do it. HA! He had no idea how many apples there were. We took the Ranger down and two boxes to put the apples in. HA again! It took quite awhile, with all of us picking, to finish both trees. We don't water, fertilize, or spray for bugs. There were a couple-literally- with bugs, but not many. I'm sure a few got included in our haul since the kids picked and loaded indiscriminately, but mostly they are gorgeous.
And here's what we got.
Now, what to do with all of them. Mr Farmer loaded the two boxes and filled the large bottom drawer in our garage fridge. It barely made a dent in the pile!
They shine up so nicely and taste delicious.
Apples anyone?
Oh, YUM! That's such a great problem to have! I see apple pies, applesauce, apple butter, canned apple slices, apple crisp, apple dumplings.....onandonandon....in your future!
ReplyDeleteThose really are gorgeous apples. I live in apple country, and the cheapest apples I can buy right now are Fuji, on sale for 98-cents a pound. All the others are $1.49 and up. And way up. Fujis are my favorites, but I'm finding these first ones of the season to be a bit watery and tasteless, not the sweet morsels they usually are. I hope all the Fujis aren't like that this year.
Of the two we just picked, I'd choose the Fugi as my favorite, too. But it's a close call. I can only make the choice when I eat them one right after the other.
DeleteI love both Fuji for eating and Cortlands for sauce, eating and pies. And they both store really well for many weeks (well into January) if they're in a cool dry dark place. You're very lucky to have them!
ReplyDeleteAfter we get rid of quite a few, I will be storing the rest in the basement store room. We go through a lot of apples since they are the only thing we allow the kids to eat as much of as they want. :)
DeleteLOVELY! I'm so jealous! I have 5 trees and only 1 apple in the last 3 years. LOL. If I have to wait another 5 years I might be insane before I get there. I can certainly see a load of applesauce, and pie, and WORK cut out for you. Perhaps the easiest would be apple JUICE! LOL.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretending we will eat them all rather than thinking about all the work of putting them up in one form or another. UGH!
DeleteThose look delicious and sound easy to grow.
ReplyDeleteWe've been lucky in not having things get wormy and this year they were just so perfect and abundant.
DeleteOh, I meant to say that you made a comment on my blog last year, a comment I just found! I am so embarrassed right now. Until about two months ago, I did not realize there was a comment page to see comments. Several people have chastised me for not responding to their comments or questions. I hope you come back to my blog again. I really like your blog now that I found it.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry about it. Sometimes I forget that I've even left a comment.
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