This could be the most unfruitful year for us (yup, I just said that). Our mature apple trees took a major beating in the Halloween storm of 2011 and are not producing much of anything this year. Our mature pear tree had pears, put they’ve all disappeared…I’m looking at your squirrels! This leaves us with just our newly planted trees, which are in their third year. Of all of them (there are 17 total), we have 1 apple. That’s right, 1 apple!
Behold, in all it’s glory:
…make apple cider!
There are three very big, very old apple trees on our farm. At their peak, they must have well over a thousand apples on them. Unfortunately, the majority of them fall off during the spring drop and as the summer progresses. This year, we have been quite diligent about picking up the good ones soon after they fall. If you get them in time, they are juicy and sweet.
We have been dehydrating apple slices as well as making cider. We are freezing the majority of the cider to have for the Fall months. On special nights, we put a little spiced rum in the cider for that extra bite!
How do you like them apples?
(sorry…had to say that)
Happy Harvest Monday! I’m up to my ears in tomatoes, yellow squash, and cucumbers. Here is what I picked this morning:
The apples are all windfall apples from an old tree that was here. They are not the prettiest, but they taste very crisp and sweet, with a bit of tartness. I’ve been peeling and drying them in the dehydrator. They make a great snack.
I also wanted to share with you some harvests from other days this past week:
Luke picked 25 jalapenos which he went on to pickle with carrot and onion.
This is one day’s worth of tomatoes from this past weekend. Luke separated them into varieties for this shot.
Green beans and yellow beans.
I made some cucumber relish, although I still have baskets full of cucumbers to be dealt with.
An exceptionally large daily harvest from last week:
My kitchen looks like a farmers market. We have baskets full of food on every surface and the fridge and cabinets are full of pickles, relish, jams, and gourds. It is a little overwhelming, but then I remind myself that this is the reason we work so hard in the garden all year. Today’s to do list involves making a huge batch of tomato sauce.
Please visit Daphne’s Dandelions for other gardener’s harvests.
