Harvest

Sorry to disappoint you on the craft front again but my year seasonally works out like this. My everyday makes become more food based during September then I knuckle down to some serious present making and Christmas craft fair stock after that. So Look at this lovely orchard:

My friends don't have much time to do anything with them and actually have lost a little of the skill and will needed to do a full harvest not to mention the time - they both work really hard.

So come closer and let's have a look...

 

So tall, we have no hope of reaching those. so a little closer...

 

 

Lots to reach as the lower branches come right down to the floor.

 

 

They are perfectly shaped, unblemished cooking apples with a lovey flavour. We picked three buckets full and we didn't even make a dent in the trees bounty.

 

Then we wondered a little bit further...

 

 

 To find cute little lunchbox sized eating apples and larger pale skinned eating apples with a completely different flavour.

 

I was not finished yet...

 

A tin of damsons. There were six trees but the cattle had broken off the lower branches so it was hard to reach them - enough for three jars of jam though and a crumble.

 

These ones were a different variety, definitely cooking apples. Bloke made 2 gallons of wine with these today but I think it will be the sort of wine that makes you scrunch up your bottom! They were so tangy.

 

Oh and then some windfalls for chutney and a few pears that will ripen off in the fruit bowl this week.

 

The girls went to 'granddads allotment' which is essentially stealing a few potatoes from the field edge surrounding their grandparents house, but granddad fixes farmers tractors so he sort of gets away with it. Well, I hit the wall at that point (and we ran out of containers) so we came home.

 

Sadly we were too late for this one but you can't get them all.

 

The girls played pirates outside and Bloke and me had 2 hours uninterrupted cooking time. I made apple chutney, damson jam, plum clafoutis and bloke made apple wine. I stewed up apples, plums and damsons until I ran out of firstly containers then freezer space.

So a happy, happy day. Do you know what would make this day perfect? If I could do the ruddy feather stitch on my chicken embroidery for the stitch along, but I can't!!! It is too hard. Grrr! maybe I should just improvise - I am kind of good at that.

Thanks for coming along to see me. Jo x