Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Apple Season

One of the things that I adore about living life close to nature is that we are so aware of the seasons in every way - the activities we enjoy, the places we go, the work that we do and the food that we eat.  My boys know that shortly after summer (camping, beach days, fresh garden goodness in abundance) comes apple season.  A few weeks ago a friend invited us to join her family for a nature walk and to pick some apples from a wild tree they had found (we're not sure what kind they are).  We spent a beautiful sunny morning walking by the creek, spotting mushrooms and horse chestnuts, and picking apples from an old tree.  The tree was unpruned, unsprayed and, quite obviously by the amount of scat under it, a favourite of bears, deer and some other critters.
I LOVE getting unsprayed apples because then I feel no need to peel them before making sauce, I just quarter them, cook them up and then run them through this mill.
Last week E and I joined loads of other homelearners to pick Spartans from an orchard where the apples were not going to be picked - we came away with our vehicle loaded with boxes and bags of unsprayed apples, free for the picking.  What a delightful way to spend some time.  I always feel so very fortunate to have chosen this area as the place to live and raise our family and the ready access to such amazing produce is one of the reasons I love it so much. 

E was delighted to notice this in one of the apples he was munching...
a heart.

I hope you're finding pleasure in the delights of the season wherever you are.

7 comments:

donna!ee said...

what a wonderfully lovely and uncomplicated way to embrace the day! thank you for enjoying and sharing your blessings of abundance... ;)

affectioknit said...

Your applesauce looks lovely! and I love your pyrex mushroom bowl...my Mom had a set of those brown ones when I was little in the 70s...

Anonymous said...

I just made a huge batch of applesauce yesterday too! I don't have a sieve like yours :( , so I had to peel mine. It made me sad to throw out all these vitamins and nutrients and waste so much, especially since mine were also unsprayed. I'll have to look into getting a sieve like this, never seen one before. Where did you get yours?

Stephanie xx

Kelly said...

How I hear you on living close to nature and how good it feels knowing what comes next. We are enjoying a huge bounty of tasty, wild apples. Bags of them. Wonderful! I love your apples sauce making.

Anonymous said...

My mom had one of those mills...wish she had kept it! We're enjoying our fresh picked apple bounty as well...apple pie, apple crisp, apple muffins, baked apples...Yummmm!
Thank you for sharing such lovely photos.

Heather said...

Hi Stephanie
I've had the mill/strainer for as long as I can remember, I think I must have gotten it from my mom or my aunt...or maybe it was my grandma's. I do see them at thrift stores sometimes though so maybe you'll come across one too.

Heather said...

Hi Kelly, glad to hear that you've found some wild apples too. I agree, it Does feel good knowing what comes next - it creates a very comforting, natural rhythm.