Saturday, October 19, 2013

How do you like them apples?

Apple abundance. This year we have had a bumper crop of wild apples.  Steven has been saucing up apples almost daily.  Today he went to our neighbor's farm with 6 1/2 bushels of apples and came home with almost 17 gallons of cider.  Mmmmmmmm good.

We have quite a few wild apple trees but the ones at the top of the field produced the most.


There were a gazillion on the ground, too.  We did our best to pick from the branches but these trees are on a slope.  Next year we will be better prepared.  The plan is to keep the area underneath them mowed. 

The cider is the best I have had in a long, long time. Fresh and clean tasting.  Last year there were NO apples because a late frost killed all the blossoms.  Hopefully that won't happen next year.




11 comments:

  1. Yum, Yum, I like applesauce for breakfast. I did not know apples would go wild.

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  2. This time of year I ALWAYS grieve over the loss of real apple cider. I grew up in Ohio (great apple country) and now live in the South (not so much, unless you drive up to the mountains). Back in the day you could get unpasteurized cider at farm stands. Now it has all been cooked and it is NOT THE SAME!!!!!!!!!! You just don't know how very much I am envying you right now! Enjoy your cider.
    Cheryl Warren

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    Replies
    1. Yes. There is a HUGE difference. I love the freshness.

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    2. The glories of nature's bounty!! Not only do the wild ones taste better, they are MUCH more nutritious. And the unpasteurized makes a great hard cider - especially if you put a stop cock (for making wine) on your bottle. It's too bad the regulators made this nectar illegal.

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    3. All wild food is much more nutritious. I love early spring salads with garlic mustard leaves and tender dandelion greens.

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  3. Congratulations on the harvest! From what I read, true wild apples are very small. If they are big enough to see from that distance, they aren't so much wild as feral. I like slightly feral cider myself - just slightly turned toward vinegar, enough to give it a tang.

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    1. I don't know. There were an awful lot of small apples on that tree. We had to reject many because they weren't large enough. Whatever they are, they are abundant and delicious and FREE.

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  4. I know that this would give you more work... but... if you trimmed the tree they would be
    easier to get too and although they are wild it might help them get to a larger size. That's
    what happens with our non-wild tree's. Just a thought.
    We make thick apple sauce with ours or eat fresh... lovely.

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    Replies
    1. OH YES! Steven is talking about pruning lower branches, upper branches and mowing. He is inspired !

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  5. Fresh cider is so YUMMY! It is one of my favorite things! We have an apple tree right next to the church parking lot. It is absolutely loaded with apples! People have been taking buckets of apples home after church. We have even had a few young men pick up some to feed the deer! (they plan on trying to shoot them later on in the year)
    Such a find!

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