Wednesday 15 October 2014

Wood, munchings and apples

 Hello and welcome to Dani fro  Eco footprint South Africa and easy Stitcher on the follower bar and another follower on Blog lovin. I can't work out who you are.

This post will be of a lighter nature than the previous ones. and quite right too you might say. I think I might resurrect the subject of Child Labour another day when I'm up to it!.

We had most of this week planned but, as ever, it was not to be.
The central heating broke down. (pump ) The house is on total disarray while carpets have been rolled back and floor board lifted to get to the blasted thing. While doing this D. thought it was time that he replaced the three way valve that had been "iffy" for some time. All this has entailed me running from sewing room to cellar to corridor and back again.shouting "YES" or "NO" to questions and pushing buttons on request. Such Larks! Anyway all fixed now. I guess the most difficult bit was getting the parts, but D. ever-inventive sorted that out.
  We were offered two lots ( and I mean lots) of logs between a foot and six foot long and very thick, which we have collected in the rain and the dark as they had to be taken that day. Thank goodness for our trusty Berlingo. We were then told that there were some chippings for us if we took them away within three hours ( Berlingo and trailer this time) The trailer, which is not small was filled and two tonne bags of chippings were strapped on top of those.
The chippings are for the "Bee garden" at the bottom of the front garden, which we are making easier to maintain and access. Winter is the perfect time to do this when the bees aren't active. Mind you they have been flying in between the showers as it is not particularly cold and there is quite a lot of ivy flower around.
 It has been a good apple year for us this year, with the exception of the Russett. The Jonogold in particular has given a huge crop of very large eating apples.

 I have been looking at recipes for baked apples which don't involve dried fruits as half the family don't like raisins etc. Next time they are all here I shall bake some with dried fruit and some with ...Rolos!! Good idea eh? not mine. I googled it. If you have a favourite recipe for baked apples ( I will bake them in pastry) please share.
 Here is the crop from our oldest tree, which is proably 15 years old
I bucket of wormy ones had already been given to the chickens.
And here is the crop from the youngest tree (5 years), minus half a bucket still to be picked.
The green apples to the left are Bramleys.  I also put a vase of flowers there for you to see. These are the flowers of Jerusalem Artichoke. The stems were over ten foot high with these little beauties right at the top. You can see they are  sunflower family.

As mentioned before we are still getting lots of veggies from the garden
Here is our evening meal on Monday.
Stuffed marrow on a bed of vegetables and tomatoes with jacket potatoes. I used a little minced lamb with the stuffing of minced onion, squash, carrot and bread.
Last night we had jacket pots again  with a ratatouille thingy, roasted Crown Prince Squash and grated cheese. ( I didn't grow the cheese)
Well that's enough bragging for now.
Off to barrow and spread munchings.
Gillx

22 comments:

  1. what a great crop of apples! We share the apple harvest from my partner's mother's garden and I always make apple crumbles with the cooking apples, and I often cut up the eating apples into muesli or porridge.

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    1. Hello CGP thanks for commenting I made a slow cooker porridge with some eaters the other day. It was really nice i will try it again but not in the slow cooker next time

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  2. Thanks for the welcome. Our apple trees are only 3 years old, so I look forward to hopefully harvesting (lots) in 2 years time :)

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    1. Hi there.
      There were only three apples on last year. I think they will probably ripen better where you are. We picked a little early because the crows were eating them on the tree.

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  3. I planted a Jonagold last year, and although it had 3 apples this year, I don't think they were really indicative of harvests to come. Yours look very good.... I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

    I like the look of your stuffed Marrow. I recently found a big Marrow under a Courgette plant, but that went to make today's soup. I did stuff some green peppers recently; very nice too.

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    1. As I said to Dani (above) I think they will ripen better where you are. Being late seasons apples they keep well, In fact they are not really edible yet, but I know they will be good by New Year.
      I must 'fess up to the marrow being a huge courgette! Our marrows are finished now.

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  4. We like baked apples with a bit of maple syrup and nuts. Simple, but tasty.

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    1. I haven't any maple syrup , but I have got plenty of honey and also some hazel nuts collected this year. I suppose i need to chop them.I deffo give this a try.

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  5. We've just replaced the central heating pump ourselves. It breaks down every 11 to 12 months because the heating system wasn't installed properly in the first place. It's a wood pellet boiler and should have been installed with a buffer tank so that's the big job being done next week. We had always called out a plumber to replace the pump so we were really chuffed at doing it ourselves this time. Saved £150!

    Lots of apples been cooked here and I made my first batch of chutney (haven't tried it yet).

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    1. I made some glutney chutney the other week but havn't tried it yet. it's better for the keeping isn't it?
      Well done with the DIY
      x

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  6. Wow what a great apple crop! No tree in our tiny plot, unfortunately. Congratulations on your brilliant post yesterday, by the way. It produced some real strength of feeling.

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    1. Thanks for that. Certainly stirred a few things up didn't it? This and my post about about not doing stoptober and about paying my TV licence have had the highest views I've ever had ( apart from my getting ready for winter posts last year)

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  7. I envy you the chippings .. I was just saying to Hubby P we should look out for some to put down in the chickens scratching run .. I hate to see it a mud bath.
    One or two apples there then!

    Vicky x

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    1. We have put some in with the chickens too and it does help doesn't it?

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  8. Next door was having his boiler replaced, not because it was broken just because it was getting old ?? so I rushed out and asked for his as a spare for ours..........you don't get owt if you don't ask do you lol x

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    1. Good quick thinking there julee! D. does that all the time

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  9. I stuff my baked apples with mincemeat and sometimes granola with a little maple syrup and butter. I am up in Maine right now; the apple harvest is wonderful. Apple butter is made a lot here, a kind of spicy apple jam. My new Bosch oven has a dehydrating temperature setting so will try to dry some apple slices since I got a cute apple peeler, corer and slicer- in- one from a garage sale for a buck !
    We mulch all our gardens in the Spring to retain any moisture that comes our way;
    we have been in a drought for several years now.
    When I was young we had a Bramley, a Cox s Orange Pippen and a James Grieve. They were all wonderful and we never bought an apple.

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    1. I suppose I could use a sort of muesli/oat filling, asI haven't any Granola, though it is readily available nowadays over here.
      We also have a Sunset and a George Cave, which is a lovely early apple

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  10. I adore stuffed marrow, my favourite stuffing being sausage meat, onion herbs and breadcrumbs. Never though of doing it on a bed of veg so shall try it on ratatouille.

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    1. oooh sausage meat. I bet that's good.
      The bed of veg made it lovely and moist and made an unctuous sauce.

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  11. Our Bramleys are sparse, which is probably for the best as I'm not going up the ladder!
    We've got some Delicious eaters - of course being us no record of what they are.

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  12. Sounds like you're not the only one for a while!. Hope he is on the mend soon. We aren't picking our Bramleys quickly enough to be in front of the crows but hey ho.

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