Monday, September 1, 2008

A seed hidden in the heart of an apple is an orchard invisible. ~Welsh Proverb

The ladies, Deidre and Mary Jo and Little Miss Maddie, came over yesterday to do a bit of apple picking and canning. They brought doggies Sierra and Bella to have a play date with Shadowfax. We had a great time...all 7 hours of it! Whew, was I beat. Well, the apples were delicious but small as we didn't know it was an apple tree until somewhat too late to prune. So, quite a lot of work went into making these treats and a lot of experimentation. We made Apple and Orange Marmalade, Maple Apple Jam, and Cinnamon Apple Ice Cream Topping.We also made a couple of Apple Pies to have as treat for all of our hard work. Yummy with vanilla ice cream. We had intended on doing a lot more canning than what we did, but the apples were very much out of reach and very painstaking to work with. I will be heading to the Brushy Mountain Apple Festival in a month and will pick up some more apples to make into goodies. Family, do you know what your getting for the holidays?
I have recently discovered Mountmellick Embroidery which I think is the bees knees. It was started in Ireland by Johanna Carter in about 1825. I love the white on white and will eventually get around to trying a bit of this myself. However, I will probably try it on linens when it is meant to be on a sturdier shinier cotton. Eh, so much for what is meant to be. Just gotta make it work for you, right? Lovely little owl.

3 comments:

naphtali said...

yumm! sounds like a long day, but looks entirely worth it!! also love your new task ahead. the litle owl fits you! :) i've seen things like that...especially in france, but how cool it come from "your home country". well, at least fave country, that is. xoxo

Willow said...

WOW....I love apples. They are by far my favorite fruit.

The apple maple jam sounds so delicious. My mouth is watering!

Sir Paul said...

I just got into making apple butter, cider and apple sauce too. Isnt it great fun doing stuff for yourself. BTW dont wait for apple festivals to go buy your apples, just talk your neighbours into GIVING their excess fruit to you for free, it was a good crop this year and ppl have waaaay too many apples