Fall & Apples = Falling Apples

"When the apple is ripe it will fall." -- Irish proverb

We got the calls to come pick the apples. One friend called as her trees are in the horse pastures and they have been taking wheel barrow loads out and thought I might want to come pick. The other call was from our yearly source. Although we have not received our first frost the apples are dropping by the bushel full. As the trees are so heavily laden this year, I wonder if the branches just got tired of holding them all up!

The apples we get are not sprayed and are definitely not something you would find in any store since they are not perfect and shiny.

They take a little work to get from apple to cider, jelly, pie filling, butter and sauce. But it is all worth it in the end.

We got ten different kinds. I don’t know what they are except one which is a banana apple and does have a faint banana smell. Most of the trees I pick from are 50+ years old and those that knew are no longer around.

While waiting on a batch of canning to finish processing, I have been sneaking in some knitting time. I am almost done with the Karen shawl. I have only to finish the edging on the left side and then we can block her.The edging is 12 rows repeated 18 times with only 4- 10 stitches per row - - very easy! Hopefully I will be able to finish it today but first I had to go finish the tomatoes in the garden. I got enough for several more quarts of sauce which is cooking down now.

It might have been because of the rain that started as I was carrying in the tomatoes, but it was eerily quiet out. I have spotted the bear twice and he has left signs of his handiwork

so maybe it was paranoia. But there was almost no bird song, no wind and only the occasional sound of a hickory nut or black walnut hitting the metal shed roof. Usually I embrace the quiet but today I am happy to be inside!