Monday 21 October 2013

Apple Harvest

This beautiful old apple tree has been in our garden for many years, long before we bought the house. Every season there is a glorious crop of apples, only we haven't always made the time to harvest them properly. Shame on us.
This year I am determined that no apple will go to waste. I HATE to see waste of any kind and now we are down to one income I am doing my best to maximise just about anything that can save us money. I have  more time now too which is a great asset when you are looking for money saving deals and bargains. Time is the Thriftanista's friend.

Last weekend I invited a lovely lass from my knitting circle to come and take some apples. Apparently she makes an amazing home brew apple wine. She filled two large sacks and took all the wind falls as well. Whilst she collected and picked I made a pot of tea and sliced up some home made cherry and almond cake to fortify her. In return she will be giving me a few bottles of the wine. I think that's a great deal, so does she.


I had it in mind to juice some of the apples as well but unfortunately we do not own a press. I'm reluctant to buy one as we will be moving from our lovely house in the next couple of years and wouldn't I'm sure get the use out of it in the meantime.

So I asked for help on Freegle and Brian and Jane who live just up the road from us, came to the rescue with their hand made press.



The Mister took our apples round to their house on Saturday and spent a couple of happy hours chatting and chopping apples with them. They very kindly helped with the whole process.

I now have 6 bottles of pure apple juice from our own tree sitting icily in our freezer. Which I'm super pleased about.



The lovely apple press folk understandably refused our offer of juice but we gave them a big box of Turkish Delight which they truly deserved.

4 comments:

  1. Borrowing and bartering are two thrifty things we should all do more of ...

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  2. Absolutely Jane, I aim to do more and more of it.

    Jean x

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  3. I'm always looking for new ideas for quinces myself - this year we've masses of them. At the moment it's gently stewed quinces & whatever fruit is on the supermarket reduced counter with yogurt. Twice a day!

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  4. Sounds wonderful Nilly. Check out Martha Stewart's site marthastewart.com she has quince recipes including quince tarte tatin.
    Jean x

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