Having just finished the summer bottling, we had a day off and went to visit Momma Snail. Imagine my delight to be offered some of her windfall apples – a sure sign that autumn is on the way and that the next big job will be bottling and juicing apples. On returning home I went to check our tiny apple tree and realised that several of the branches were under severe strain with this year’s crop, so I relieved it of some of the weight and picked up a single windfall. These are all destined to become juice – possibly apple and blackberry juice if I can find the time to go for a walk to pick blackberries.
And whilst I was in the mood for harvesting, I picked some of our chillies:
Clockwise from left: Yellow Romanian; Pyramid; Lemon Drop; Black Hungarian
There are lots more to come. In particular, the Pyramid chillies are only just starting to ripen up, although the plants are laden with fruit. I have picked some of the Black Hungarians before they turn red as we really liked the flavour at this stage. Preservation for all these is easy – I simply freeze them whole. I’ve tried drying them in the past, but I much prefer using them from the freezer – plump and juicy and easy enough to chop/remove seeds immediately you take them out.
Are you seeing signs of autumn or are you in a place to see signs of spring?
The Snail of Happiness 
nanacathy2
/ August 22, 2017Lovely produce you have there. This morning there were cobwebs everywhere covered in rain drops, sure sign we have reached late Summer.
LikeLike
Laurie Graves
/ August 22, 2017Wonderful bounty! In Maine, the apples aren’t quite ripe, but soon.
LikeLike
Murtagh's Meadow
/ August 22, 2017Yes very autumnal here too – have been eating early apples for couple of weeks now. But it is more the weather that has a definite autumn feel to it! Love the colour of your chillies!
LikeLike
The Snail of Happiness
/ August 22, 2017Yes, I’ve noticed that autumn-ness in the air when I go to let the hens out in the morning.
LikeLiked by 1 person
thecontentedcrafter
/ August 22, 2017Daffodils here, cherry blossoms, earlier and later light and rising warmth…….. Happy dance! ❤
LikeLiked by 1 person
The Snail of Happiness
/ August 22, 2017And I hope you are having less rain!
LikeLike
thecontentedcrafter
/ August 22, 2017See, I forgot to mention that! Less rain 🙂
LikeLike
katechiconi
/ August 22, 2017Neither! It’s still the Dry, and the Wet won’t start for a couple of months… And when I say dry, I mean very, very dry. All the grass is brown, the soil is dust, and they’re talking about a potentially catastrophic bush fire season… The farmers want just a bit of rain – too much and they won’t be able to finish harvesting the cane because the machinery will get bogged. On the upside, the mango trees in the back yard have more flowers on them than I’ve ever seen!
LikeLike
MrsCraft
/ August 23, 2017Definitely feeling autumnal here, I’ve been making chutney (8 jars today) and we’ve had some windfall apples too.
LikeLike
Helen
/ August 23, 2017Like others, we’ve had windfall apples. I was surprised to find them on the ground so early, wondering if perhaps I’d knocked them off. Mind you, I do need to prune the tree as its low branches are making it difficult to get to the bins!
How do you juice your apples? I’m interested to know how you make apple and blackberry juice.
LikeLike
The Snail of Happiness
/ August 23, 2017I use a Mehu Liisa steam juicer – a fabulous invention for gluts of fruit http://wp.me/p2mlPL-mMY
LikeLike
Helen
/ August 23, 2017Will look into that… don’t get enough apples for juicing and I have a friend who could do that for me. But the idea of being able to juice other fruit is marvellous 😊
Happy juicing!
LikeLike
thesnowwoman
/ August 23, 2017A few leaves are starting to turn here. I love fall, but winters are hard.
LikeLike
arlingwoman
/ August 24, 2017It’s still summer here, but we are having a cool spell with some drier air. Nice. I suppose I could say it feels like late September, but I’m not ready for that yet!
LikeLike
Wild Cabbage Works
/ August 24, 2017Apples! Do you have any best practice methods for canning apples? We haven’t hit the fall weather yet. It still 90 degrees high and 80 degrees low. Hmm… I never knew you could just freeze peppers.
LikeLike
The Snail of Happiness
/ August 24, 2017I cook my apples until soft, then put them hot into hot preserving jars (mine are Kilner jars, in the US it would be Ball jars), top up with a little water or light syrup to within an inch or less of the top, then heat them in a boiling water bath for 40 minutes.
LikeLike