Wouldn’t it be nice if Mother Nature provided us her bounty in nice, small daily rations that would last for months. After all, how many fresh pears and apples can one person eat?
Our Gala apple tree did exceptionally well this year and, given the statement above, today was the perfect time to capture the taste and nutrition of this wonderful, healthy fruit.
While some of the fruit can be cut up and frozen raw, we prefer to make applesauce for a couple of reasons. It will last for years if canned, and we can leave the skins on during the cooking process before canning, to capture the most nutrition from the fruit.
Within a couple of hours, Natures Bounty, at the peak of nutrition, is preserved for months to come.
I hear so many reasons why someone can’t grow, harvest and preserve fresh food. I don’t have the time, space, knowledge, money, etc to do that. While all of those reasons may be true, they are still just excuses. Using apples as an example, a dwarf Gala or Molly’s Delicious can be grown in any sunny spot in the yard. A fruit tree cost no more than an ornamental tree and does not require much more care.
The apples shown above were grown organically, requiring only a monthly spraying of Garrett Juice with fish. There were no worms or diseases of any kind. My only loss was due to chickens jumping up and pecking the red ripe fruit. I consider watching them do that more entertainment than loss. A vertically hopping chicken is a sight to see.
Later in the year I was planning on blogging about how we harvest and preserve Pecans but sadly, this is the year Mother Nature decided to let the trees rest.