On Sunday, I responded to a post about free apples. A family had picked and stored all that they could possibly consume, so they posted for someone to take the rest. Um.... I'll take them! Our trees produced well but because they are still young, we didn't get near as many as we need. Our neighbours kindly gave us a lot of apples too, but I need more and was planning to buy them very soon.
I received a reply to my request for the apples within minutes and I arranged to pick them up on my way through town at mid-day - no extra trip into town required!
This picture shows only half of what I received - there were 4 large bags of picked apples. My sinks are very deep so the picture doesn't really do them justice :) I don't know the variety, but they are mild, sweet eating apple. Combined with the tart cooking apples that I received from our neighbours, they will produce delicious apple pies, crisps and applesauce.
Yesterday and today, we have been busy washing, separating and cooking. Any apples that are too bruised are given to the chickens (and are promptly devoured!). Apples that are only mildly bruised or marked are cooked down into applesauce my pressure cooker for 15 minutes. The apples that were in perfect condition were heaped into a bowl for fresh eating or refrigerated.
I'm also testing to see if vacuum sealing them will keep them fresh in the fridge for longer. I'll let you know how that goes! I don't throw the vacuum bags out unless they have had raw meat stored in them, so that saves buying new bags which are costly.
I noticed that when I posted a "excess fruit wanted" ad on Freecycle mid-summer, not only did I receive replies (and fruit), but also, many other people decided to post to have someone take their excess produce. It created a mini-wave of food sharing during the harvest season which was awesome to see. This year alone, I received free crabapples, raspberries and apples :)
Have you ever received food through your freecycle network?
hello
ReplyDeletei have never heard of freecycle-network.it's a great idea.many apples have you.homemade apple sauce taste much more better than as buyed apple-sauce from the supermarket.
have a lovely rest week,
regina
Those apples look wonderful...they are exactly the kind I love for cooking! This fall I'm planting my third summer apple tree...last spring I planted two...so they are small...but, someday....love,andrea
ReplyDeleteI'm on the local freecycle network, but it never occurred to me to ask about fruit. I'll try it... the hard part is getting out to get what I've asked for.
ReplyDeleteYes, Rachael, especially with a baby. Perhaps on the weekend when hubby is home to watch Samuel, or if he would tolerate a carrier, you could pick apples or some such thing with him in a back carry... raspberries might be harder - due to the prickles not to mention how long that takes.. apples are much quicker!
ReplyDeleteJust found your blog and love it. You are living my dream--I'm working toward it little by little.
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