apples

When we bought our new house, we were pleased that a mature apple tree came with it. Those apples have been getting pinker and redder and falling off like crazy. I think this means they are ready to go (*note - I am not an expert...Perhaps I shouldn't shake apples off the tree? They got bruised that way...).

So I've stopped my weekly stocking up on apples at Safeway and insisted we eat them off the tree. At first Noah was dead set against it, as if they weren't real food ("I want the apples that come in the bag!"). But after I cut into one and it looked fantastic, and after I tried it, he was brave enough to try as well. And he's all for them now. Evie's not. They're too sour for her but she has to eat them anyway. They are more like Granny Smiths than Gala or Fugi. But they're crisp and juicy and that's what counts I think.

So I've been sending Noah out every day for lunch to grab us a few apples. I think it's so fun!

Noah needed some help reaching a good apple and while I was out there with him, I noticed there was a ton on the ground. So I put us all to work picking up the gross half decomposed apples, sorting them from the good ones. Then I shook the tree a little and we sorted some more. We ended up with three ice cream buckets worth (with lots more to come) to make apple butter, apple sauce and apple pie filling. Yay!