Feeling Fruity

After making applesauce, I still have a large quantity of super-tart "June apples" that I purchased at the farmers market. I've got to be honest: I don't like them. In fact, Bonnie just said, "No wonder that lady sold them to you for such a good deal. They're awful." They are simply too tart to eat plain, and in my opinion, it takes too much added sugar to make them palatable. Because they are relatively small, coring and slicing is a tedious process. Nonetheless, I am working very hard to decrease the food waste in our household and am determined to find a way to eat these things! I attempted drying some the other day with Mom's old food dehydrator. Kelly likes them (he's the only one who does) and plans on eating them with his oatmeal.

I'm excited about what's growing outside around us. My garden seems to be doing well enough so far. (By well enough, I mean nothing's dead.) We finally have some tiny green tomatoes starting to develop, but what I'm most excited to see are the established fruit vines and trees that my parents had started growing. Our two pear trees are full for the first time ever this year.

We also have about twenty Concord grape vines that Kelly pruned this spring. Their tiny clusters of grapes are looking good. This weekend Kelly and I walked around Dad's old garden area, trying to scope an area for new garden beds, when we realized there are some old grapes vines that, though not pruned in years, are thriving.

We also found a couple blackberry plants near the house that I assume were planted by Dad. The crab apple tree is looking fruitful as well! I see lots of jelly making in my future this fall. I need to read up on organic care for these fruits, as we don't want to use pesticides and fungicides, or at least minimize their use as much as possible.

I'm keen to try some wild food foraging this season, and plan on enlisting the kids' help in collecting cattail pollen tomorrow so we can try some of these recipes. Cattail pollen pancakes sound good!