Today was official Crab Apple Day at the Labrador Security Co.
We’ve never had one before – although the trees have sat at the front of the drive for the past 14 years. Still, there’s a first time for everything and today we thought it about time that something constructive was done with the bright yellow tree decorations before they rotted to brown squidgy mush. I was sent outdoors to remove said objects from the tree by whatever means at my disposal. Disappointingly, J ruled out my preferred proposal – that of throwing the smaller of the mutts into the branches to dislodge the fruit. After that crushing veto it was, sadly, down to me.
I now have sore thumbs 😦
Worse was to come. Cleaning 3kg of soddin’ crab apples is not my idea of a fun day! However we now have a plastic container holding a reasonable amount of crab apple and rosemary juice (yes rosemary – we’re a bit poncy here). Jelly tomorrow!
The thumb-wrecking production process
Hubble….bubble etc.
You Shakespeare fans know how it goes – various animal parts etc.
Eh…anybody know if crab apple (and rosemary) jelly has any use other than as part of the nuclear fission process?
Crab Apple Day notwithstanding here’s a couple of photos of the Labrador Security Co. in “action” (though that might be the wrong word…considering).
First the cute pose
…and now the slightly more bizarre one???
Reservoir Dugz 
If my apples had crabs I would leave them strictly alone. Unusually, you have my sympathy.
No wonder my thumbs were suffering! I thank you for your sympathy…no doubt the wreath will follow in due course. 😀
I remember collecting crab apples – and trying to eat them – from my very young youth.
Fancy making those poor doggies share a crate.
You can only see one half of the “Crate” Chrissie. There are two pushed together but they insist on both squeezing into the smaller of the two. Who said Labradors were intelligent!
Good…if you have survived eating them raw we may yet survive the jelly. 😀
This has been a superb year for apples I have never seen so much fruit on the trees, also a superb year for blackberries but we haven’t found a bush this year with a sloe on it!!
Anyway back to apples last week we picked 25lb of apples from the tree in my MiL garden, we picked them a much easier way than you thought we got hold of a branch and shook like hell 🙂
We washed them, blended them, squished them through a sieve and my worst half even made a homemade press to get the juice out of them added some yeast and bottled it now considering this took hours and hours and made 2 litres of VERY sour cider……I think I will go to Asda and buy a bottle next time LOL
The final 5lb were peeled and stewed and frozen with the black berries to make pies the week before Christmas.
You have sore thumbs “oh dear” that’s a much sympathy as you will get from me…
The pups look fab as usual, I think they are very intelligent they are cuddles together to keep warm 😀
One of our neighbours has an apple tree and it was heaving with fruit this year. We’ve made 2 apple crumbles so far out of our bag…and we’ll have a good supply of apple sauce for the winter.
Can’t say I’m sorry to have missed out on your scrumpy. You did remember to toss in the dead rat. Won’t taste the same without.
As for the pups being intelligent…hmmm!
The pups are obviously intelligent…no one got them picking crab apples.
Wouldn’t you have preferred to be lying on the sofa?
The jelly will be wonderful with pork…
Can’t argue with that logic Helen 😆
Pork was what immediately sprang to mind…but it’s not something we eat. I reckoned I might use it in sweet and sour sauces. Should work with pan fried chicken/turkey as well.
Apples, apples, apples! ‘Tis the season in this hemisphere. In the hills above Sacramento there’s an annual Apple Festival late Sep through Oct. I went yesterday, along with thousands of other visitors (escaping the week end rush…duh!). Weather was a clear, sunny almost-hot 80 degrees, and on two-lane, curving, mountain roads we managed to stop at three apple farms where parking spaces were still available. Some ranchers allow parking in the orchards…. looks strange viewing acres of orchards with vehicles parked under all the trees! Oh, and there are some excellent wineries and vineyards in the mix….. we tried to get into Lava Cap, but the line was out the door.
Apple Hill: http://www.applehill.com Lava Cap: http://www.lavacap.com
Thanks for the links Florene. We don’t have large scale commercial apple production in Scotland (that I’m aware of) we tend to produce soft fruit. I’ve never heard of similar festivals locally. Having said that I’m not very good at searching for these sort of things. Envious of the weather. 😀
I like the dog throwing idea, although knowing your two is suspect it would be the first and last crab apple crop. Pups 1, Apples 0 I think 🙂
As she travelled through the air Lottie would most likely have managed to strip most of the branches on the way past, leaving only a stump at the foot of the drive.