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'Tivo and another busy busy day
Sep. 20th, 2008 08:42 pmGary had his gig at the farmers market this morning, so take care of the animals since he leaves early for that, then do some laundry and make up a shopping list, go to the bank to deposit paycheck, to grocery store to buy food for the week, home to put away food, then to the farmers market to meet Gary for lunch and help him get all his stuff back to the car. Come home, put Tess out in the pasture for the afternoon, weave on Argos' shawl while Gary takes a nap to make up for getting up so early, then while he goes out to clean stalls (today being his day) think about all the apples sitting here and make an apple pie. Wind the rest of the dyed cotton into balls so I can finish knitting the lace scarf from it. Oh, and check e-mails and LJ, respond to whatever needs it, bring Tess back in and give her grain and hay, fix dinner using as much stuff from the garden as possible, now back to weaving or maybe knitting since that has the earlier deadline. Whew.
Made the pie using Cortland apples. Those are a tart, crunchy cooking apple that's pretty good in pies and excellent for apple sauce or baked apples. They also happen to be, well, rather large. I started with three, and thought "That can't be enough" so I peeled and sliced four of them. The pie ended up five inches high in the center and I could barely get the crust sealed around the edges. Of course, they cook down as the pie bakes, but still, a whole pie from just four apples is kinda amazing. I guess you could make a pie from just one if it was a Wolf River (they are the size of small pumpkins, but have little taste really.)
All the local orchards have their signs out, and it's amusing to watch the sign wars. "Not Just Delicious Orchard" puts out signs beside the road, and "Woodstock Country Orchard" comes along and puts theirs right behind, with prices on it, only to be hidden by a larger sign from "Year-Round Orchard" (which isn't open year round, but only in September and October.) Soon it will be like Burma Shave signs, with contradictions on each one. I guess last weekend was rained out for most of them, so they have a lot of apples to sell right now. "Prairie Skies Orchard" used to sell other people's apples because their own trees weren't yet bearing, but this year I understand they have their own apples. I don't know what varieties they planted, but the Red Delicious is finally in eclipse. No one wants it any more, thank goodness, so I'll bet they have something else more interesting. Maybe even Prairie Spies. Those would be nice to have. Empires come in next week, but unless we use up what we have I may not be able to justify buying them. The Melrose or Melreuge are the last ones, first week in October, and worth the wait. I still wish for Northern Spy and Winesap, but no one seems to have good trees any more.
Oh, and while I was getting ready to go shopping this morning, the doorbell rang, something that happens about once a year out here. Both dogs started barking, I looked out the window and there was a sheriff's car in the drive. Uh oh. Quick threw on some sweats because I had been getting into the shower and went to the door. It was a deputy all right, quite a young one. He wanted to know if I was missing a dog. No, I told him, I have two and you can hear them in the house barking at you. He explained that he had just seen a smallish dog out in the road, and when he stopped to see if he could catch it, the dog ran up our drive and into the woods behind the barns. I nodded, and told him it likely belonged to the neighbors to our west (the Brits) since they let their dogs run loose all the time and they are frequently nosing around in our barns and pasture. He apologized for disturbing me and left. Being nosy, I watched out the bedroom window to see if he would go over to the Brits' to ask them, but I guess he didn't. Too bad. I don't think their dogs are licensed either.
Made the pie using Cortland apples. Those are a tart, crunchy cooking apple that's pretty good in pies and excellent for apple sauce or baked apples. They also happen to be, well, rather large. I started with three, and thought "That can't be enough" so I peeled and sliced four of them. The pie ended up five inches high in the center and I could barely get the crust sealed around the edges. Of course, they cook down as the pie bakes, but still, a whole pie from just four apples is kinda amazing. I guess you could make a pie from just one if it was a Wolf River (they are the size of small pumpkins, but have little taste really.)
All the local orchards have their signs out, and it's amusing to watch the sign wars. "Not Just Delicious Orchard" puts out signs beside the road, and "Woodstock Country Orchard" comes along and puts theirs right behind, with prices on it, only to be hidden by a larger sign from "Year-Round Orchard" (which isn't open year round, but only in September and October.) Soon it will be like Burma Shave signs, with contradictions on each one. I guess last weekend was rained out for most of them, so they have a lot of apples to sell right now. "Prairie Skies Orchard" used to sell other people's apples because their own trees weren't yet bearing, but this year I understand they have their own apples. I don't know what varieties they planted, but the Red Delicious is finally in eclipse. No one wants it any more, thank goodness, so I'll bet they have something else more interesting. Maybe even Prairie Spies. Those would be nice to have. Empires come in next week, but unless we use up what we have I may not be able to justify buying them. The Melrose or Melreuge are the last ones, first week in October, and worth the wait. I still wish for Northern Spy and Winesap, but no one seems to have good trees any more.
Oh, and while I was getting ready to go shopping this morning, the doorbell rang, something that happens about once a year out here. Both dogs started barking, I looked out the window and there was a sheriff's car in the drive. Uh oh. Quick threw on some sweats because I had been getting into the shower and went to the door. It was a deputy all right, quite a young one. He wanted to know if I was missing a dog. No, I told him, I have two and you can hear them in the house barking at you. He explained that he had just seen a smallish dog out in the road, and when he stopped to see if he could catch it, the dog ran up our drive and into the woods behind the barns. I nodded, and told him it likely belonged to the neighbors to our west (the Brits) since they let their dogs run loose all the time and they are frequently nosing around in our barns and pasture. He apologized for disturbing me and left. Being nosy, I watched out the bedroom window to see if he would go over to the Brits' to ask them, but I guess he didn't. Too bad. I don't think their dogs are licensed either.
