Natural Apple Storage Tips!

If you've followed this blog for a while you'll no doubt know that I'm slightly obsessed with apples. I'm not quite University challenge level, but I do like to think of them as a subject I know a fair bit about. 

 

I also love this time of year, harvesting them from trees I planted is just a dream. It's also lovely as I get to harvest them with my children who are also obsessed with fruit (but more about eating it!).

A question I get asked a lot is about apple storage and how I get my apples to keep for so long. Especially when I tell people I can get them to store until June some years. 

Red (?) Cabbage

"Daddy, Why is it called red cabbage when it's purple?"

"Good question son, good question..."

Answers on a postcard please! 

 

Pears With Everything

We have a number of pear trees dotted around the place, but this year only one tree, a conference pear, has cropped heavy. 

But then there are enough pears on there to be more than we can eat fresh. So I've been cooking them in any way I can think of. 

We've had pear and apple crumble (which is amazing) and a new one was to have the pears drizzled with honey and balsamic vinegar then roasted. These were incredibly sweet and tasty and one I'll be doing again- it even earnt a "bake-off" style handshake from my middlest child. 

What's your favourite way to have pears?

Teaching My Daughter To Fix A Puncture

SO, I'm always looking to teach the kids stuff - even if it's a subject I don't know too much about! 

I think it must be over 20 years since I fixed a puncture in a bike tyre!  

But my eldest daughter was dead keen to fix it with me, so I showed her how to take the wheels off, disconnect the brakes and get the tube out. 

New Additions (hens) & Egg Rolls

 A friend of dads has a big chicken farm and they sometimes offer us birds when they have their cull to replace with younger birds. These were from a free ranged chicken farm and are very lively and healthy birds! 

We've increased our flock by 6 birds, and I know these will lay better than our Indian Game over winter, which hardly lay at all when the nights draw in.