A Good Crab Apple Year

It’s a good year for Crabapples.  The shade garden under our crab apple tree is thick with little yellowish-green apples. I’ve heard these are the best cider apples.   We don’t make cider, but the donkeys and sheep love them.

This afternoon I threw some over the fence where the sheep were grazing, filled up a bucket with more and there’s still so many on the ground.

Fanny and Lulu each got a few, thanks for taking Selfies with me.  And they’ll get more tomorrow and the next day and the day after that….

6 thoughts on “A Good Crab Apple Year

  1. Crabapples make the best jelly…. you just need some certo, a big pot, some canning jars and a Foley Food Mill which is hard to find now a days unless you go to Ebay. My sister and I used to pick them off the trees growing on the side of the road near my grandparents Dairy farm.

    1. I didn’t know that Theresa. I love the idea of using the apples instead of just letting them rot. You do make it sound easy to make the jelly. I get a nice image in my mind (makes me smile) of your and your sister picking up the apples on the side of the road.

  2. Our 2 German shepherd litter mates love the apples that fall from the numerous apple trees around our yard. (My husband picks some to make apple sauce but most are left to the birds and wild critters.) Our male shepherd does get upset if he looks out a window and sees a deer eating “his”apples. He rarely barks as his sister does all the talking but this is one time he has things to say in a much deeper bark than she has.

  3. Maria…it does not take a lot of apples. The reason for the Foley Food Mill is to squeeze the pulp and juice out of the cooked apples. You need to only clean the apples up and slice them in chunks to cook. Seeds and all. We picked them for my Mom growing up. Every fall we picked the Crab apples for her to make into Jelly and we also picked Elderberries that grew on my grandparents farm for her. She used the Foley food Mill for both. Once you taste home made jelly from Crab apples or elderberries you will be amazed. And don’t be scared to cut the sugar back. I made some delicious Plum Jam a few weeks ago and cut the sugar in half and doubled the certo. And if you can enough people will buy your home made jelly from you. You just need to make sure you can it right to seal the lids.

    1. How interesting that you can keep the seed in Theresa. I’ve never made jam, but we have so many crab apple trees on the farm, it makes me want to try. Thanks!

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