Saturday, October 16, 2010

Paint Day/Harvest Day

Today was a balmy, sunny 60 degree day . . . with a stiff wind. You'd never have know it was as warm as the thermometer read by my outfit for painting.

I got the siding painted today. Good job, Mama Pea!

I was working on the north side of the house where the sun don't shine. Add the breeze to that and I had to dress up to be comfortable. I had on a turtleneck, heavy flannel shirt, polar fleece vest and and my painting shirt. And stocking cap. I was not trying to make a fashion statement.

Meanwhile, out in the sunny south yard where it was warm and pleasant, hubby and daughter were harvesting apples. Daughter had volunteered to come help pick. Smart girl. She wanted some apples.

We're expecting a hard freeze first of this week so decided the apples had better come in this weekend.

First the netting had to come off.

It came off much easier than it went on, believe me.

Chicken Mama's dogs, Maisy and Tucker, provided entertainment by putting on a wrestling match.

Methinks we should have done a bit of judicious thinning a few months back? (Thinning. That's not the word. What is the term when you pinch off some apples as they begin to form?)

Apples, we have apples . . .

. . . we have lots and lots of apples.

Hubby fears all of them are not yet quite fully ripe, but they've had a chance to mature much more this year than in any year in a long time. We're mighty pleased with the harvest.

I see applesauce, and dried apples in my future. Any ones we deem unripe, the poultry will happily scarf up. Potatoes and apples. These birds are living pretty good.

16 comments:

Jane @ Hard Work Homestead said...

Those are gorgeous apples. Not a blemish in sight. And I hate to thin out anything. I feel like I am killing something I could eat later. You should see my carrots. I have to get over that.

Sue said...

Oh, you're the STYLE QUEEN!! Don't we all run around looking like we fished for clothes in the dark! Ha!
I was reading this morning that the apples are especially good this year in areas that were low on rain---it concentrates the sugars!
I'm with you-I couldn't thin apples--I feel bad enough doing that with radishes!

Erin said...

I see more of that apple coffee-cake pie thingy you posted last week LOL! Those apples look fantastic! And brrrr, working in the shade while the others get the sunny apple trees? They owe you now! Methinks hubby and daughter should give you a dinner delivered to the quilt studio with a nice hot drink and cozy wool socks on a platter - while they process all those apples LOL!

You Can Call Me Jane said...

Your apples are gorgeous! And how cute are you in your stocking cap?!

We tackled applesauce today. I'm finally sitting down- with me feet up. They are throbbing.

Mama Pea said...

Jane - Funny thing about the apples being blemish free. (Well, except for the holes the Blue Jays made in them . . . grrr!) Hubby has always spent a lot of time mixing and spraying biodynamic potions on the trees. We've never gotten a crop worth diddly. This year he said he wasn't going to take the time. And we got this beautiful harvest. ('Course, our much warmer than usual summer contributed a lot to the apples' development, too.)

Sue - Supposedly thinning them (or whatever the heck you call it) makes for bigger apples. These are all so nice sized I can hardly imagine if we had thinned!

Erin - Ha! That would be the day: Me quilting while everybody else was working. [Sure sounds nice though. ;o)]

ThyHand - That's my go-to cold weather hat that I take a lot of grief over. It's very warm, soft and a little too big. It usually slips down over my eyes which gives me a really sexy look, as you can imagine.

So how many hundreds of jars of applesass did you get put up?

Leigh said...

Oh, wonderful apples! Lucky you.

You've reminded me that I have my own siding to paint. Prime actually. Some parts of the house have chipping paint from the previous owners neglect. I've done most of the exposed wood,but still have one small section to go. Soon!

mtnchild said...

Those apples look wonderful! Are they Cortlands? I prefer crisp and tart like Granny Smith; but most of all apples have to be crisp.
Hugs
Yvette

Anonymous said...

I love the outfit! Looks like something I would wear for a job such as that:) Those apples look yummy:) Enjoy all the delicious stuff you can make from them!!

Mama Pea said...

Leigh - This siding we put up came primed. For which I'm sooo thankful. Hate to prime. I wanna go right to the color so I can see the end result!

Yvette - We have a mixture of apples, each tree is different. You and my husband! His apples have to be hard and crisp, too. Me? I'll even take a mealy apple if it's sweet and flavorful.

Stephanie - Thanks, ma'am. I'm eager to get a whole bunch of applesauce canned up!

You Can Call Me Jane said...

MP, You'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out!:-)

The Apple Pie Gal said...

Those apples look awesome! And of course you do too! Glad to see you got some more things checked off your list.

Mama Pea said...

Apple Pie Gal - Thanks for noticing my apples. Flattery will get you really far with me. ;o)

Melissa said...

The apples are so beautiful and I can't believe that they are like that without any spray! Apples are at the top of the dirty dozen "worst for pesticides" list, so good, spray free specimens are dreamy for us. Wish I could come up and sample a few:)

Mama Pea said...

Melissa - Yup, we feel very fortunate to have them this year. Apparently the Blue Jays read that sprayed apples aren't healthy as we estimate we lost about a third of our crop to them. (Well heck, who wants to see sick Blue Jays around?)

We're only the length of one heckuva big state away from each other. Come sample a few!

Karen Sue said...

Visited a friend with healthy apple supply this weekend. Reaping the benefits from my visit!

Mama Pea said...

Karen Sue - Hmmm, I smell apple pie and applesauce and dried apples and . . .