As we expected, our harvest was small. You may notice some of the apples are in plastic bags. We did this as an experiment to see if it might help them ripen faster. Kinda like creating a mini greenhouse around them. Tomorrow we'll sort the apples, take off the bags and see if we can tell if it made a difference when compared with the ones that weren't in the bags. Because of the season we've had, we're expecting a lot of the apples to be on the unripe side. Dang. If so, we'll take them out to some of the trails in our woods and let the deer enjoy them. ( Hope they don't get bellyaches.)
Our organic co-op had a good deal on turkeys recently so I bought a couple. One is waiting in the freezer for a Thanksgiving debut, but since we no longer have any of our chickens left in the freezer, I roasted this turkey today, de-boned it and packaged up the meat in serving sizes for the freezer and later use. We did also treat ourselves to a turkey dinner tonight. Yum!
The turkey skin, bones, and other carnage (!) after the de-boning went into a big pot to simmer for a couple of days to give us some nutritious turkey bone broth. Admittedly it doesn't look like much right now, but the broth will be delish!
Yes, we have been burning a little bit of wood already, so filled the wood box on the porch. (Over-filled it a bit, I'd say.)
Since I'm getting geared up to do some big time bread baking, I ground some spelt, rye and einkorn flour to have ready.
Along with a few other miscellaneous little tasks, I also cleaned the bathroom today, but didn't take any pictures. (You're welcome.)
16 comments:
Busy as usual MamaPea. Is your porch woodbox open inside the house? My grandparents had a in/out box. Fill outside and empty inside. Saved a lot of steps and mess. I admit I never do turkey broth but I'm going to try this year. I'm thinking about cooking it in crockpot though.
Lisa - Nope, our wood box doesn't open into the house ('twould be nice) but at least it's on the enclosed porch so once we get it there, we haul it into the house in a wood bag.
Making your turkey broth in a crock pot should work just fine. It's soooo good to use in most any soup. Makes wonderful gravy, too.
Sounds like you starting to nestle in for winter with a box full of wood, delicious turkey in the freezer and home-made bread. I love it!
Beautiful apples, organic co-op, and full wood box. What's not to envy, even if you've already had hard freezes!
Since a few weeks I am reading myself through all of your blogs. Starting at the beginning. I am at November 2010 now :) Made your apple-slices recipe this morning. Smells lovely and looks delicious. Although my husband (he is from Austria) complained why I did not make Apfelstrudel. Wait until he tastes this!!!. Mine are storebought apples. Our tree (a dwarf) only gave 10 apples this year. It looks like you can make yourself a whole lot of appleslices!!
Thanks for making (and giving us so much of your time) such a wonderful blog!!
Wendy, the Netherlands.
Sounds like you guys are getting settled in for the long haul. Nice wood box! Hope you get enough apples for at least a pie or two.
Loved the bathroom bit you shared. As always, you can make me laugh. I bet that turkey was delicious. As well as the broth. We are unable to buy organic here. Unless we want a long drive.
Mama Pea,
I remember living up north all the apples we would pick and use in butter, crisps, apple sauce,fillings, pies, tarts, etc.... Grandma used to have an orchard of apples, plums, cherries, and pears.
Those apples of yours really look gorgeous. What are your plans for all of them? The deer are going to be your best friend!!!!
Your roasted turkey, and the homemade broth is making my mouth water. It's that time of year to start canning / freezing homemade bone broth. Once things settle down I'm going to be doing the same thing. My goal is to have plenty of canned beef, turkey, chicken, and vegetable broth.
Hubby keeps asking me to make more homemade bread. He seen this post and turned to me stating, "see if Mama Pea's making bread you can too". I'm going to have to stop reading blogs when he's around.....LOL!!!!
Hows the weather been up there? We've dropped to the mid 40's at night, afternoons have been in the 50-60's. Today, it's raining cats and dogs!!!
Laurie - Oh, if that were only the case! The "before winter" list is still too long, but we're gaining on it. I sure am on the bread making kick though . . . made two different kinds of rye bread today. Gotta keep my rye bread lovin' husband happy!
Leigh - And, wow, are the days getting shorter! It does feel like we've definitely turned the corner toward the winter season. (I love it!)
Wendy - I think the reason I keep writing the blog is because of "meeting" readers like you! Thank you so much for your kind words.
I haven't made a pan of Apple Slices this year yet, but my husband just suggested I do so a couple of days ago. But your husband's Apfelstrudel sounds wonderful, too. Wish I knew how to make that!
DFW - Yep, we are working toward being ready for this winter season. We never got around to sorting and taste testing the apples today . . . maybe tomorrow. Hubby did eat one yesterday and it was much to sour for eating out of hand for me, but I know it would be cooked up. Of course, the one he ate was the biggest and most colored up one so I'm betting many of the rest won't taste even that good. :o(
Kristina - For living in such a sparsely populated area it's amazing we have the wonderful, organic co-op we do. It started out (believe it or not) nearly 40 years ago as a "buying club" when a local couple found a source for bulk, organically grown grains, legumes, beans, etc. and took orders from friends and acquaintances. The deliveries came to them and we went to pick up our share from their front porch! Now we have a full-blown grocery store nearly as big as the regular commercial one in town.
Sandy - What will we do with all the apples? I'm afraid most of them are going to be so unripe that the deer will get them. But we'll salvage any that seem to be matured enough to use for cooking. No good eating ones this year though, I'm thinking.
I usually have a good supply of all broths except vegetable. When a recipe calls for that I just use either beef or chicken/turkey broth.
Don't let your hubby see this post 'cause I made two different kinds of rye breads today! Tomorrow (if the weather is as ishy as it has been) I'm going to experiment some more with einkorn flour for bread.
We've had several days of damp, cold (temps in 40s), rainy weather. Down below freezing (but not much) at night. It's good for the ground to go into winter with enough moisture but it sure does make it hard to get those outside chores done!
SM works with various businesses, poultry farmers included. (NC is big on that) One of the farmers told SM several months ago to expect turkey prices to be a lot higher than usual (bird-flu). I've been eyeballing the early stuff at the market and can't really say that I'm seeing things out of line. I told SM that I'm happy with a larger roaster this year.
Nice apples. I' hoping to be saucing this weekend. Can an "unripe" apple be sauced?
Tami - I had heard the same thing so was kinda surprised to see these turkeys so reasonably priced.
When I did applesauce today, the apples that had "green" looking meat were tossed (out for the chickens . . . and deer). How "unripe" were some of them used? Dunno, but I tasted the batch before bottling it up and it seemed fine. None of them were very sweet or had a lot of flavor though before adding a smidge of sugar and a bit of cinnamon. But, as I say, the sauce was very passable so I'm happy for that.
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