Monthly Archives: September 2025

Preserving the Harvest – Apples

Apple Cider, Apple Pie, Apples, Preserving, Reflections

I know I’ve said this several times, but we’ve had a wonderful year for growing foods. Apples are no exception. At least three of our trees were heavy producers which have given us plenty of apples do what we want with. In past years I have made apple pie filling which I freeze for making pies throughout the year, I have canned apple sauce, and we have dehydrated apples.

We have found that we usually don’t eat much of the applesauce or the dehydrated apples, so we decided to do something different this year.

So far, I have enough pie filling in the freezer to make 8 pies. The other thing we are doing is making apple cider.

We have never made cider before because we do not have an apple press, but this year we figured out how to make cider without a press.

It’s not as efficient as using a press, we first peel (the peel could be left on), core, and slice the apples then put them in the blender. We are doing small batches.

We add just a little bit of water to get them going and we blend the apples until they are pureed.

We then strain out the juice (cider). To do this we put the puree in a fine mesh juice bag, then set that in strainer over a bowl or pot.

We then put a smaller bowl on top of the juice bag and press down on it to help squeeze the juice out. We’ll let it drip for a while then come back and press some more.

I have been pasteurizing the cider then freezing what we don’t drink, but we are also going to make some hard cider which will be made with raw (unpasteurized) cider. I’ll let you know how that turns out.

Thanks for reading!

Fall is in the Air

Bees, Black-eyed-susan, Chickens, Fall, Nature, Reflections, Ruby, Sunflowers, The Farm, Wild Flowers, Wildlife, , , ,

Fall is in the air but the temperatures this week were more like summer.

We’ve seen a lot of skies that look like this lately – deep blue with fluffy white clouds. How about joining me for a walk at the farm?

Ruby will join us, but since she likes to move faster than we do she will probably lap us a couple of times. Don’t worry if you hear something rustling in the weeds or the woods behind us it’s probably her.

I love these Black-eyed Susans that we planted along the fence two years ago.

Such a brilliant splash of fall color.

It was tempting to cut down this thistle, but the flower is so pretty. Maybe I’ll cut it just before it goes to seed.

Some of the chickens are enjoying their day foraging near the pond.

Maple trees are beginning to show their fall colors.

There are lots of bees in the golden rod.

Asters are beginning to bloom

The white ones as well as the purple.

And purple loosestrife is still in bloom.

This butterfly posed for a couple pictures then fluttered nearby as we walked the back field.

The oak trees are loaded with acorns this year.

Some have begun to fall.

The hickory trees have fewer nuts this year than last but still enough to feed some squirrels.

This Norway spruce is loaded with pinecones.

I wonder what kind of pinecone craft I can come up with. Do you have any ideas?

Oh my gosh! Elderberries! I’ll come back and pick these after we finish our walk. This is my first year picking elderberries. The first few years after we planted them I would wait for the berries to ripen but before they were ripe the birds would eat them all. I then discovered that the elder flowers are as good or better than the berries for making syrup or tincture, so I began harvesting the flowers in the spring. This year I forgot to harvest the flowers and while there are not a lot of berries here there are enough to make a small batch of tincture. 🙂

We’ve already seen a lot of the bees are foraging in the goldenrod and I’m sure some are in the sunflowers as well. One thing that you might notice, if the wind is just right, is the smell of honey drifting from the hive. This time of year, when the bees are in the goldenrod, is the only time that we smell honey while at the farm.

We still have a lot of sunflowers in bloom.

Some are so tall they are having a hard time holding their heads up.

Colby Jack (above) and Bernard (below) are waiting for some treats.

Should we give them some apples?

Somebody grabbed my camera while I wasn’t looking (and took my picture). You wouldn’t do something like that – would you?

Colby Jack and Bernard say, “Thank You for the apples”

I hope you enjoyed your time on the farm. Thank you for joining me.

Game Day

Reflections, Ruby

Football season has begun. Last year Ruby decided she did not like to be around while I watch football since I tend to get a bit loud when I’m rooting for our Detroit Lions. She will generally go retreat to the bedroom until things (I) settle down.

As the week two game started yesterday Ruby disappeared into the bedroom. She did come out during halftime, and as my husband and I sat in our recliners waiting for the game to resume Ruby wanted to play. She first brought her tennis ball (which is her favorite) but quickly changed her mind.

She then went and got her football which she rarely plays with.

Somehow, she seemed to know that it was football time. It baffles me – how did she know? I did toss the ball for her a few times before the game came back on. Then she went back to the bedroom while my husband and I finished watching our Lions crush the Chicago Bears 52-21.

GO LIONS!