Harvesting time is on and not just for theta

Were here to farm and harvest. We should use those same tenets of investing in our personal life’s also.

In my particular case this weekend was apple harvesting time. Now as others have pointed out apples in June????? Well yes apples in June. There are many different varieties of apples.

This variety is called Anna Apple. It has a lot of of attributes that make it very attractive for Apple production. The first being that it only requires 250hrs of cold time. So if you live in any mild climate areas you can enjoy bumper crops of apples without having to worry if it will get cold enough to get fruit. Additionally it’s self pollinating. Meaning you don’t even have to own two trees to get lots and lots of yummy apples.

Lastly this is an early crop apple so if you live in any place that gets little winter/spring rain you will always get bummper crops as there still will be high levels of residual soil moisture when the tree is in production period. Which ultimately means you’re not fighting like crazy against summer heat to keep enough water in the ground or heat waves causing the tree to drop its fruit.

My tree is on drip irrigation and gets less than 4.5 gallons of water a week. My tree is 3 years from like a 4 gallon sized plastic pot planting size. The tree is about waist high now and this year produced 24lbs of apples.

I made apple butter today. 6lbs of apples yielded 15cups of apple butter.

Apple butter jam as follows

• 6lbs apples
• 3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 3 cups water
• Sugar 50/50 white and brown sugar 1/3 cup per cup of apple sauce
• 2 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon allspice
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1.5 tablespoon lemon zest
• 4 tablespoons lemon juice
• Pinch salt

1/4 the apples remove seeds leave skin on and cores in. Put into a large pot with vinegar and water. Put a lid on and simmer for 30min 1 hr. Just softening up to run through blender.

Run apples through blender when they start to soften. For every cup of apple sauce puree add 1/3 cup of sugar with apple puree into pot. Add in spices stir occasionally and let simmer for 3 hrs. Basically your reducing and caramelizing the sugars. Can use a lid held open with like a chopstick to let evaporate and help retain heat.

Once dark and thickened you’re ready to move to canning via a water bath. Shit will last for years shelf stable and be better tasting than anything you buy at the store. Makes great Christmas gifts.