Apple Season

Unlike back East or up North apple season in the Valley is in the Summer. Usually starting in June and ending around the middle of July. By the 4th of July we are hard "pressed" to get the apples off the trees before the Monsoon moves in and violently remove all the apples for us. 

This year's apple season was unusually short. One of our trees is suffering from "Black Bees" apparently. Sadly the tree lost some very large branches and just did not produce the amount of fruit as it has in years past. 

However, we were able to make some Apple Butter and Pie filling batches and the animals got their fair share of apples and trimmings to eat.  Unfortunately we didn't have enough crop worth the time to get out the cider press....

I'm always amazed at the amount of people I talk to who have NEVER heard of OR tried Apple Butter! Boy, you don't know what you are missing!! There is nothing more farm-like than a toasted english muffin, topped with freshly made apple butter, paired  a cup of tea....it's a very happy place!

Hopefully our treatment and care of  the trees through the Fall will give us a better season next year. Also the two apple trees we planted last year are doing well and will begin to contribute to our fruit crop in a few more years.