More free bounty

Firstly I must thank all those lovely bloggers who posted such sympthetic and supportive comments on my Grey Blanket post - I really appreciated them all and they worked for today in spite of the weather being wet and chilly I am feeling much happier! I like to think I am normally quite a positive person and hate it when I don't match up to my own expectations and feel miserable and negative but we all have those days and perhaps they make us appreciate the up days.

More free bounty these are from an apple tree in the garden of my mother's house not far from us which has been rented out since her death 9 years ago and provides me with a small pension. I was visiting the house recently along with the agent as I had had some work done and wanted to check it out before paying for it all when I noticed that there were hundreds of windfalls on the grass. Guessing that the tenants would not want to make use of them - they are a young couple who both work full time - I asked the agent if she would ask them if I could come round and pick some of them up sometime. Today was the day arranged for the side gate to be left open so it was today or not at all and heavy rain was forecast! Lady luck was with me though and the rain didn't start in earnest till after I had 2 carrier bags full of apples safely stowed in the car. I know my mother would approve as she hated waste and one of her mantras was Waste not Want not so she would be glad I am following her dictum!

I want to freeze some of course but over my cup of coffee I checked out this little book - one of my mother's little treasures and dated 1947! I love this book and as you can see it has been well used! Quite a different kettle of fish to my lovely Country Harvest shown here a couple of posts ago!

No coloured photographs here but instead some lovely line drawings

Makes you want to get the jelly bag out doesn't it and I don't even like jelly!!

You can tell this recipe has been popular look at all the stains on it!



I think I will give canning a miss though - this all looks a bit Heath Robinson to me!! And salting beans having read the paragraph about how to do it and how when you come to use them you should wash them well in 3 lots of water then soak them for a couple of hours before cooking them without salt(!) for 30 - 40 minutes - I am thinking that there would be very few vitamins etc left by then and imagining the kharki coloured result - green veg? I think not and would rather put my excess on the compost heap but of course when this book was written any veg was better than no veg I guess.

Do you have a still room? I certainly don't but I love the idea of it don't you? I imagine myself quietly drying my flowers (you know the ones from that garden I waft round wearing my shady hat and carrying my basket whilst telling "the man" where to dig!) and storing my herbs. Bottles of wonderful concoctions at the ready - tisanes and herbal teas for every ailment! No? Perhaps not then.

I have now have two trays of apple slices in the freezer so far and a further carrier bag of apples which I will leave for another day. We had this delicious Devon Apple cake for dessert with our lunch - I will slice up the remainder and freeze that for another time too. (Not sure in what way a Devon Apple cake differs from a Somerset one which is what this was but the recipe in my Cranks Wholefood cookbook calls it Devon Apple Cake!)

I have been in and out to the freezer in the garage with my apples and thought these worthy of a photo - my lovely hydrangea is enjoying the rain and....

the rose hips on the hedge look amazing all wet and shiny don't they? The little snail seems happy in the rain too.

I will post another memory post later this evening so look out for it in the side bar if you are enjoying these posts.