Apples in Early June

They say if you bring something good to a potluck you’ll have to bring the same dish to every potluck from now on. I don’t make the rules.

When I attend a potluck, with or without my spouse, I take something we can both eat. Sometimes it is popular, yet mostly it is not. I overestimated the degree to which other people’s like for kale would match mine. I no longer take kale dishes. Whatever is not eaten goes into our rotation of leftovers. Live and let live. Life is good.

When the garden comes in, I make something for potluck with fresh ingredients, maybe potato salad. It is important to keep anything with eggs in it chilled. During apple harvest, some sort of baked apple dish is the norm, something like apple crisp. Thus far, my dishes haven’t been described as good very often, so I’m free to experiment. And I will.

In mid-June we have a good idea if there will be an apple crop and how big it may be. This year’s apples look to be plentiful. Typically, earliest apples go to sauce for fresh eating, and apple cider vinegar. Depending upon how they taste, I may make some apple butter with early apples. Mostly I wait until the September-October harvested ones for the main batches of canned sauce and butter. I also fill up the cider vinegar jars in the pantry. Each year I learn a bit more about processing the abundance when there is one.

The two newest apple trees are unpredictable. One has a couple of fruits forming, and the other has a lot. I can’t remember which is Zestar! and which is Crimson Crisp. Either would be welcome this year.

I toured the garden this morning and besides weeding, things look alright. There was not much caterpillar damage on the cruciferous vegetables. In the front yard, I saw a Monarch caterpillar and a milkweed bug having breakfast together. Late spring is a great time of year.