RURAL IOWA CITY— Saturday was my last day working as a mapper at the orchard. I enjoy the work a lot, and hope to get hired again next year, but for now, it’s over. The season continues through the end of the month, as soon, all the apples will have been picked.
As a mapper, I greeted visitors and helped them find apples in the u-pick operation. It was fun, and importantly, it was a chance to weave narratives, scores of times during a shift. I have been able to hone my story-telling skills by repeating and improving on the narrative of how to find the best apples. That part of the experience is best, in addition to working with other great people.
Yesterday was also the end of my farm work for the season. I’m down to three paying part-time jobs, and one of those ends in December. It’s time to look for something else to produce income now and in 2015. I have a sound financial model, now I need to execute it.
The coming weeks are expected to be a time of adventure, and exploration as I contemplate answers to the question, “what’s next?”
LAKE MACBRIDE— Father taught me to eat apples after a trip on River Drive to buy a bushel.
It seemed unusual to secure so many at once, but he knew someone, and with a limited weekly income from the meat packing plant, the family took what help he could find.
Dad used a knife to cut away bad spots and avoid eating worms. I remember him rocking in a chair eating apples with a paring knife after dinner. He didn’t call them “knife apples.” I coined that term when describing the fruit from our trees.
My apple trees don’t get sprayed. Not now, not ever. The fruit is not certifiably organic, but no fertilizers or pesticides have been used, and because of that, the apples are not perfect. To eat one raw, I recommend using a knife to cut them open and see what is inside. Mostly what is found is delicious.
Apples keep only for so long. The crisp, white flesh of the Red Delicious apple is the best eating when freshly picked and still cool from the evening air. Patience taught me to wait to pick them until they are well ripened. The large globes come in all at once with a few picking sessions, and then there is an issue of what to do with them. This year the plan is juice, baked goods, and out of hand eating.
Not many are willing to risk eating an apple worm or use a knife when so many varieties are available for out of hand eating with less imperfections. We found a few takers for mine, but a warm apple crisp is often more welcome than the raw materials to make one. The next couple of weeks will be processing and more processing. Damaged windfalls and cutting remains will all get composted.
My work at the orchard will wrap up this month, and with our harvest, I won’t buy apples again until the Winesap and Gold Rush come in at the end of the season. My developing apple culture is just one more way to cope with a turbulent world and contribute to our household’s food security.
After a shift at the warehouse, I stopped at the orchard to get Honeycrisp apples. Contrary to what one sees in the mega market, they are seasonal, and the season is short. We hadn’t had enough.
The orchard staff was busy with a tour group, so I went straight to the display near the cooler in the sales barn. Sad remainders, absent of value besides pressing into cider, I ventured into the orchard wearing my white shirt, black slacks and blue shoes from the warehouse.
I had directed hundreds of people to the Honeycrisp groves the last two Saturdays. It was uncertain whether any could be found, but following my own advice, I looked near the trunk of the trees and was not disappointed. I picked eight pounds from two trees in a few minutes.
As I headed back, past the pumpkin patch, across the creek and up the hill, it was invigorating to be out in the orchard where ideas meet reality and bear fruit.
LAKE MACBRIDE— From the moment an apple falls from a tree, deterioration begins. Over 20 years of tending our small orchard, I learned to keep the ground under the trees picked up to discourage bugs and worms from spreading throughout the trees. Before the main crop is ready, there has been usable fruit on the ground. One recognizes when it is time to pick based on how many apples fall in a day. I brought about five pounds of apples to the kitchen to make vinegar.
Making vinegar is pretty simple. Core and cut away bad spots, including bruises, from a bowl of apples and juice them with a kitchen juicer. (One can also make apple cider, but securing and using a cider mill is a big production not suitable for small baskets of fallen apples). Strain the juice and pour it into a half gallon canning jar. Add part of the mother from the last batch, or a small amount of last year’s vinegar, and cover with a cotton cloth to allow it to breathe. I use a scrap of our daughter’s diaper, as the warp and woof is just right to let air out and prevent bugs from entering. Set the jar in a dark cupboard and leave it alone for a couple of months, inspecting it occasionally to see if the process is working.
A process byproduct is straining and bottling the last batch. A lot of mother was produced in last year’s effort, and what I couldn’t use went into the compost. The jars in the photo have vinegar from apple cider, the new batch and from apples juiced in the kitchen. The latter is by far the best tasting and most acidic.
Cucumbers and onions are in, so maybe a batch of refrigerator pickles to recipe test the results.
LAKE MACBRIDE— A friend was coming to overnight, so I baked a cake— an applesauce cake with rhubarb sauce.
The challenge of growing and preparing local food is cooking, and I don’t mean heating up the latest frozen concoction from H.J. Heinz. It is understanding what types of fruit and vegetables can be consistently sourced locally, then working those items into a localized cuisine— a micro cuisine specific to a household.
For example, we have four apple trees, and at some point we stopped letting them fall for wildlife and started processing them into food. Among other things, I make applesauce— quarts and quarts of it— from the Red and Golden Delicious apples grown on our trees. Are Red Delicious the optimal choice for applesauce? Probably not, but they are what we have.
Over the years I developed two critical things: a recipe for applesauce cake as a way to use up the abundance of canned sauce; and occasions like the visit of a friend to prepare and serve them. Both are important.
This spring we received an abundance of rhubarb from the CSA, so we needed a way to use it. A bag or two from last year is in the freezer, so we don’t need more there. Nor do we dip it in sugar and eat it raw, so I decided to get sauced, making a simple rhubarb and raw honey sauce to top slices of applesauce cake. The recipe is simple cutting, mixing and tasting.
Rhubarb Sauce
Finely dice a large bunch of rhubarb stalks and place into a saucepan.
Add a tablespoon of water to create the initial steam. The rhubarb will produce a lot of its own moisture, so much that most of it can be removed before adding the honey.
Add a generous amount of local honey to the cooking rhubarb. I used raw honey from the same farm where the rhubarb grew.
Stir until it is incorporated, bring to a boil, and then turn the heat to a simmer and cook. Taste the sauce and adjust honey. No spices are needed, but feel free to add if you like. The rhubarb-honey taste will carry the sauce as it is served.
Cook until the sauce thickens a bit. Serve hot or chilled.
Applesauce Cake
1 cup brown sugar
1-1/2 cups applesauce
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
2 teaspoons baking soda
1-1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1-1/4 cups unbleached flour
1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup raisins
Cook the raisins in water until plumped. Drain and set aside.
Incorporate applesauce, sugar, cinnamon, cloves and butter in a large bowl.
Sift the flour and raisins into a separate bowl and add the raisins. Stir until the raisins are coated with flour.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones and beat well until fully incorporated.
Line a cake pan with parchment paper and pour the cake batter in.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes.
Place the cake on a cooling rack.
Serving suggestion. Cut a 1-1/2 inch wedge and place on a small plate. Pour 1/4 cup rhubarb sauce on top and serve. Add whipped cream if you like, or decorate the plate with fresh fruit.
LAKE MACBRIDE— Apple blossoms are in full bloom, and it never lasts for long. Once bees pollinate, the petals fall in snowy softness, carpeting the ground as quickly as they went from pink to bloom.
One of the farms where I work is an apple orchard— a resource for learning about my four trees. I recently sent a question via email.
“Can last winter’s pruning cause a lot of blooms this spring?
I pruned my trees and the Red Delicious tree is loaded with blooms like it was last year. Not sure the pruning helped that, but I was expecting very little fruit because it was a branch buster last year.”
The answer came promptly:
“I spoke to my dad about your question. He said that pruning and the number of blossoms aren’t directly related. The exact reason is quite a long answer, but he said that you must just have a good tree!”
That’s a good enough answer for me, “it’s a good tree.”
I did my first experiment in making flour tortillas at home yesterday. They came out more flatbread than tortilla, so it needs more work. Trouble is we’re not running a test kitchen here and need to consume what we cook. We’ll enjoy the flatbread, but wait a couple of weeks for round two.
The dough recipe included some baking powder, which leavened the bread. Next time, I’ll omit it and see if the result is more tortilla-like.
There is a zero percent chance of precipitation through sunset today, so hopefully the ground will dry out, enabling preparation of more garden space for transplanting. There is a lot to get into the ground before Memorial Day.
The row croppers took advantage of last week’s drying conditions, and according to the USDA crop report, 70 percent of the corn and 20 percent of the soybeans are planted, putting spring planting right on its traditional schedule.
Reflecting on time spent with Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) last week, I am glad I participated in their national meetings. My primary interest in the group is their long history of nuclear abolition work. Dr. Ira Helfand from Massachusetts has been a prominent figure in the nuclear abolition movement, and it was good to spend some time with him. Likewise, the Washington, D.C. staff was there, along with chapter leaders from around the country. The organization has expanded its reach beyond abolition to include the relationship between health and climate change, and toxic substances in the environment.
I broached the topic of the effectiveness of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in effecting policy change. In today’s political environment, more people associate with NGOs, and a lot of people make a living doing that work. My concern is that in the perpetual chase for grant money, the number of funders is reducing, and whatever may have been successful last year, is out of step this year.
In Washington, there is a small group of people working on nuclear disarmament and they talk among themselves constantly. This includes people in NGOs, the U.S. and foreign governments and citizen advocates. I met a number of these people during my treaty ratification advocacy work in 2009. However, there is a certain self-interest they have in keeping conversations alive that perhaps may be better off placed on the back burner.
We are entering an era when regardless of which political party dominates the Washington conversation, the same work goes on, and currently it is work that includes refurbishing the nuclear weapons complex with a great diversion of funds. A person can’t be happy about that.
Nonetheless, while NGOs may not be as effective as I would like, they are currently the only game in town, so I plan to re-engage with PSR over the near term. The work will include rolling out a program on nuclear abolition to local Rotary clubs, working in between gardening and yard care sessions.
LAKE MACBRIDE— Taking photographs of spring flowers isn’t necessary. Nor does it record the pink, blue, red, white and violet petals in a way that persists like the collective memories of 20 years of spring in this place.
The Red Delicious apple tree has an abundance of blooms, just like last year. I thought 2014 would be apple bust because there were so many last year. It is very exciting to see blooms on two apple trees and on the pear tree.
I am lagging behind the neighborhood on making the first cut of lawn. I saw bumble bees in the dandelions— a hopeful sign. I want to give them as many pollinating opportunities as possible. We have a light carpet of violets among the blades of grass. I don’t want to cut until I need to mulch the tomatoes and peppers. It won’t be long, but not today.
The scents of the flowers are intoxicating. Anyone who doesn’t know what I mean should get outside more— now. The varied fragrances last so short a while, but we drink in their liquor like hikers after following the trace of Dillon’s Furrow from the city.
LAKE MACBRIDE— Tomorrow I’m doing something for me. I’m taking a three hour course in pruning apple trees at the orchard where I worked last fall. The cost is $10, but what is best is the opportunity to learn from people who prune apple trees for a living. There is a lot else that needs doing tomorrow, but the pruning class takes precedence.
There is also more to tell, but that will be later.
LAKE MACBRIDE— 2013 has been the best year for local apples since I planted trees. Every tree bore fruit, and around the county, everyone with an apple tree had a good harvest if they wanted to pick them. Yesterday I bought half a bushel of Gold Rush apples from the orchard, the last maturing fruit of the season. Because I work at the orchard during the peak season, I got a discount.
Dolgo Crab Apples
As winter approaches, the work has turned to making chunky applesauce a quart at a time with the ripest fruit. It’s delicious, if you know what I mean. The main uses for the bumper apple crop have been as follows:
Delicious Apples
Apple butter has become a staple for the last few years. I made a batch with the earliest apples, then a big batch of fallen apple butter from fruit knocked down by a storm. I also made apple butter from Dolgo Crab and Cortland apples purchased at the orchard. There was also a batch made from a mixture of 9 different varieties picked at the orchard. With what apple butter was leftover from last year, there is more than a two-year supply in the pantry.
Livestock Apples
The Sept. 19 storm brought a disappointing end to much of the large apple crop. In addition to apple butter, I made applesauce and apple crisp with fallen apples, and sent a lot of them with a friend who keeps livestock. She returned the favor with fresh eggs from their chicken house. A neighbor had borrowed a cider press and he and his children made about four gallons of apple cider from my fallen fruit. The fruit was all used, but it was a rush to get it done before they spoiled.
Apple Sauce
As summer turned to fall, I learned about longer keeping varieties, particularly the Winecrisp and Gold Rush apples. We don’t have the refrigeration capacity to keep them cool, but they are stacked in crates in the coolest part of the house and I’m hoping for crispy apples into winter. Since they are around, it’s likely they will all be eaten before going bad.
Thanksgiving Apple Pie
As December approaches, it will soon be time to prune. I took some photos of my Golden Delicious tree to the orchard where the chief apple officer gave me some pointers on how to salvage the tree. The expectation is that 2014 will be a bust year for home apples, but my four remaining trees have been little pruned, so I have some work to do.
My apple work will go on for a while, but it’s time for closure on a great season. Little by little, gaining an understanding of apples and apple culture has become a part of who I am. I am only just beginning to understand my apple life.
LAKE MACBRIDE— The afternoon was spent making applesauce with the last of the fallen apples from the Sept. 19 storm. They stored well, and six quart Mason jars and a pint are processing in the water bath canner. It’s local food more so than most: they fell about 30 feet from the kitchen window during the storm.
After experimenting with applesauce techniques, I cored, but did not peel the apples, cut each into about 16 pieces, steamed them in a bit or water until they released their own juice and begin to fall apart, and processed them through a food mill. I also made chunky-style apple sauce, using a potato masher before spooning it into a jar. No spices or sweeteners here. They can be added when serving, but this applesauce really needs no additives.
Is the story of my applesauce afternoon worth writing or reading? I don’t know about the latter, but the process of writing helps me understand life on the plains in a way that takes the rough, dull and lonely parts out, rendering it into a sweet pulp to serve to friends and family, and packaged to give as a gift. Seriously. Who wants to hear about the rough, dull and lonely parts of life anyway?
There is the actuality of the time spent and the image above. If that’s all there were in this post, an autobiography of a moment in time, it would not be worth reading. The hope is that by imagining a life, and writing it down, some value can be added, and if we are lucky, an epiphany reached.
According to WordPress, there are more than 72 million blogs on their site. Add in the other sites and there is a lot to read, many thoughtful, some hate-filled, and more than a person could ever consider. For the blogger, it is a way to write, an outlet for expression in a world where only a very small number of writers get read, and even less get paid. We need outlets.
There is a first draft quality to a blog post. A flawed freshness that can be like the life from which it is expressed. Sometimes it is sticky, syrupy sweet or messy, and that goes with the territory. We’re not the Scientific American or Harvard Business Review in the blogosphere. What we hope to be is an expression of the imagination. Taking the desultory moments of a modern life as the ingredients of something better, something universal. Bloggers mostly fail to reach the sublime, but once in a while, things come together.
So there it is, the ABCs of writing in autobiography, blogging and canning. Write about what one knows, do actually write on some platform, and think in terms of a finite product that is useful to someone, to nourish a body, but more importantly, one’s intellect and spirit. There are benefits, not the least of which can be jars of applesauce.
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