Apple Time

It’s that time of year again.

Our haul is mostly King and Mutsu apples, and is way more than we are able to process ourselves. The Man turns some into applesauce, which gets frozen or canned, and dried apple chips, that we gobble up as snacks. The rest goes to friends who turn them into very tasty hard cider. So glad that they are put to use!

Was out back checking on the quince, and noticed that the two enormous fruits on the tree were both compromised, so went ahead and picked them (wine bottle provided for scale)

and the fatal flaws

These guys got composted, but there are about 10-12 more that hopefully will get turned into jam or membrillo later on this fall.

In wool news, despite already having two sweaters in progress, I cast on another project-

Revisiting one of my favorite patterns- Estonian Sheep Puppet . I’ve knitted at least 4 of these, but it’s been a while, so I’m really glad I thought to make myself a cheat sheet for the head shaping the last time.

This one will be a baby gift, so has kind of jumped the line in terms of knitting queue, but shouldn’t take too long to turn out. I just love these little guys. 🙂

And, I’m pleased to report that my rye growing project is underway! The Man rototilled and amended the plot last weekend,

and today I sowed the grain (which is now tucked in safely under floating row cover fabric so that our friendly neighborhood birds don’t eat it all before it has a chance to germinate).

The variety is Sangaste, which apparently is the oldest cultivated rye variety in the world. Developed in Estonia in the 1800’s. Many thanks to Kim at the WSU BreadLab for the seed to make my little trial possible!