Loot

The pears are ripe for the picking. I boiled them down with a few cloves, a bit of sugar and added arrowroot for thickening at the end. A whole pile made for 1 quart jar and a whole lot of work, but so worth it. Tastes not bad on plain frozen yogurt.

These Crabapples are finally ripe without a doubt. I picked them this morning and they came off easy. They are huge and taste especially good boiled down with 2 apples, the juice of 2 lemons, some raisins, and a bit of brown sugar. Delicious,  I can attest, still warm on top of frozen plain yogurt or piled on hot pancakes.

I hope to find some more at the nearby public park as I want to experiment with some sort of relish. Crabapples are great added to my kind of Salsa Verde, and also  ads taste to my vegetable soup, so I discovered.

Really I am not in the habit of picking up fruit from public spaces, even though it is legal. I never had a garden of my own and live an urban life style downtown.

Maybe sometime last year the absurdity occurred to me of buying fruit when the streets and parks were littered with the rotten kind. I really hate waste but love getting a great deal.

According to my sources the city has not sprayed pesticides in years, only occasionally some soap. And according to one city worker these apples, from the very same tree, are not dumped and discarded as expected, but are fed to his sow! Knowing that there is one thinking, self directed city worker makes me very happy.

Well, I gathered my share of the tree's free fall. While the apples taste not the best, cooked with a few added crabapples, the juice of 2 lemons, a bit of applecider for good measure, a sprinkle of cinnamon, and some vanilla, they make for a great topping on pancakes or wholesome flavor to plain yogurt.

Truth be told, I am not terribly domestic. But creating these jars of goodies feels very satisfying and kinda exciting. It's a lot of work that reminds of times past and makes me kinda feel rich.


My fridge now holds applesauce in bits and pieces with added vanilla,  applesauce blended with a dash of ginger, crabapple sauce, pear bits, salsa verde and in the mood I also made a huge pot of vegetable soup. The sprouting jar below holds wheat kernels for wheat grass which my furry friends adore and the big jar holds water infused with fresh peppermint tea - sun tea. How much greener can we get! Hooray for living a more and more sustainable, holistic life style!