One of the benefits of having a dog is that you get to go on regular walks and so over the past year I’ve got to know the footpaths around the village very well.
What I have noticed this autumn is the abundance of crab apple trees in the hedgerows. Almost every field seems to have one. Not many people seem to pick them although recently I did see a woman leaving the church yard with a basket on her arm. She walked purposefully down the field and straight to an apple tree I’d not seen before.
Unpicked apples |
These apples on the ground are where two footpaths intersect near the allotments. I have made a note for next year to go along to collect them before they fall.
Followers on instagram will know that I have been gathering up crab apples and some beautifully scented yellow apples which were larger than usual. I imagine that the tree with scented apples grew from a discarded core from someone’s picnic.
I had far more than one bowl…
and filled the jam kettle to the brim.
Then they were in a jelly bag overnight before being cooked with sugar and turned into jelly.