Lugnasa Garlic Planting Moon
Kona, our 12 year old whippet, as spry and agile as ever, a canine hymn to successful aging, started, about a week ago, jumping up and pulling down bagged honeycrisp apples. They were on a low hanging branch and I can’t imagine what she thought she was about, but she bagged (sorry) several before I saw her in the act and promptly plugged up her way into the orchard.
Honeycrisps mature in mid-September, so her effort, maybe she was being helpful?, was premature by a month or so. As a result, Kate and I decided to try drying apples and pears.
A word on pears. Thankfully Kate saw this in a drying article on pears and we got them off the tree in time. Saw what? Well, the UofM extensions says the mistake most novice pear growers make is to let the pears ripen on the tree. Geez. Turns out they get grainy and not as tasty if you let Mother finish the job.
We cut up the seven apples I recovered (some had been gnawed on by other dogs) and the four pears, soaked them in sodium bisulfite (from your friendly home brewing store in nearby Springlake Park), spread them out on drying racks and put them in our Excalibur. I had a slice when I got up from my nap and they taste just like dried apples! Success.
We’re reinventing ma and pa every day here this fall in Andover.
