My Apple Pie Tree

People laugh when I mention my apple pie tree.

Pies don't grow on trees, I'm told, but every year, this tree throws apples at me until I'm compelled to get busy creating pies and apple sauce for the coming winter.

Every morning I go out and pick up the windfalls. It used to be, if I didn't get out there quickly enough, the wasps, slugs, and ants would destroy them.  One year the crows got in on the action. They would peck at the apples in the tree, until they fell. Then instead of going down and working on their  harvest, they would just move over to another good apple and start pecking holes in that too.

This year, sadly, I have seen no wasps near the apples at all.  And no slugs either.  There have been a few ants, but not as many as I'd expect. Thankfully the crows have moved to another neighbourhood.  I think the squirrels have taken over the job of knocking the apples out of the tree.  I see scraping marks on the skin of many apples, like the skin was too slippery for their teeth to sink into.  Other apples are just chewed on one side, and sometimes even carried towards the trees that line the property.

My tree has not been sprayed in many years, so the apples are not the best. From each basket of usable apples

I get a big pile of peelings

and one pot of apples

that becomes one fabulous crustless apple pie.

While gathering that one basket of apples, I also pick up the rest of the unusable windfalls, which go to the local landfill compost site.

I have offered them to hunters for the deer, but it's too early yet.  Perhaps someone with horses would like them.

I have just baked the first pie of the season. Now I will begin my yearly ritual. I will be busy for an hour each day peeling and chopping another basket full. I will make pies to stack up in one corner of the freezer.

The apples are cooked in the pot until they are tender, but still holding their shape. If I leave them on the stove too long, then I have applesauce. That's fine too. 

One of the reasons I make crustless pies is that they take up so much less room in the freezer.  I just line the pie plate with plastic wrap, pour in the cooled filling, and secure the plastic over the top before popping it into the freezer.  Once frozen, the pies are removed from the pie plates and wrapped in foil. This allows me to keep them until the next crop arrives, if necessary.....which is a good thing since I seem to have a few leftover at this point.  I just put a crumble topping on and bake from the frozen state and they taste just like the fresh ones.

I could have, and probably should have been processing more apples instead of telling you about it.  I now have three baskets ahead of me, and still have not picked up the apples that dropped overnight. Most of the year this is just an apple tree. Right now, it's my apple pie tree, even if it does need some help from me.

Change In Nature

I have an apple tree in the back yard. About this time if year it starts dropping apples and I go out and pick them up. I sort them into baskets of those that will go directly into the trash, and those that I may be able to get some good bits off of, to make apple sauce and the occasional pie.  I haven't sprayed the tree in years, due to windy conditions, so most end up in the trash.

The trick as always been to get out there first thing in the morning and get all the new apples picked up. If I waited, the wasps, slugs, ants, and crows would beat me to them and it's amazing how quickly they gobble them up.  The squirrels also help themselves, and one year I even found proof that a bear had come to check out my tree.

One year we had been away for a few days and when we came back there were more than the usual number of apples on the ground.  I went out to get them later in the day, when there were lots of wasps about. I got a bucket and a shovel, and I carefully scooped up the apples and dropped them into the bucket. When the bucket was full, I'd slide the shovel through the bucket's handle and pick it up that way so it would be a safe distance away.  As I was being careful, the wasps were still with the apples as I took them to the garden and dumped them there. 

I had made several trips when my hubby came around the house and spotted me. I could see by the look on his face that he was alarmed. Here I was, in my shorts and sandals, totally surrounded by wasps flying low to the ground.  I was afraid he would excite them so I quickly told him to calm down and go away. I told him I was fine, that I'd been there, doing that, for the past half hour and I was in no danger of being stung unless he got the wasps excited.

I think of this now, as I've just come in from picking up apples. There were no wasps.  None. No slugs or earwigs either.  Heck, this year the crows aren't even bothering to sit in the tree and pick at the apples until they fall off. Only the occasional squirrel has helped himself to an apple this year.  That's fine with me, but I'm finding it very strange.  Where are the wasps?  For that matter, where are the slugs and earwigs?  And why have the crows suddenly decided my apples aren't worth the effort? 

Ha.  Come to think of it, I haven't bothered with them myself this year.  Any I've picked up have gone straight to the trash. I have only tasted a couple of bites off of two of them so far, but have not even thought about trying to cook some up. When the tree was in full bloom this year, a big wind came and blew most of the blossoms off.  Usually I'm all worn out from processing them by now.  Luckily for me, there aren't many out there this year.  Maybe I'll look forward to a good crop next year.  Maybe I'll have to fight for my share again.  Maybe......