Passing on traditional skills like foraging, cooking from scratch and living well on less
The unknown pear from Lake Talcot has been identified! I’ve seen it for years, and have never known what it is. The best term I ever found was “immigrant pear”, because it was something early immigrants brought over as animal feed. Chasing a lead down the rabbit hole today, I finally found it. I give […]
Today’s foraging report: It’s raining, so we have a very short window for picking but we’re showing a friend how to can tonight, so we needed pears. We picked two kinds at Talcot and one at GS, so I thought since we had them on hand I’d do a comparison. In the back […]
Yesterday we went to my parent’ house and picked 2 large boxes of pears. Today I checked one of my secret sites, and sure enough — 2 more boxes of pears off one tree (the eating ones), and I didn’t even get to start on the other (much fuller) one (the canning pears). Plus there’s […]
The pears are DONE. Between my parents’ house and my secret spot, we ended up with 11 gallons of pear halves. The first 5 were turned into 15 quarts of sauce, and I see a similar fate for the others when Alicia gets home. Now to start picking some more. Please follow and like us:
My latest apple foraging find. The tree is full of these apple (LPC)s, a source says it only fruits every few years. I just got lucky! They’re up to 3″ across but only 1 1/2-2″ high, medium flesh (not too crunchy or mushy), sweet, delicious, and starts browning pretty quickly. No idea what kind it […]
Our foraged apples for the day. The one in the left is one recent tree (LPC), the crabapple is located nearby, and the huge apple is a new tree we found on property nobody lives on. Huge, white flesh, crisp, delicious. And it’s a dwarf tree so all the fruit fits in one large box. […]
Apple update — I think I’ve identified the first LPC tree (with the wide but short apples). I think it’s a Baldwin, and they’re delicious. I may have to go finish picking the tree. How to identify the Baldwin apple variety Baldwin apple variety identification characteristics. Compare your Baldwin apple with our extensive apple […]
Today’s foraging finds. The right one is from Jeffers, the left one is Sam’s Club, and the middle is a small tart one from Chipotle. Save Please follow and like us:
The elderberries are ripening! From 2 small spots, we picked almost 14 cleaned cups of berries, so just shy of a gallon. The major patches are yet to come — I haven’t even checked them yet! Please follow and like us:
It’s been an odd year for foraging. Something about the spring weather, but this year we had bumper crops of asparagus, elderberries, pears, and apples (some trees that haven’t produced in years are going crazy). On the other hand, there were no mulberries, black raspberries, gooseberries, wild plums, or pin cherries. I guess pick and […]
Today’s foraging haul – Lake Talcot pears (2 very full bags, many more to pick, wonderful for canning), Chipotle apples (1 very full bag, very tart, going to make cider), and Sam’s Club apples (1 full bag, crisp, for pies and baking). Also checked on the elderberry patches – we may be too late! Save […]
This is what we have waiting to process right now (canning as sauce or freezing for baking. Also some cider). Talcot pears. LPC apples. Chipotle apples. Sam’s Club apples. We missed out on the Talcot apples (they were early, and we weren’t) but there are plenty of pears left. There are also more apple trees […]
11 pints and 3 quarts of applesauce canned, and pears getting prepped. We should have 6 quarts of halves in syrup. Please follow and like us:
Another non-foraging day of foraging. I picked many elderberries and prepped them (elderberry wine is on the slate this year), didn’t get to ask about a pear tree (but will), didn’t get around to asking about an apple tree (but will), and got some free roadside tomatoes. Also prepped a bunch of pears for canning, […]
Forage a jolly good fellow… Around doing everything else, we found out there’s no elderberries left near Lakefield (And precious few walnuts), but there’s still some elderberries west of town. We also got permission to pick a new pear tree, and cooked down some of the Sam’s club apples. It makes a very tart green […]
Talcot pear, Jeffers Apple, GS pear. The Talcot pears have a “bite” to them that makes them not great for eating, but wonderful for canning. The Jeffers apples are wonderfully mild, and the GS pears are great for eating, not so much for canning. Please follow and like us:
Foraging today: we finally picked apples from the Jeffers tree (about half a bag, I need a better picker), we prepped and canned 7 quarts of pears, and we’re off to get more. A slow day. Jeffers apples: full red when ripe, soft white flesh, I’d say sauce and cider. And eating, of course. […]
This is the new pear tree we have permission to pick. Please follow and like us:
Many foragy things going on today. I prepped and cut enough pears for 10 quarts to be canned (and they are), and then we got out the juicer. The results of the juice experiments: Chipotle apples: incredibly tart Sam’s Club apples: green juice, very tart LP crab apples- kind of tart, nice flavor, pink juice […]
It was back to the foraging today. I picked a bag of GS pears for a friend, and 2 bags of Robin apples for us. For 10 minutes of picking, we ended up with 7 quarts of beautiful pink applesauce (6 canned, one for eating). Please follow and like us:
So far today we’ve bagged up over a gallon of frozen chopped pears from the GS tree, and I’ve chopped and frozen another gallon plus of Sam’s Club apples (they’re tart, they’ll work great in bread). I’ve also peeled and prepped enough Talcot pears to make 8 quarts and a hair left over. Time to […]
1) The Windom hospital cut down its apple trees! I’m really sad, those were wonderful Red Baron apples. I mean, I still have too many to pick and process, but I liked those apples. 2) They *do* still have pear trees, though. Two different kinds – the larger ones (almost all gone) have […]
Nothing smells better on a fall day than roasted tomato sauce. With back yards and farmers’ markets brimming with fresh tomatoes right now, this is the perfect time to make up a batch. Once you try, you’ll never want make tomato sauce any other way! If you’ve never made roasted tomato sauce, you don’t know […]