The Lure of Apples

 Since the beginning of time,

apples have been a tempting treat.

Nash and Pepper would do a lot for a taste of an apple (especially if it is one that I am already eating.)

The horses are always game for an apple or two as well.

My children and the pony pals and cowpokes love homemade applesauce,

especially when it is made from varieties that my parents grew on our orchard.

So, with the holidays fast approaching, I have been making and freezing lots of homemade applesauce to serve at Thanksgiving and Christmas.

And that means apple spaghetti for the horses!

Hokey literally stakes a claim on some of it.

and quickly gobbles it down. (Catch that Thanksgiving pun? Hah!)

Dolly enjoys hers. (That's snow on the grass in the foreground. Winter is definitely here.)

Someone would like me to get off the couch and get busy on the next batch. (So that I will toss him the occasional piece or two.)

Six gallons of sauce from Mutsus, Cortlands, and Northern Spys are in the freezer. Hopefully that will be enough for my apple-loving family.

Early Holiday Cooking

 I started cooking for the holidays yesterday.

Two batches of homemade applesauce! Which is only the start for my big family. I need to get another half bushel put up to feed everyone.

The byproduct of homemade applesauce is one of Abby's favorites - apple spaghetti.

And she came hustling right up that afternoon when I called her.

Everyone else came right behind her. (Except for Dolly. She was happily grazing and had no interest in coming over to see what the fuss was about.)

Apple spaghetti is a real delicacy to a horse.

Although it can be a little hard to distribute!

I had brought a large sack of peelings and cores and spread them along the fence line so all could have a chance to nibble.

Those were some very happy horses and one in particular really hoped I'd give them the whole bag.

I'll be back later today, Abby, and give you the rest of them then.

An Autumn Pleasure & a Recipe

 Apple spaghetti is an autumn pleasure.

Local Son Curt and his family had recently come over for dinner, and I'd made apple crisp for dessert.

I always save the peelings when I work with apples, and Abby appreciates it when I do.

She looks like she's giving me the side eye here, but what she's really doing is keeping an eye on me and hoping for more as she chews.

Sultanna was getting some apple spaghetti, too, but I realized that she was distracted by something behind me. I turned and looked, didn't see anything, and figured that she was a little on edge because it was very windy and things were blowing around.

But she continued to be watchful and so I turned and looked again. This time I about jumped out of my boots!

We had company! And that company was standing right behind me!

It was Raleigh, a Mastiff mix who lives at the agribusiness next door. He's BIG, much bigger than these photos make him seem, but he's also friendly.

Raleigh wagged his stump of a tail when I said hello to him, and then went back to checking things out.

And Abby went back to eating apple spaghetti.

Lynn's Apple Crisp

Peel and core 5 - 6 Granny Smith apples and place into a buttered 13x9 dish. Pour 1/4 cup hot water over the apples and into the dish.

Mix 1 & 1/2 cups sugar, 1 cup flour, and 1 - 2 teaspoons of cinnamon in a mixing bowl. Slice two sticks (1 cup) of cold butter into cubes of about 1 tablespoon each and drop on top of the sugar/flour mixture. Mix together until the butter is the size of peas or so. (Don't beat it smooth. You want a crumbly mixture.)

Sprinkle the crumbly mixture over the apples. Don't worry if there is some sugar mixture in the bottom of the mixing bowl without butter - just put that over the apples, too. Bake at 400 degrees about 20 minutes or so. The topping should be golden and even a little brown around the edges.

Serve warm. Great with ice cream or whipped cream on top. Can also be eaten when it's cooled.

Notes

The secret to a really good, crumbly topping is to use the butter straight from the fridge. Don't soften it! You may use any variety of cooking apple, but we like the juicy, tart contrast between the Granny Smiths and the topping.

Abby's Favorite Autumn Bounty

Autumn means that one of Abby's favorite treats will be available for a while.

 Apple spaghetti!

I have a really nice apple peeler that makes it easy to prepare apples for cooking, and so during the apple harvest I make a lot of apple dishes. I refrigerate the cores and peelings to bring out to Abby for a snack.

Today the temperature was in the nineties when I ran out to the barn to see my girl. I think that the refrigerated apple spaghetti was a welcome and refreshing treat.

It's a little harder to feed them to her since the peelings twist and dangle, so I grab a handful out of the bag and then hold it up at about her eye level. She's adept at grabbing the loose ends and slurping them in like, well, spaghetti!

Other times I just hold a handful out under her mouth and she gathers the peelings all in with her lips.

 When the peelings have been eaten, Abby sticks her nose into my hand and licks all the juice off me. (I guess I really don't need the baby wipes I keep in my car to clean my hands, hmmm?)

Today Sultanna joined Abby in scavenging on the ground, hoping to find a few dropped peelings when we were done.

Apples are Abby's favorite fall bounty but the winter harvest has its own delicious crop that Abby loves just as much, and maybe even more, than apple spaghetti.

Candy canes!

Fresh Pasture? Or Apple Spaghetti?

Tim had the same idea as me this morning - heading out to the barn early before it got too hot. (High 90s today, heat index in the 100s, humidity... A heat advisory has been posted.) He went out to rotate pastures; I went out to check on my girl and give her some apple spaghetti (apple peelings) from the apple crisp I had made yesterday for Father's Day dinner.

The horses were now in the northwest pasture and munching away. I wasn't too worried when I arrived. After all, Abby always comes when I call her.

 I whistled and then called her name. She did deign to lift her head up and look at me, but then she went right back to grazing.

Hmm. Well, I didn't want to walk out to her as I had left my barn shoes at home thinking she'd come up when I called.

And not only was I wearing good sandals, the gate had some heavy chains wound around it - a deterrent to the people who had let the horses out twice. I did not want to wrestle with those. I knew I could get them off, but getting them back securely for safety? I wasn't so sure. Cut through the old barn and paddocks? Possible, but I'd be walking through a layer of manure. In my sandals. Nope!

 I called her a few more times but was utterly ignored.

Which is fine. I will bring her the apple spaghetti tomorrow.

Snap!!

Tuesday I dropped by the barn after school to check on Abby. I had a favorite treat for her in my car.

Apple spaghetti! I'd made apple crisp and had saved the peelings and cores for her. Abby loves apple spaghetti, and I love watching her try to eat it with the strings of peel hanging out of her mouth.

 Tim had rotated pastures, and the horses were near the new barn and using the loafing shed for shade. Abby came up promptly and began slurping up all the peels and cores.

This pasture has an electrified top wire, and that made it a little more difficult to hand feed her the spaghetti. She didn't want to get shocked, and neither did I. I thought about going inside with her, but I had my good shoes on and there was mud by the gate. (Slipping between the wires in a grassy spot hurts my back.)

Naturally, Sultanna and Snickerdoodle had followed Abby up to see me. They looked on hopefully while she ate that spaghetti, and then suddenly, I think it was Snickerdoodle, one of them stepped forward and accidentally made contact with the electric wire.

There was a loud SNAP and the three horses shied away from the fence, cantering back to the loafing shed.

I think that is definitely a reproachful look that Abby is giving me!

Note to self - you have your barn shoes in the trunk of the car. Wear them next time so that this doesn't happen again!

Meeting Snickerdoodle at Last!

Tim has weaned Snickerdoodle and brought him back home from Williamsport where he lived the first few months of his life. As he adjusts to being on his own, he's in the small paddock behind the new barn with his full sister, Sultanna. Yesterday I stopped by after school to say "hello" and snap a few pictures.

 Using his big sister for protection, Snickerdoodle approached me shyly.

 He's lighter than Sultanna, but will probably darken up as he matures.

I hope he has the same sweet temperament that she does - I had a hard time getting pictures of him because she was following me around like  a puppy, hoping for some attention.

She's only a yearling herself, but she's easy to handle and loves to have her ears rubbed.

And where was Abby in all this? She'd come up out of the west pasture when she'd heard me call and was happily enjoying one of her favorite fall pleasures while I spent time with the babies.

Apple spaghetti!

Sharks in the Pasture!

The sharks were circling in the pasture today. Why?

Because I had apple spaghetti, that's why!

A favorite treat, it felt as though I was in the middle of circling sharks who could not wait to gobble down their portion!

Spaghetti for Dinner

Well, it's more like a treat than dinner, and it's not really pasta, it's....

 APPLE SPAGHETTI!!

 Nom, nom, nom, nom.

The herd loves it when I make apple pie or apple crisp. I dump out the peelings and cores onto the ground, and they get to chomping!