Apple juice and broccoli rabe

We have been enjoying the unseasonably warm weather this week, but it is all coming to an end soon. I have finally gotten used to our white pines thinning their needles in the fall. While we think of them as evergreen, in point of fact, they shed the needles that aren’t earning their keep before the winter every year. What I mean is that when a needle gets shaded by new growth, its ability to photosynthesize declines while it still evaporates as much water as it ever did. It is using resources without giving anything back. These slacker needles have to go. The tree looks awful for a while, but after the yellow needles fall, it is as if they’d never been there. The tree looks full and green and beautiful again.

White pine shedding its underperforming needles

I tried making apple juice with my steam juicer. I have a grinder-type juicer with which I have made awesome apple juice, but it is a lengthy process that involves a lot of filtering and filter cleaning. I cut up a combination of MacFree (a variety of MacIntosh) and Liberty apples, half filling the top of the juicer.

Whole lot of apples in the steamer

Then I let ‘er rip. Hardly anything came out. When I expressed my disappointment, Terry said, “Aw, honey, there’s no juice in apples! If you press cider, you get a little juice, and the rest is pig food!”

Itty bit of juice coming out

So either way, one must embrace the waste when juicing apples. I probably let the juicer run a little too long in my eagerness to increase the volume, and the result was a bit watery. I mixed it with some of my old juice, and it was just right. As with the grape juice, the steam juicer was a lot less work.

We had an exceptional wildlife morning on Wednesday. First a doe walked across the field and posed nicely in the early morning sunlight.

Doe in the morning sunlight

Then her fawn, nearly grown, walked up behind her.

Doe and fawn

Finally, our six tom turkeys made their appearance, although not close enough together that I could get everyone in the picture. They are so uncooperative!

Doe, fawn, and turkeys!

The broccoli rabe in the high tunnel is huge. Last night, I cut a whole bunch of leaves and looked up a recipe for sauteed broccoli rabe with garlic and hot pepper flakes. This is what it looked like before cooking.

Salad spinner full of broccoli rabe

This is what it looked like after. Like most greens, it shrunk down to nothing. It was, however, not as bitter as I feared it would be. In fact, both Terry and I liked it. I’ll trim so more off next week.

Broccoli rabe with garlic and hot pepper flakes

Look how big the radishes are getting! I will be able to start thinning the lettuce before long.

The first planting of radishes and lettuce

It’s so nice to have something growing even as most of the outside world is winding down for the year.