Wonderful Apple Harvest

This year is shaping up for a great apple harvest here in the northland. The orchards are doing much better than the last few previous years. The wild apple crop is pretty good too-which of course is what I take advantage of. About a qurter of a mile from my house, past the catholic church, is an old farmstead. One can still make out some old barns or sheds, but no decent buildings still stand. There is however, about a dozen apple trees and numerous plum trees. This weekend I set out with a bag, five gallon bucket, and my camera. Although the orchard is not maintained and overgrown it has some great fruit.

Within no time I had a bucket full of apples and a bag full of plums. I guess I'll have to go back for more later.

Ah, but the fun doesn't stop there. The best part of wild foraging is preserving the bounty. Today the specialty was an apple-plum spread. I took a bunch of the small tart apples, cut them in half and boiled them with some plums. Then I pushed the contents through a sieve to get a nice thick pulp. I then cooked the pulp with about two cups of honey and a cup of maple sugar until I got a lovely thick red sauce.
After getting burnt a couple of times from the spattering sauce, I put the spread into jars and put them in the water bath.
And finally the finished product.
I had some on my toast tonight and it came out pretty well. I may have some holiday gifts to pass out after all.