A very unusual start for autumn!

Apple cup cakes

The past week has been unsually warm, which meant my grapes are maturing nicely and nearly all the apples have been harvested. I have been making jam with apple and bramble (I picked the berries and froze them in boxes, then combined them with the apple mush (see previous post for recipe).

Another use for windfall apples was the lovely cupcakes pictured above, which I made adding grated peeled apples to my usual recipe. I placed the nice, undamaged apples in a big glass bowl (not many of them, though) and have preserved the rest by cutting them into pieces and storing them in food bags, which were then frozen. Perhaps I can do apple pancakes with them, here is my recipe.

Hopefully we will have less waste next year (we threw away lots of rotten apples). We have pruned the overgrown apple trees a bit and will need to treat them soon as they are diseased. Yesterday my partner spend some time cutting dead branches, so we have a big pile of those at the back. We will need to dispose of them, perhaps hire a chipper?

With my partner back at work and me dealing with work, my daughter and lots of stuff cropping up, I had less time to devote to the house. We attempted to strip the original doors but they have proved a hard task despite having bought tools and chemicals. We also find out that they contained a layer of lead paint, thanks to a tester we bought at B&Q. So the doors will be done by a professional - I will post a photo when the first door is back. We had a sneek preview and it looks great.