Animal Tracking: Down The Rabbit Hole

There is still one tree left that is dropping apples - and I am not the only one who is gathering them! Yesterday I knelt down the gather a bag full up apples for some potential apple sauce, I could see that deer had been there amongst other critters nibbling the fruit too. When I leaned forward to grab a nice dark red apple I saw rabbit scat (poop) in three piles right ahead of me.
The scat was obviously fresh and from my point of view I could see a well worn thin trail...
I followed the trail carefully looking for more evidence, after about 10 feet of winding i found a half eaten apple. :) It was freshly eaten within a 1-2 hours, the apples falling wild from the trees turn brown really fast once open.
Then next to some rocks i found more apple bits, but these much were older. Possibly the rabbit's compost pile. ;)
And there was the hole... where the rabbit stays! Awwww, cute.
What an awesome place to live!
XOXO

DIY: Organic Apple Butter

Another apple recipe! Why? Cause I have so many f-en apples here I don't know what to do!!! If apples were dollars I'd be riding my donkey by now and feeding all the hungry people the world over. Feeding them apples. Anyone nearby hungry?
Making Apple Butter is fairly easy , just like apple sauce - except it takes many more hours to reach the goal of butter then sauce.
First: Get all your organic apples together and rinse them off. Use however many you have, but starting with five big ones or more would be ideal since it takes a while to make.

Second: Peel them all, unless you like it chunky chewy. Wild apples have much harder skins then store bought, so if you want to strain the skins out later, you can use a cheese cloth to squeeze it through. Peeling is time consuming but it's a toss up which is easiest. :)
Third: Core them. Take out the apple core in the middle and feed it to the birds, the compost, the pig or horses - you don't want those seeds in your apple butter, they aren't for human consumption.
Fourth: Throw all the (no core) wedges in a pot with a little pure water in the bottom. You don't have to cut them small since they boil down into a sauce very easy on their own. Bring this to a boil and then settle it down to medium/low heat (so it stills simmers & bubbles). Over time the apple sauce will continue to brown. Add a pinch of sea salt to bring out the sweet flavor if you like.

Fifth: Stir and check, stir and check, stir and check for like 5 plus (meaning it can go into 7, maybe 10) hours! Make sure it doesn't stick to the bottom, otherwise it can be left alone for long stretches at a time to brown and thicken.Ohhhh look how brown that sauce got! Woo!...smooth and yummy like apple butta' should be!!! Vegan, gluten free, organic, and macrobiotic PLUS mmmmm tart and good :)
What do you eat your apple butter on?XoXo

DIY: Organic Apple Sauce (I swear it's easy!)

Oh My Gawd, apples are already falling from the trees here - more then I can possibly feed to the pig and chickens, more then the deer can eat, and more then I can hardly gather! It's a little early for apple season, but going with the flow of nature and positive thinking, when life hands you alot of apples make some apple sauce!
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Here's what you will need: organic apples (however many ya want or have around), pure water, and a tiny pinch of sea salt. Oh and a pot to cook in. :)
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First make sure to wash all your apples really well , whether hand picked or store bought. Then bring them over to the chopping block where the real action starts!

Second: It's up to you whether to leave the skins on or not - with store bought apples their skins usually turn into something so yummy & soft it borderlines candy, so I leave them on. These wild crafted apples have alot tougher skins and even though I left them on, I kinda wish I had left them off. However, apple skins = more nutrtion!
You want to make sure to core every apple - taking out the center rectangle that holds the seeds - and then throwing the fleshy outside part in the pot for cooking. (Ya don't want the cores in there because apple seeds are not good for you!)
Third: As you can see in the pic below it's not even important to chop the pieces up small, the apples will boil down into a sauce with no problem on their own. Throw in a pinch of salt and watch it melt into yummy-ness. It's all too easy! The only thing it takes is time... first you bring it to a boil, then you lower it to a medium/low setting on the stove and let it cook for about 2 hours. Stir is occassionally so it doesn't stick at the bottom.

NOTE: The longer you let it cook the darker brown the sauce will become - you can control the flavor like this. If you let it cook for 5 hours or more you will end up with the oh so yums APPLE BUTTER, which is very dark brown.
MMmMmMMmMmm! Oh yeah, I let mine cook for a few hours making it a medium light brown apple sauce with a strong tart flavor.
It made about a half gallon jar worth of apple sauce from all those tiny apples! YAY!
XoXo