how do you like them apples.

[mickthetree]

bought some apples from our local supermarket yesterday. not a single english apple on the shelf. 90% of them come from new zealand the rest from africa.

I have numerous friend who have been travelling and most have been apple picking in NZ as part of it. They all got paid a pittance, but enough to live off.

just seems mad to me that its cheaper to grow our apples on the other side of this huge planet and ship them here after they've been picked by our own citizens who have paid to travel there to pick them.?!??!!??!?

And why is it that the pip is always in the last segment of my satsuma???

ahhhhhhhhhhhh, thats better.

 

[BigShot]

Seems even crazier when you consider we're right in the peak of apple season now and out natives are absolutely perfect.

Then again, anyone looking for any sort of common sense or ethics in a supermarket is barking up the wrong tree.

It's all about "persistant global summertime", flavourless foods bred for "good" (clueless city dweller-friendly) looks and shelf life, underpaid producers and so on. I treat our local supermarkets as a safety net for if I forget to pick something up and the local "real" shops have closed.

They have nothing to gain buying from local producers (and local producers would be better off without them if the "shop local" ethic was more widespread) and if they can save a few pennies per ton by shipping them half way around the world after they are picked by underpaid locals and backpackers on a pittance.

I use a workers cooperative that sells (almost all) organics and on almost everything they are cheaper than the "big four".

They had a price comparisson written up on a blackboard (brfore they had to rub it off to make room to write about the bumper harvest that was coming in) where they compared their organic produce with Morrison's NON-organic and were considerably cheaper on all of it.

Just for giggles they actually pay their suppliers a fair price too - how novel is that!?

 

[RogerS]

My pet peeve against Waitrose is twofold.

First, if they have fruit that is marketed as 'perfectly ripe', I asked the manager if it wasn't too much to ask if the rest of the fruit was also ripe. He didn't see the funny side.

Second, Braeburns are green, green and green. They pick them way way too early and then have the cheek to put them in the trays with the red side uppermost and the green facing down. I had fun and games with customer service asking them why were they duplicitous in arranging the apples this way and they tried to tell me that statistically some trays would end up that way and they didn't try and con the public - honest, guv. Well, my mate is a statistician and drafted a suitable reply for me. Never got an answer.

So -WAITROSE - if there are any lurkers out there - THIS IS CHEAP SHODDY PRACTICE AND YOU ARE TREATING YOUR CUSTOMERS LIKE DIRT. GO AND READ YOUR MISSION STATEMENT.

Mind you, I get a lot of fun turning the apples green side up. I must get a life.

 

[Rob_H]

We have more apples than we can cope with in our orchard at the moment - and plenty of fallers from todays winds. We've been selling some from a stall at the front of the cottage, but even then, a lot get wasted. Nice to have the option though, I suppose.

 

[mickthetree]

I have 11 empty demijohn jars waiting for just such a surplas!

Couple full of elderberry wine under the stairs bubbling away. Should be ready for my birthday next year!

 

[BigShot]

mick
I just got 5 demijohns and this weekend (weather permitting) will be out harvesting what elderberries I can.

I was planning on doing a load of blackberry this weekend and leaving the elderberries until I was done with the bucket but all this rain has really ruined the crop and it was looking INCREDIBLE until recently. I'm hoping for some sun on that front - still a bit of hope for some blackberry.

The elderberries in sunny spots around here are just coming good now.

A bit nervous about making my first batch of wine, but looking forwards to it.



Rob_H
I hope I'll be able to say the same one day.
Have you thought about making some apple wine or cider from it? Maybe some sort of preserve or sauce?
I was in my local brew-shop the other day and found out they rent out an apple press, maybe you could get one in your part of the world.



Roger
I'd like to offer my congratulations on a high quality rant there.
Well done.

Seems a shame to waste so much.

 

[neilc]

We have more apples than we can cope with in our orchard at the moment - and plenty of fallers from todays winds. We've been selling some from a stall at the front of the cottage, but even then, a lot get wasted. Nice to have the option though, I suppose.

Good for you. For some reason we got around 10 apples from our eight apples trees this year. I don't know why because last year we had a bumper crop. Maybe it was all the rain (way too much) but last year was quite wet too.
Neil

 

[tekno.mage]

Elderberries? You have elderberries? Where I live the blackbirds eat them all as they become ripe and I never get any

We do usually have bumper crops of blackberries, apples & sloes though, so I can't really complain.

tekno.mage

 

[Racers]

Hi,

We have had loads of blackberrys the frezers full, just need time to turn them in to jam, it was another bad plum year only made 10 jars of plum, lime and ginger jam.

Pete

 

[BigShot]

Well, there's an elder tree growing about 15 feet from the window of the office and while the resident woodpigeon does eat quite a few there's usually enough to go around.

Then there's the park, there's one spot with about 6 or 7 elder trees in a closely packed row, and then another place with about 15 of the things.

With volume like that the birds could eat until they were sick and I'd still have enough.



I believe there's a blackthorn in there somewhere, but I didn't manage to find it when it was in its pre-leaf blossom this year so waiting for next year and hoping I can spot it then. I believe one of the park wardens goes after the berries (and being the only warden who knows where it is, won't tell anyone how to find it) so I'll have competition on that one.

You could try netting a few branches of the trees, you might need to net rather a lot to pick as many as you want, but possibly worth a try.
I'm told the family home town in Ireland had a HUGE crop this summer - the hedgerows around there are just mile after mile of berries.