Quince

Anyone heard of Quince? Anyone like Quince? Anyone know what to do with Quince?

:)

Our Quince are coming along. This is a pic of them from earlier in the week.

They are the last fruit we harvest from the orchard every year. And boy do they smell wonderful, the whole orchard smells like sweet pineapple, when they are ready to harvest.

I have yet to have make a truly successful recipe with them...but I haven't tried too hard yet either! Let this season be the season! Share your Quince recipes with me :)

Weekend in a Word - Pruning

It's been a dreary weekend here weather-wise and we we're hoping *someone* would maybe go into labor! No such luck! So, I mopped floors and groomed horses and hubby worked in the orchard.

The time to prune your trees in our area is between January-March...but quite frankly, February was miserable, I can't remember January, and so now here we are in March doing the pruning. Ok, not we, but hubby! We pruned in March last year too. At least, although dreary, the weather has broke a little. Pruning can be a work out so if you don't have to tromp around in feet of snow, it makes it a tad easier.

This is a Quince tree after pruning.

Here hubby is evaluating which cuts he'll take.

And he prunes away!

I don't know if you can tell very well in this picture, but these are all suckers cut from this tree laying all over the ground. I must say, my LEAST favorite part about running the orchard is going through after pruning and picking up all the clippings!

Quince

Ok, folks -- this is a Quince.

I have 6 (or is it 8?) of these trees in the orchard!

They are ripe; they are ready.

They are screaming for me to do something with them.

I tried to can some Quince Marmalade last season. It was a failure disaster.

What CAN I make with these Quince??

An Orchard Update, June 8

The Orchard is coming along despite the fact that we are behind on our spray schedule because of tractor is out of commission yet again.

I love this picture :) Baby Red Delicious Apples! And trust me, though you may think this variety is boring and un-flavorful, I bet you'd change your mind if you tried it fresh off a tree!

A Quince. Can you tell it has a fuzzy skin to it? Kind of like a peach. Once they ripen, the fuzz comes off and they are a shiny lime-yellow color. And they smell like sweet pineapple as you walk through the orchard.

This is frost damage on a pear :/ It really doesn't hinder the flavor of the fruit, it just leaves unsightly brown blotches.

Frost damage on an apple that fell with 'June Drop'; June Drop is when the apple trees naturally thin out their crops by the smallest apples dropping off on their own so the larger ones, your 'king' apples, can continue to grow and mature without competing for energy.

Apple with frost damage