Windfall apples for winter's apple crisps, cobblers, and spiced compotes

Our early apple tree is ripening right now. Every other day I go out and pick a bucket full to bring in for fresh eating. At the same time I scavenge dropped apples from under the trees and in the nearby bushes.

This is today's pile of dropped apples. After washing them, I trim off bruises, chop the apples (skin still on), and freeze in gallon zip lock bags. In fall and winter I make crisps, cobblers, and sautéed spiced apples to go with cold weather meals.

Those 10 apples left me with over a quart of chopped apples.

Last year I wound up with 2 gallons of chopped apples in the freezer. This year I'm on track to meeting that amount. So far this week I have about 1 gallons of chopped apples.

You know the saying, one bad apple spoils the whole bunch. Well, if I'd put these dropped apples into the fridge drawer with the other fresh apples, it would rot sooner than the rest and possibly lead to others in the drawer spoiling prematurely. Apple bruises only grow with time. Getting them trimmed, chopped, and frozen as soon as I can saves more apple for winter treats.

Have I shown you our screen door to the deck?

We've had this screen door for about 12 years and really think it's a good alternative to a pricier installed screen door. We weren't in a financial position to have a screen door installed at that time, so I ordered this one.

It's a flexible fabric screen supported on an adjustable tension rod. The rod is secured at the top of the doorway, and the screen hangs from it. Here's a similar screen from Home Depot. The one in the link is for a single door. The one we have is for a 48-inch width doorway (which works on our 48" French doors). The screen goes up in under 3 minutes and requires no skill to install. 

We need a screen for about 3 months each year. At the end of the season, I take it down, roll the screen fabric around the tension rod, and store it upright in a closet.

Our particular screen has an opening down the center. We don't use that opening. Instead  we simply push the whole screen out of the way as we come and go. It falls back into place after entering or exiting.

So a price comparison -- the Home Depot  36-inch single instant screen door sells for about $24 (I think we paid about $30 for the 48-inch screen). A framed screen door (that would require installation) would cost upwards of $100 for a 36-inch width.

I just wanted to share this, as I think it's a good, budget-friendly alternative to a pricier screen door, especially for an area like mine, where I only need screening for 3 months out of each year. We actually prefer to not have a screen on this door the rest of the year, so we can see through the window better.