Today I made oozes of jam with the huge amount of crab apples I picked from up on the moor. My dear friend Sarah painted as I cooked and the picture is the result, as well as the jam of course!

     These rather tart apples will also freeze well if you want to save the cooking until a later date. Just remove the blossom ends and stems then give them a quick rinse. Place them on a tray in single layers and freeze. Once frozen, place in freezer bags and they should keep up to three months.

     There are many things you can do with crab apples, such as crab apple butter, spiced pickled crab apples and of course the crab apple jelly. But I have discovered that these small sharp apples also make good bread.

Crab apple bread

Cream ½ cup butter with 1 cup of sugar

Then add 2 eggs 2 tbsp of buttermilk (some people use plain yogurt)

Then mix in 2 cups of flour ½ teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon of baking powder plus 1 cup of chopped up crab apples with skins on but stems and seeds removed. If so desired, you can add ½ cup of nuts

Place in a bread tin. Greased and floured

Cook in an oven already heated to 180c for 40 – 45 minutes or until done!

Sounds a wee bit like a cake! Happy experimenting!

Now to clean up the kitchen! This is the part I do reluctantly!

Decaying and dead trees still offer life to fungi, mosses, insects and lichens. At our home for waifs and strays, many newts, toads, frogs and slow worms take cover beneath bits of rotten wood we’ve gathered in a pile besides the pond.

      It is such a shame that trees in our public parks and even in our gardens, are pruned to such a degree that it effects the natural habitat for our wildlife. Even in our woodlands, the end of life trees are often removed. One idea is for the tree stump to remain and left to rot on its own, thus providing a home for many small creatures.

      If you would like to encourage wildlife into your garden, it is quite easy to form a small pile of logs, sticks and leaves. Even those of you who have just a small balcony or small space, can help, by using a bucket filled with sticks and leaves. Just remember to puncture holes in it so the insects etc can come and go as they please and the rain water can escape.

An apple a day keeps the doctor away, maybe so, but if you were to eat a cupful of apple seeds then you could be in big trouble and it could be time to call the doctor!      

     In ancient Greece, if one was to throw an apple at someone, it was in declaration of their love for that person. But, if the person got highly excited and threw numerous apples back and other ate them, then there could be trouble. You see, the seeds of the apple contain amygdalin, a sugar and cyanide compound called cyanogenic glycoside. Oh, it won’t hurt you in small amounts but in larger amounts (at least a cup full) they could cause adverse reactions. It does, however, take a few hours to work.

      This pomaceous fruit (Malus domestica) is part of the rose family and its wild ancestors (Malus sieversii), can still be found in Central Asia. 

      If you have an abundance of apples and would like to store them, wrap each one in dry paper and place in a single layer in a cardboard box. Keep them in a dark, dry and airy place but remember to check them from time to time and remove the rotten ones. They can last for many months.

       Apples have numerous health benefits, so remember an apple a day could indeed, keep the doctor away!

Despite their decline, I managed to see a variety of butterflies as I wondered through the valley and onto the beach. The late summer sunshine is a great relief for many animals and I too felt better for having the sun warm my shoulders and my spirits too.

     I sat for awhile taking many nature pictures that one day I hope to do something with. And in return I was rewarded with a peacefulness that seemed to elude me these past few weeks.  

     ‘Take time to stop and smell the flowers,’ my father once told me. And so I stopped and watched the butterflies, delicately fly from flower to flower. I watched the waves roll in and out across the sandy bay and I looked all around me and saw miles of rugged cliffs stretching down to a quiet sea. Not even a seagull dared to break the spell!

     I remember once, being told that if the breath is irregular then the mind is unsteady. If your breathing is calm then so will your mind be calm. My mind certainly felt calm as I headed back to our home for waifs and strays.

Rufus couldn’t wait for his owner to go to work. Since discovering a way out of the attic, his life had changed completely.

     ‘Oh poor Rufus,’ said Penny, ‘I hate to leave you all day on your own,’ and she emptied a box of toys on the floor in front of him. Rufus pretended to look excited and wagged his tail. The truth was, the toys bored him. What did she think he could do with the toys all day? They didn’t move or talk. They were no fun at all! He often tossed them up in the air and watched them fall lifelessly to the floor. He bit into them as hard as he could but still no response although the odd one did squeak. No, the toys were no substitute for adventure. So he sat and waited for the door to close. Good, he thought, she’s gone!

      Winking at the old ginger cat that watched him from its basket, Rufus scurried up the three flights of stairs to the attic. Thankfully, the window was open. His bark echoed across the rooftops as a signal to his friends that the coast was clear. But just as he was about to pounce through the window, he saw the strangest thing.

      There was a man dressed in dark clothes. His head was covered in a black woolly hat. He was carrying a big bag over his shoulders and it looked pretty heavy, thought Rufus. He watched the man tiptoe over the red rooftops, stopping occasionally behind the tall chimney pots. Very strange, thought Rufus, very strange indeed!

      Then suddenly, the man jumped onto a lower roof and into someone’s garden. With his ear pricked up and his nose twitching, Rufus crept out of the window to see what the man was doing.

       The strange man was in the garden at the back of a shop. Rufus knew the man who lived there because he always gave him a bone. This was not the man from the shop, thought Rufus, ducking behind a wall.  Something odd was going on, something very odd, he thought.

        Looking through a gap, Rufus saw the man trying to push a big bike out of the shed. ‘Stop that you thief,’ barked Rufus and all of a sudden the garden was surrounded by the latchkey dogs.

       ‘You took your time,’ barked Rufus. ‘This man’s a thief!’

       The man from the shop heard all the commotion and ran outside to see the dogs trying to protect his bike. When the police came to take the man away, the dogs were nowhere to be seen.

      Later that evening when his owner came home, she hugged Rufus tightly. ‘I’m so glad you were locked in here while I was at work today,’ she said, ‘there are lots of dogs on the loose but I was told they managed to catch a thief. Fancy that?’

       Fancy that indeed, thought Rufus as he wagged his tail and winked at the old ginger cat.