Applied Learning - Apple Hunting

Today was our Family Fun Day Outing and we headed to Mt. Angel, Oregon for their annual Oktoberfest celebration. The Kindergarten area is always fun for the under 12 set, with free pony rides, an animal petting zone and bouncy houses for all ages! Biergarten avoided, it's a fun outing for our group, and I highly recommend discovering what Mt. Angel has to offer.


With both kiddos sound asleep in the back seat, we took the lazy way home, scouting for ferile apple trees on our route. Dan remembered an old warehouse where he worked had apple trees in the front yard that were never utilized so we turned off the main road and wandered that direction.  We were in luck!

Several apple trees and two pear trees were laden with fruit, both on the tree and on the ground. We grabbed my Envirosack, filled it up in about 5-6 minutes, and left plenty for anyone else who stumbled into their bounty. Modern gathering skills applied in the wild!

Now I'm off to clean and prepare these treats for the pot. Hoping to glean some pectin for our "efforts"... stay tuned!

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Sunday - The Fruits of our Labor

Suddenly it was already Sunday!

We took our apples, washed and graded them according to how they would be used: A was for eating and/or slicing for the dehydrator, B was for cutting into chunks and getting out the pectin and/or using for applesauce, and C was for composting (or goat feeding). 

I was amazed how easy the pectin was to make and will be trying to do some canning with this if we have time to do more apple foraging in the next few weeks.

Dan modified a couple of recipes into a delicious blackberry/apple crisp that was the perfect end to the weekend. Warm and gooey, he made it in an iron skillet and baked it. So good!

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The weekend in pictures...

June shares her homestead with us!

The kids really enjoyed feeding the chickens!

Forest Goats were another main attraction...

Especially for Lucy!

Making Pectin from the "Bad Apples"

Prepping the dehydration trays and grading apples

Slicing and dicing!

Taking time to play Horsey with the kiddos!

Lucy's proud leaf moment!

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Saturday - Apple Foraging and Winemaking

On Saturday we hopped aboard the short bus and went apple foraging. We found a bunch of apples and blackberries in season, and did a lot of plant identification along the way.

I had fun pointing at things and asking what it was and could I eat it, perhaps I should've taken the edible plant class instead? We had lunch in an old county park along the river and then headed back to the homestead where the art of winemaking (and the very important element of tasting) got underway.

We sampled various wines from past batches and also started the berries we had prepared the night before into a new batch of wine. We learned about using various types of yeast to help feed the wine, and bottled a batch that was ready to move out of the car-buoy.

Saturday night we convened with the other camps and all had dinner - goat chili and salad. Well, I had mac/cheese with the kids, lol, but in my defense I was having stomach issues all day! After dinner we called it an early night and got up Sunday to process the apples we picked.

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Friday - Elderberry Goodness

Friday night we got there and got settled at the home of our hosts/instructors June and David.  They are really amazing people and I'm so excited to soak up their shared knowledge. 


Our group, about 12 of us including our kiddos, sat in the living room cleaning elderberries from stems (over 15 lbs) while enjoying a few glasses of elderberry wine (juice for the younger set). The group of mainly 20-somethings made me feel ancient, but having a common goal in modern-day homesteading and DIY activities bridges the age gap just fine.


Aside from a restless night with little ones in foreign surroundings, we fell asleep late and awoke on Saturday ready for our next adventure.

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Wilders Immersion - What?!

My husband is the adventurous sort. He embraces the outdoors as part of his arena for contact sportz of every variety. Me? Well, I like to go camping, but I like there to be running water and flush toilets too.


I'm not a total wimp and not afraid to try new things, so when Dan (aka Otis to his Trackers Bretheren) approached me about doing a 9-month immersion program through his employer, Trackers NW, I didn't cringe at the idea. My biggest concern was child care!  Our concerns were voiced at a Trackers gathering and we were invited to bring the whole family. Obviously they had never met the entire Brophy clan!


At this point, I got a little anxious. Being out of my element is one thing, but subjecting the chaos that is a family of four with two toddlers onto an unsuspecting group of 20-somethings had me downright concerned.


And wait... it starts WHEN?! Next weekend? Yes, certainly no time to panic! 


So I've decided to take you all along on our journey.  Admittedly, the blog idea came later in the weekend so the pictures are a bit sparse, but going forward, I hope to share as rich as experience I can without resorting to dragging you with me.


If you're interested in participating in a Trackers Immersion program, you can read more about them here.

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Ch-ch-ch-changes

Running With Scissors is morphing from your one stop shop for coupon deals into my dangerous antics as a modern Homesteader (wannabee).

I believe that couponing and homesteading are symbiotic in that we are all trying to use and conserve what we have to employ the most efficiency into our lives as possible. Whether one does this by raising chickens for eggs or getting free feed for those chickens through couponing, it's all part of the same circle!

Yeah okay, it's a bit of a stretch, but that's my angle and no matter how obtuse, I'm sticking with it! Hope you enjoy my journey and pick up a few tips and tricks to simplify your hectic life along the way.

--Ali B

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