It’s such a beautiful time at the moment, settled hot days, heaps of food growing in the garden, cicadas roaring away…
We’ve got a lovely apple tree in our backyard. Unfortunately it’s got codling moth, but that’s not too bad – I just have to cut around the moth-holes when cutting up the apples. They are still delicious and tangy. Perfect for cooking. (Does anyone have any advice re: codling moth?) I picked the first apples off the tree yesterday and baked a pie, topped with the words ‘wild and precious’ – a fragment from this Mary Oliver poem. We had it with whipped cream. I do think our grown food sources are wild and precious – (and under threat.) Tree to plate eating? Yes please.
Codlin Moth – In about October find a small glass jar and put into it 1 Tbsp treacle & 1 Tbsp vinegar and top it up with water. Hang it as close to the centre of the tree as possible in a mandarin or onion bag. Keep it topped up with water over the next couple of months. The moths go for a drink and drown/get stuck. This method has worked well for me. Some people use a mix of 1 part port and 9 parts water, but that seems like a waste of port. Another thing you can do is to grow peppermint geranium under your tree; the Codlin moths don’t like it.
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Thanks!
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I love your words on top of your pastry! Right, I’m going to make a pie. We’ve got an apple tree too with 10 apples on it. We ate the first one last night. It was delicious.
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i have apple-tree jealousy, moths and all. what a fabulous-looking pie.
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Helen, your pie is amazing. Amazing! How often do you include poetry in your cooking? Poetry food is an idea that deserves its own Tumblr.
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Thanks, Helen – I quite often do words on top of pies. I don’t know why – I guess pastry reminds me of clay or playdough or something so I get a bit fiddly with it – lol!
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What a fabulous looking pie. Great words
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fantastic pie – yum – and love the writing on top – my mother-in-law does the same – writes the initials or names of children at the meal – is it traditional?
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