Sorry Whistonlass, no idea if chucks can eat apple peel, but it occurs to me that maybe you could start your own compost heap! Just think of all those vegetable peelings one gets throughout the winter...

Ours wont eat them. Wjy salted water though?

Yea, I was wondering that too!

So you can freeze the slices raw, stops them going brown.

Well.....it was a wild guess....the salted water! My mom used to soak apples (I think...in lemon juice and water) to keep them from going brown. I thought I still had some lemons but alas I used them all for lemonade and forgot to replace!

They still need peeling so it's my attempt to keep them nice until later when I've made some pastry and then I'll make up a pie and freeze what's left. That's the plan.

Guess I should think about my own compost heap but the back garden is not very big and after viewing so many blogs on here I've got enough ideas to finish off a 10 acre plot! lol We do recycle and the council collects so not a total waste. Maybe I need a re-think?

I'll ring my daughter and ask her about her chickens vs apples. She's not long had the chickens (only a few months)...I know she tempts them back into their coop with corn kernels. Quite amusing to watch.....they love those!

Thanks Bamboo and Owdboggy.

lol....thanks MG.....I was hoping I was right! Not so dumb after all, I tell myself!

A neighbour of ours in her 90s uses the same method so she can have apple pies all winter

I've only got enough for 2 pies and a smallish amount that will make a nice apple sauce. I've frozen them all for now. I'm rubbish at keeping my cupboards well stocked. Went to make the pastry....not enough flour!!! Yesterday was going to make the plumb cake recipe and didn't have golden syrup. So it's all for another day!

I've still got a few apples on the tree but disappointingly I lost a lot of the windfalls due to bugs and the bad winds/rain we've had of late. Hoping for a better result next year as we're going to prune the tree and hope for the best. To our knowledge it's never been pruned and it's been in the ground for at least 21 yrs. that we know of.

Without getting into a long discussion about the process, my better half tells me that she cooks the apples with a little water and freezes the puree without any need for lemon juice or salted water and it does not oxidise as long as it is not left too long.
And if Whiston is where you live then I was borned there!

Intriguing Owdboggy.....small world! lol We've lived in Whiston for almost 20 yrs. and were local newsagents until last April...now retired :) Yeah!!

I would puree the apples except I like chunky apples for my pie so they are all sliced up now and in the freezer ready for when I get the pasty made.

I'm from British Columbia, Canada originally so British by adoption (met an Englishman, didn't I...and a Prescotian).

Wow Bulbaholic was born near Whiston and lived there until he was 27 I'd love to know which house you live in...

I've never heard of soaking apple pieces in salted water to stop them going brown. I've used lemon juice or ascorbic acid solution (vitamin C tablets dissolved) to do the job.

Have pm'd you, MG :)

So small world indeed. I was born in Whiston Hospital and went to C.F.Mott College in Prescot.

Well, OB....right on the doorstep for your birthplace. It's a small world indeed. MG and I have discovered there is more than one Whiston and I live in 'the other one'...oh dear, got that a bit wrong.

C.F. Mott College is no more...all houses on that property now. Change all around...not always for the better. Huge retail park in Prescot now too so it's killing off all the local small businesses.

Happy gardening.

My chickens love apple cores and peelings - they seem to eat anything, including grass clippings, toms, cucumber, only thing they don't like is onion skins. They also eat the weeds when I pull them out the veggie patch and throw them over to them. lol. no waste at my house.

I like the sound of your chickens, Olive. I must pass on the list of 'likes' to my daughter....don't think she's tried many of those scraps. It's a whole new world out thee! lol

Mine in my little run, not the one with the butterfly on the shed side, are Pekin bantams, black ones and white ones, did have lavenders but they died of old age and one was killed by a fox. They used to run around the garden they are great for eating the slugs and snails etc. very light and very fluffy so don't do a lot of damage to the plants. When the fox started to kill them I had a run and pen made by a friend and now I lock them in at night and they just have their own little grass run in the day time. Bonus is they lay my eggs for me, small but very useful, make good Yorkshire puddings. lol.

My daughter inherited the chickens (had 4, but one got egg-bound and £70 later and a month of 'recovery' and then it died on them...so 3 now). I have no idea what breed they are. If I find my picture of them I'll post it up. I love banties...I remember my childhood neighbour having them and I always said they looked as if they were wearing booties..lol

My daughter has had a fox prowling around but he's been unsuccessful getting into her pen or henhouse, not for lack of trying though! She puts her chickens in at night too and has a wire 'roof' so I think she'll manage to outfox the fox.

The eggs are a bonus too! We sometimes get gifted with the extras if she can't use them all up. She has 4 kiddies though so they can get through a fair quantity of eggs between the family.

Have pm'd you, Olive.

Thanks for that link, the kids are fantastic, the chickens are also, they look like Rhode Island Red crosses to me but my oh will be more accurate than me. Lovely pictures of them all busy building, I bet they enjoy collecting the eggs. Great for them to have chickens as pets. My four grandkids all grown up, hoping to get some more eventually with the two youngest girls, one got married last year the youngest still at home until next year. You never know I might get a baby to hold again one day. I wish wish wish - no pressure on them, lol. but it would be nice to hold a little bundle again.

Our grandkids, as you'll have seen, are relatively young (from 10 yrs. to almost 4 yrs.)...maybe you'll be a great-grandma one day soon, Olive. I was privileged to be present for the home waterbirth of the youngest grandchild...a memory much cherished. Gotta love those grandkids!

Pleased you liked the pictures

Off to do the tea now, this place is much to addictive today. best wishes guys, lovely to speak to you all, meet up again soon. Bye for now. - Barbara (Olive is my middle name)

Yes, I'm addicted to this today too! Hubby has got a bad dose of sciatica so he's not taking anything on....hate to see him so uncomfortable. He's up and about, just, but I think it's rubbing off on me to have a lazy day today too.

Yep, nice to get to know you a bit more today. Happy tea-making, Olive. (woops....just realized....that should be 'Barbara'; I'll try and remember that)

Hope hubby is feeling better soon it is very painful sciatica, I get it also. Been lucky just lately not had so much trouble, think the gardening is helping to keep me more supple. Good to meet you also Whistonlass, tea was good, stew and yorkshire pud. Blow the diet, and I did. lol x