Apple pie time!

Julia's Gingerbread Apple Pie

The grass under our apple trees is covered with fallen ripe apples just in the last week or so. We credit our neighbor Dick, who pruned the neglected orchard, for the bountiful harvest. Julia filled several big bowls with apples and turned out this delicious gingerbread apple pie last night. The crust and topping have gingerbread spices and the apples are drizzled with molasses.

This is our third summer here in our rental house but the first year we've had the promise of a good apple harvest. The tiny orchard was sorely neglected when we moved in, but the next year I found our neighbor, Dick, up in the trees with his pruning tools. He's 80 some years old and probably shouldn't have been up there, but he looked as happy as a little kid perched on a limb gazing out over the field. He said pruning trees has been one of his favorite hobbies. I'd say he worked magic.

Our neighbor pruned the trees back into production.

Next up: Applesauce?