Colonel Underleaf and Apple Browning

Today we had Apple Day celebrations at school. I'd missed the Apple Assembly, so when I came in there were various activities set up including apple tasting, making of bee houses out of natural materials, a demonstration of apple pressing, and cooking with apples. The school is involved in the Stroud District Council's YES! project (youth exploring sustainability) so it was a chance for the workers and pupils to showcase their environmental work, including the bee houses.

I only took a couple of shots because I was working, but it was a joy to bump into Chris J, who was doing the apple pressing demo seen above. Chris' company, Creative Sustainability, is a community interest company that contributes to the YES! project, as well as organising youth eco literacy and design camps, and much more. Chris is one of those people I end up bumping into in various green or 'alternative' places, so much so that I am never surprised to see him.

Back to apples...
Years ago, I asked my nephews, who are town-born and bred, where apple juice comes from. They looked puzzled, and eventually answered, "a box!" Since then, I have introduced them to the joys of juicing, but the juicer is a nightmare to clean...I prefer my Victorian-era apple peeler and corer, which I used to take into afterschool club last year, as it was a great way of encouraging children to eat fruit. They used to help with the process, and called the resulting slices "apple rainbows".

This write up has been going on far too long, because I had to stop and do a massage; and now I must make lotions, or supper, or both. I have found an apple poem or two that I wrote, days AFTER I posted a poem by Adrian Mitchell on my Apples blip of last Sunday.
The poems don't really go with this school shot, though, so I now have an excuse for a third apple blip. At least we now have plenty, as CleanSteve stocked up at the farm shop, and bought cooking apples too. Baked apples are looking mighty tasty now that it's cold and dark all the time!

PS I have corrected some factual errors in this story, re. the YES project and Creative Sustainability. Thanks to Chris for putting me straight on this.