Dónal Donohoe

While waiting for the apples to ripen on the apple trees last year I decided to to leave them for an extra week before picking them. When I came back the following week to see how they were doing the first thing I noticed was that the birds had got there before me. If it were the case that they would just eat a few apples and leave the rest undisturbed everything would be fine, but no they absolutely have to take a few bites out of as many apples as possible. Still who can blame them for trying to eat as much as possible before winter arrives and food becomes harder to find.

© Irene Lundgaard

This year there were not as many apples as in previous years with the exception of one tree which had an abundance of cooking apples. When October arrived I decided to beat the birds to it by picking all the fruit before they got to it. There was still plenty of berries and other food around so I did not feel bad about it and home-made apple tart made with organically grown apples makes coffee time a real treat every time