Ripening Under the Sun

For most of the year, I adore the old crabapple tree in the garden, its whiskery branches in winter, its new leaves and blossoms in springtime, the tiny, hard green fruit in July. Not so much at this time of the year though.

Crabapples are lovely things pickled, juiced or jellied, but picking the little dears out of the veggie patch in August and raking them out of the grass before mowing is something else entirely. The bees and the wasps do not agree.