A bitter winter could kill the roots and the tree if they are all in potting soil but this can be averted by several inches of insulating mulch (or snow). Just make sure you trap out or poison all field mice (voles) in the area during fall so they don't girdle your trees in winter. If you have pine voles in your area they seem to like eating roots of trees in potting soil, maybe because its a great medium for them to get around in- soft easy digging and relatively dry. It's a good idea to protect the trunks with some kind of barrier- even foil works well. You can remove it when trees begin to grow in spring. If you have rabbits, protection must stay well above the snow line.

Good to hear that the tree root thing takes some time.. Because I certainly don't plan on moving it all this winter... How do I tell if I've got the right blends of stuff going into the compost pile? Or is it really that critical? Do I just throw all the compostable stuff I have in there mix it up every week or so and not worry about it, or is there danger of overdoing or under doing certain things? I'll probably be throwing a 5 gallon bucket of wet brewers grain in there every 3-4 weeks, plus some wet hops... the next things I have in large amounts are sawdust (but I'll probably just use that to the degree to needed to control moisture content.. I have one 2 dollar bag of steer manure mixed in with it all now, and have two more at the ready throughout the season... I have two dogs, that shed some hair, almost never use up all the potatoes in the five pound bags I buy before they start going bad.. Often have two or three left over tomatoes every other week, cilatro stalks, lettuce never gets finished before it goes bad.. onion skins and ends.. cucumber skins, broccoli stems and ends, etc... egg shells, the aforementioned peanut and pistachio shells, daily coffee grains, I dry out and cut up the coffee filters from each mornings coffee.. I have lots of fireplace ash, but I understand that is to be used minimally... There's tons of pine, cedar and fir bark on and off the property.. lots of black oak leaves.. small pine cones, and a whole forest full of stuff on the ground out my back gate... I was thinking of buying a bale of straw, and adding some of that from time to time... I have tons of junk mail that comes, and a shredder... Do I just kinda throw that all in there as it comes, or what? I'm hoping I don't have to get too scientific about it all...

There have been a number of posts re freezing pies by several members, but they tend to be buried in threads on other topics. Iowa State Extension says pumpkin pies can be frozen unbaked. The filling and crust should be chilled before assembling. However, the freezer life is relatively short, approximately 4-5 weeks. Other sources recommend baking the pumpkin pie, freezing and then thawing in the refrigerator. Recommended freezer life is 2-3 months. We have friends who in the fall do assembly-line processing of pumpkin purée and make many pies, which they bake in disposable aluminum pans, freeze firm and then vacuum-seal. They turn out all right (though I'm not wild about their recipe). Something which uses a lot of eggs and freezes very well is cheesecake. It could be a pumpkin cheesecake with a gingersnap crumb crust, which would be far more freezer-worthy than pumpkin pie. Bejay's suggestion to freeze the eggs is probably the best and most versatile. Below is a link to an earlier thread on freezing pies. Pumpkin is mentioned, but only in passing. Carol Here is a link that might be useful: Freezing Apple Pies?

It's good to know that the texture won't be affected using apple juice instead of a sugar syrup. As for color retention, I do use Fruit Fresh, or grind up some plain vitamin C tabs. Haven't been able to locate any clearjel around here yet, but it wouldn't be hard to add thickener when a jar is opened. I would think a one quart jar of apple slices would be enough to make a nice pie or cobbler for two. I made Craisin Studded Apples (a take-off of BBB's Apples Studded with Dried Cherries & Raisins) just a few days ago. It was the first I've done with sliced apples. The slices were like little balloons, each trying to be at the very top of the heap.. their cells loaded with air. I did expect this because the chunks do the same in the sugar free apple pie jam I make. When I got to loading up the final jar, I had only two-thirds to three-fourths the amount of fruit for it as compared to the other 7 pints. I don't suppose it is permissible to load up the fruit into all the jars to the correct head space first, then add the liquid to the correct head space in all, and then putting them into the canner as they are capped? Okay, Okay! I think I heard all the NO!'s ...It'd certainly be nice to be able to get the fruit more evenly divided, though. Does anyone manage to come out more evenly, and if so, how do you do it? Apple Pie Kits.. what a great idea to go with the Apple Pie Jam for gifts! AND... Annie, I did a search for Apple-Maple Jam and found the one you've posted in the past. I add my "Thanks!" for taking the time to do that. It sounds delicious and I plan on making a nice batch of it. I guess the only way I'll find out if I'll use more dehydrated apples or bottled apples is to do them both this year and keep track of them. I'll end up dehydrating allot more apples than usual, but that is pretty darned easy to do with that neat apple peeler, corer slicer gadget and the Excalibur dehydrator! Anyone have recipes for using dehydrated apples??