When Life Gives You Apples..

It has been downright cool the last few days.  Enough so that a light sweater outside is perfect.  The last couple of years our apple picking has slipped passed us and we have headed out late in the season, when the best, in my opinion, were over.  This year with the onset of crisp air, I jumped on it and we spent some time Monday exploring a new, to us, orchard about 45 minutes from here.  It wasn't the pick your own that we are used to.  They pick and then we get to sample and load up on all we want.  Very reasonably priced too.

I was especially impressed with the reduced price "seconds".  These are the fruit that have some minor blemish on them, and they were selling for $1 a pound.  Fantastic!  These morsels rarely had a bruise, mostly an abnormality in the skin that for whatever reason tainted their appeal (pun intended ;).  Well not for me!  What do you do when life gives you apples??  Make applesauce, of course.  Yesterday after work, I opened all of the windows to let in the fall-like breeze and began slicing and dicing.


Of the many applesauce recipes that I have made over the years, I find that the easiest is always the best.  I don't like it too sweet so for a large pile o' apples (20) I used 1/2 C sugar, 2 1/4 C water and 2 tsp. cinnamon.  I let it simmer for about 45 minutes and then gently took an immersion blender to smooth it out, but only a little bit, some chunks are just fine!  The batch made six pints of applesauce which I processed in a hot water bath for 20 minutes.

I'm thrilled that we so eagerly began the season, Charles wonders why we bothered canning them, they won't last a week!  Well, I have good incentive to make more batches of my four ingredient applesauce, so we can taste the first glimpse of fall the rest of the year! 

Monday evening we finished watching the Walton's with the kids.  All nine seasons plus the movie specials, all in order over about 18 months.  Tonight I am including the applesauce in an old fashioned applesauce cake for B's birthday.  A favorite made by Livy Walton, and a little taste of the simplicity that we strive for.  A happiest of birthdays to my 'old fool'!

Feeding My Soul

Shorter days, that bring twilight at supper time.
Crisp mornings that glaze the surroundings with droplets of dew.
Soft breezes begin to coax the trees of their heavy  burdens,
swirling  leaves just tinged with color to our feet.
Windows flung wide open welcoming.
 Fresh apples, full of the promise, just waiting to be transformed.
The garden's gift, wrapped in hard work, with a bow tied by mother nature's elements.
This, the beginning of Fall, a season that feeds my soul.

Silent Sunday

Beating the Heat

This first Friday of September has been very productive.  We have farm bag number seven ready for pick up and are thrilled that everyone will be able to taste the beauty of late summer in their meals.  It is funny how I start out a week wondering if we are going to have enough, to deliver the variety and quantity that I want to.  Then, by the time we are ready for people to pick up, the fridge is bursting and I am jotting handwritten notes on my typed contents list to add on extra goodies.  This week's bag has three types of tomatoes, tomatillos, beets, eggplant, enough green beans to freeze a few batches after eating fresh, and some of the first new potatoes and peppers.

As I walked around the property last night, I noticed many of the elderberry bushes were heavy with ripe berries, ready for picking.  So this morning we also spent a little time downtown at a great shop called D P Wiggly.  We got an impromptu lesson on wine making and bought the necessities for getting our first batch put down.  The first steps have been completed, but this topic deserves it's own post, so there will be more soon.

We also canned our first jars of roasted tomatoes this season and blanched more green beans for the freezer.  All in all a great way to beat the heat on this 92 degree Friday.

Happy Weekend!

August In Review

It is hard to believe that September is here.  Truly the fastest summer ever!  With as many photos as I took in August, it seems there were a few days that I took none.  I guess I was busy loading the volumes that I took in Colorado and at Girl Scout Camp, or maybe I just took a moment to stretch in the final lazy days of summer. Whatever the case, here is a glimpse of August through my lens.