My parents came and visited us last weekend. As always, it was fun to be with them. And it's a good thing they're workers, because we put them to work. We had apples coming out of the wazoo (translation: dropping off the trees at a non-keep-up-able rate) and tomatoes and squash that needed addressing.
On Friday we women were busy in the kitchen making zucchini relish and salsa (of which I finished yesterday because I had to get some hot peppers from the store).
The men were at work on a garden gate.
They used the old door that was the bathroom door of the first little old house that we moved to in Idaho back in 2006. That house was torn down shortly after we moved out of it. We were only there for 6 weeks. I was in my first trimester with Ezra and the water smelled like sulfur. I couldn't even use it to brush my teeth or I would gag. We bought bottled water. When we moved out I asked if we could take the bathroom door and the front door. We brought them to the ranch to use for something, just because I thought they were cool. We used this door as our head board for a while and I loved it. Then we moved to a different house on the ranch and the door got put somewhere. It got beat up and weathered, sadly. I wish we had taken better care of it because it was really cool.
Anyway, now it's one of the 2 back garden gates, along with some pickets.
My dad is so handsome.
My momma's so pretty.
At the end of the day this is what I look like...
Saturday was apple saucin' day.
My dad stood in that spot for pretty much 4 1/2 hours chopping apples.
He said to one of my kids, "I'll stand here until your Mom tells me differently."
What a trooper.
My mom chopped a ton, and filled jars, entertained little hands and did whatever else was needed. Weston ran the camp stove outside with more apples cooking until soft, and a water bath canner.
I tried to keep the littles involved. I really want this sort of thing to be a family thing; everyone has a job, and we're all involved in the work and the fun and the feasting. Of course keeping everyone on task is a complete job in itself. It's easier if they are not under foot and if I can just do my work and not have to keep everyone on task all the time. But I know if we keep at it every year will be easier. And it is for the greater good of teaching our offspring.
For the most part, everyone did really well. Spencer chopped, took pictures (most of the ones here), and turned and mashed. Kate and Ezra took their turns bringing in apples, and turning, mashing and filling jars, entertaining Oliver. Jiles helped to fill jars and spent probably 2 whole minutes separating the wide mouth lids from the regular lids. He is also a good Oliver entertainer.
Zoe is a good helper and likes to be involved. She helped Grammie cut (sort of) and mashed away.
And Oliver's job was to sit in his high chair, eat applesauce and be entertain by all of the activity and faces around him. He was really good at doing his job. So good that he needed a thorough scrubbing at the end of it.
There are so many apples this year. It's lovely. There were NONE last year. We've been out of applesauce for like a year and half. My family loves applesauce.
So we've been busy (step-by-step pictures courtesy of Spencer)...
and we'll call this:
How To Make Applesauce
1. pick and gather
2. bring them in
3. wash
4. cut into quarters - or 1/8's if the apple is really big - and cut out any yucky parts. Do not core and peel skins.
5. boil until soft in a great big pot of water
6. put hot softened apples into the white funnel of the food strainer (I use this one)
7. turn crank and mash down apples
8. spoon hot fresh applesauce into hot clean jars (or eat applesauce immediately with a dash of cinnamon)
NO NEED FOR SUGAR - we've never added it
9. clean rim of jars and add hot flat lid and ring
10. put jars in a water bath canner and process for 20 minutes a batch
11. when done set on a towel on a table or counter to cool
(We found that the water bath canners were 5x as fast on the camp stove on the back porch. That is why the jars are outside.)
We did 62 quarts on Saturday. I had done 28 earlier in the week (14 each on 2 different days). So we have done 90 quarts altogether. I LOVE seeing my pantry filling up with home grown and home canned goods. It is glorious!
