Fall . . . .

. . . seems a couple weeks early.  Some trees are in the middle of turning already.  Beautiful, very warm days and night under 60 degrees.  Yay, and what a relief!

I have been busy!  Pulling stuff out of drawers and tossing more 'stuff' (half my make-up went).  Started washing blankets for the winter.  One blanket need repair before washing.  The comforter and 2 sleeping bags will be done at the laundromat because of their size.  Six books left my bookcase for their rightful owner.  A load of recycles went and a couple sacks to the Goodwill truck.

For the pantry I have dehydrate 2 3 quarts of zucchini (apparently I cannot count), this is new for me to try.  I think adding about a 1/4 cup to soups or stew will equal about 3/4 a cup fresh.  Also in the dehydrator went apples, the grandgirls love them as a treat.  The peels went into a batch of apple peel jelly adding 11 jars to the pantry.

Feels so good!  And yes, so much left to do.

Canning

I have had a busy 2 days.  My son in law picked a box of apples from his mom's house and delivered them to mine.  Sweet guy!  Possibly 80 to 100 pounds.  So far I have filled my dehydrator 3 times and made 2 batches of applesauce, 13 pint jars.  Three Two failed to seal right, too much seepage under the screw lids.  No problem, they will go in the fridge to be used first.  I have barely used half.  They are buggy but with small holesl which adds to processing time.  I don't mind, I love to recieve free fruit!!  My worms love the extra compost food.  My daughter actually has some of the best apples that hold their shape and have LOTS of flavor (they are what was canned last year). Every little bit helps.   I am HAPPY!!  with my efforts. 

Update:  Another batch in the dehydrator.  Life has interfered with getting more of the apples done and not too happy about it!

An Apple a Day . . . . or Fifty!

Since 8 am, I have been processing apples for winter storage.  First job was to hang apple peels and cores that I boiled last night, to drip for jelly (which I just finished, it's 9 pm now!).   Then more had to peeled for apple pie jam, trying out a new recipe.  Then MORE had to be peeled to load up the dehydrator again.  The peels were put in a pot to boil and sit overnight, in the morning I will make another batch of jelly.  All this from 3 bags of apples (only half were used), so the rest can be made into apple sauce in pint jars.  I am tired!  BUT, what a good addition to my pantry.

7 pints of applesauce, apple pie jams, apple peel jelly, dry apples

The best part of Monday was the help my 4 yr old granddaughter gave me.  She used the apple peeler with my help and ate a slice out of each apple we did.  She also helped me to arrange apples on the drying trays.

Feels Good

I made applesauce today, enought to can 8 pints.  It doesn't sound like much but you work with what  is given.  I used the peels and cores to make jelly (from my daughters effort at making apple butter for her husband). Todays will go to more jelly making in the morning with the addition of cinnamon sticks and a piece of nutmeg.  I found a recipe online  for jelly and it came out great.  The comments were saying that their batches were not jelling.  I added 1/2 cup of lemon to the recipe which is required for sweet fruit   in order for a balanced recipe.  I am not sure why it needs to sit in the fridge overnight!

So it took all day, What is with that?  I am happy with the results though and thoroughly satisfied, we have taste tested . . . . . mmm good!

Our summer bounty, Blackberries!

We went to our daughter's house to make jam.  After collecting and freezing large quantities of blackberries, we picked today to use up her stockpile.  I prepared juice last night to take to make a batch of jelly for our pantry.  So we made 6 batches:  jelly, 1 low surgar jam and 4 regular jams.  It was quite a marathon of canning.  E also canned up 4 pints of tomato sauce and baked 2 pumpkins to puree and freeze.  Definitely good stuff, the grandkids got to lick a spoon and they approved.  I must make a batch of jam in the morning and use the solids from the jelly drip, I'll sieve it because seedless jam is my preference.  We are very tired but satisfied and I am grateful for my husbands help, he watched the 2 grandkids (ages 3 and 6). We would never have been able to work for HOURS with them underfoot.  Thank you hunny.

Blackberries . . . .

I have been out picking blackberries, again.  14 cups!  They have all been going into the freezer till I can get to them, plus hopefully to juice up better.  My family has not been too cooperative these couple year, my rule has always been:  you pick, I make it.  The blackberries and so big and beautiful and juicy this year with a lack of sun and rain, go figure.  Anyway, my goal is a batch each of jam, jelly and syrup (to die for on vanilla ice cream).  Yes, they have been out there BUT NOT enough!  And with hundreds of pounds of berries, hmmm . . . . wasteful!  One year when my kids were little I made  80 jars of good stuff with plums, apples, pears and blackberries.  And yes, the whole family was involved.  Not too sustainable of us, either.