no apples today!

Image via Wikipedia

Trying to put off the inevitable and cleaned out the freezers of everything I can. Got out some of our potatoes for a crock pot surprise meal (?), plums, and peaches. I had bought the plums and peaches when they were cheap but it was so hot that all I did was prep them for preserves and then freeze them. Well now seemed like a good time =)


So tomorrow will be a busy day.

Oh, yeah and I also pulled out and boiled 2 big bags of apple peels and cores for jelly. I'm gonna let them strain all night long to make jelly tomorrow.


And did I forget to say we've had a surplus of eggs in the fridge too?? gotta lot to do tomorrow!



later...

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apples day 3??

Image via Wikipedia
Well I keep slacking on doing the apples =(  It's just hard to get motivated when I have so much to do.
Today when doing the apples I didn't have enough sugar on hand so I used a generic splenda. Also I did these as spiced (cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg). There was no way to put all this on the lid so I just put apples, the date, and an A. So I have all the info here if I need it LOL!

Did 7 quarts today =)




Well got more to do tomorrow cause I have apple butter going in the crock pot again =)



I've also been dehydrating mushrooms like crazy. I can buy a package of sliced mushrooms and it will fill up all my dehydrator trays. When dried all those mushrooms will fill up one quart jar which is kinda cool.
later...

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apple day off (kinda!)

Tonight we had a day off from doing apples - well.... kinda. We decided to only do the apple butter that was going in the crockpot. Well all day I kept telling the kids - go stir that apple butter --- and they would. I'd ask is it thick yet? Is it sticking? And they'd say nope Mom!

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm............. that's odd. But I would forget about it and then about an hour later we would do the whole thing again. heck, I even got up and stirred it once or twice to see how it was myself - not done =(



About 7 PM I asked how in the heck could it take all day to do apple butter when it's on high?? And one of the kids said -- but Mom it's on warm not high UGH!!!

So once we got it on high things went by pretty quick although it wasn't done till about 11 PM so that meant we were canning late. =(


We started assembling jars and started to realize that for one the double batch of apple butter only yields 7 pints JEEZ! and also that we only had 7 canning lids left UGH!

So we got all that water up to a boil for 7 jars and that's it. And with money flow down right now (Sept is our worst month besides Dec) I'll have to wait to do more canning.


I did do some computer repairs for a friend though and so maybe I'll actually see the money and be able to use it for lids =)       ***this friend hasn't ever not paid - but other repair jobs haven't ever been a money maker for me***

later...

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garden update

Image by Chris Radcliff via Flickr

Yesterday I was able to get more jars thankfully! Why is it that all stores see canning as a seasonal thing? It's not! You can do it year round.

I had to go to 2 different stores to pick up 6 more cases. I really wish I could of found some at a yard sale or something. I've spent probably about $200 on jars this year alone! It's a good thing that they can be reused!

I've only got about 12 jars of stuff that I've gave away in the last year. I've not got even 1 jar back.

Image by SuziJane via Flickr

I've got enough tomatoes ready to go for salsa, but I don't have enough peppers. They just aren't growing for me this year at all.

Image by jonbro via Flickr

Next I'm gonna start hitting up all the people I've seen with apple trees in their yards for free apples! Apple butter here I come!








later...

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