Applesauce Time

Well, it's been a total bomb of a season for me. No strawberry jam, no raspberry jam, not a single cherry canned and I just verified that ever single peach orchard in the entire world is closed for the season. I am determined not to miss applesauce! So tell me, anyone out there interested in doing it together? I'm thinking we'll pick apples as a family sometime in the next three weeks. Then process them within a week of picking. What do your schedules look like? Wanna make a day of it in the country and try to pick together? Do you want me to just pick some up for you and can together? I think we'll have fun. Send me a note or leave a comment if you are interested in making one kitchen a nasty sticky mess instead of all of us doing it. Kristie - Buffalo isn't too far to come. Are you up for it yet?

When It Comes to Safety Features, Don't Wait

OUCH!! I learned a valuable lesson this morning. When it comes to safety features, don't tell yourself, "I'll grab that in a minute." Today I'm teaching preschool and the lesson plan tells me to teach the kids how to make applesauce. Being a huge applesauce fan, we have the official sauce maker & food strainer machine. I assembled it, mostly, but the safety screw holding the metal strainer piece in place was just out of reach. "I'll grab that in a minute," I told myself. I got everything else in place and of course, forgot the screw.

Everything would have been okay, except that curiosity got the best of me and I stuck my face on the back side of the contraption to see just how much clearance there was where the "trash" comes out the back of the machine. I've always wondered how the seeds can come out in the trash, but the "fruit" mush doesn't. Being the engineer that I am, I had to check out the tolerances on my mighty fine machine. So...did I mention the metal strainer piece is spring loaded? With a really stiff spring? Yeah, I know. I cranked the handle to see how it all worked and WHAMMO!! Bloody lip. I'm an idiot. But, I'll probably NEVER forget the screw again. Hey, at least I didn't nail one of the preschoolers. They would be traumatized and never eat applesauce again.

Let the Games Begin

Maddie is such a helper. Here are some instructional photos to help anyone just starting out canning. Here is how we use the peeler to remove the skins of the peaches before bottling them. First, choose a peach to your liking. This is not the peach that Mom is forcing upon you because you previously took a bite in it. Insist on new, untouched peaches because they work much better than the peaches that already have a single bite missing. Second, take the smaller end of the peeler and press it firmly against the outside of the peach as shown in the picture. Once you have penetrated the peach, twist the peeler several times to enlarge the hole. Make sure you create enough holes to let all the juice out. Once you have created enough holes, bludgeon the peach using the larger end of the peeler while walking around the kitchen. Hold the peach up so the juice runs down your arm and drips off your elbow. This way you can control the drip and maximize the splatter by moving your elbow in random patterns above the floor, stool, and if you are lucky the carpet. Mom will be delighted to see the sticky mess you have left in your wake. Once the peach stops dripping or has lost all of its pulp, discard and select another to begin again. Good thing Mom just went to the orchard and bought 6 pecks of peaches--you can stay busy all day "helping" bottle the peaches. Enjoy!

Orchard Days Again - Peaches

The kids and I had another enjoyable day picking peaches at the orchard in Markham, Virginia. As usual, we all picked for a while and then the kids retreated to the car to "drive" while I finished up. Ben had fun trying to climb the trees to reach the high up fruit. Then he picniced alone on a blanket while he watched me pick and Maddie wander the rows.

Maddie picked up a bunch of peaches from the ground and put them in her bag. After the bottom of the bag was covered, she started whining "too heavy, mommy, too heavy." In my good faith efforts to help solve the problem, I offered to trade her bags for an empty one. She happily agreed to the trade. Then she got mad when I turned to leave with her bag. She carefully, moved each and every peach from her original "heavy" bag to the new empty bag. Upon completion of the task, she happily walked off. "All better," she claimed. Whatever...

I was surprised how much longer it took me to pick peaches and how much less fun I had since we went without Brian this time. We've never been to the orchards without him. I think taking him is a must now. Though we had fun, it wasn't the regular fun family day I usually envision at the orchards without him there.

More Cherries

Brian decided he really wanted to can more cherries, so he went an bought a ton more. Brian, Ben and Anne all donned aprons and started working to bottle the fruit. Maddie didn't want to be left out, so on her own, she went and found an apron and brought it to the worker group to have it put on so she could help. Of course, she had nothing else on so her clothes didn't get ruined.

Here are some fun pictures of the kids working with grandma, including Maddie's attempts to clean up by wiping everything, including her toes. Guess they must have been sticky.

Cherries

Two years ago I decided I really wanted to try canning cherries, so I ordered a super cool cherry pitter with springs and lots of fun engineering looking gadgets. I was totally excited to use it. Then I found out that I had just missed the cherry harvest. I had to wait an entire year! Ugh. The next spring came and I was determined to get some last year. I wanted to cry when a freeze destroyed the entire crop here in our region. Another year of waiting to use my super cool machine.

After waiting two years, Brian picked up some cherries last Saturday morning. I decided to take a nap in the afternoon. Before I fell asleep, I started hearing a rhythmic, pop-clunk. I knew what it was and tried with all my might to stay in bed to give Ben and Brian their special time. Finally, I couldn't take it any longer. I had to see the cherry pitter in action. Ben met me at the kitchen door and threw himself across the doorway, trying with all his might to block the door by touching both sides of the wall. We're making a surprise, he said desperately. I had to tell Brian I what I wanted so he could talk Ben into letting me in to see the kitchen.

Finally, after the long years of waiting, I was able to pit my cherries. Or at least use the machine. We figure it pitted around half of them. The other half are still inside because the plunger missed the pit and just made holes in the side of the fruit. Sort of a let down. Maybe next year, we'll just leave the pits in and keep it simple.

How Canning Can Change Your Life

Who knew that canning would come to define a home to me. I hated picking fruit, cleaning it, preparing it, bottling it, washing the bottles, carrying jars up and down the stairs to the basement storage. It was WAY too much work to be worth it. I made a vow to myself that I would never do it again when I had a house of my own. I've included some fun pictures of our family in the fruit orchards the last few years.

Ben in peach orchard at 2 1/2 yrs old.

Brian and I went through school happy as can be, living in our small apartments with no yard to mow or things to fix. None of the things we had to do during our growing up years. Finally we finished school, started working and bought a cute little house in Houston, Texas. It was probably the very next fall as the weather began to turn cooler in November that I felt this odd tug in my heart to make my house a home. I really wanted to can applesauce. That would make it home to me. Weird, I thought, that I'd ever want to do that.

Maddie in peach orchard at 1 year.

Two years passed and I thought of it from time to time. Finally, I tried my first strawberry jam when my mom was in town after I had Ben. It was fun to make and mom was there to make sure I didn't ruin it and waste all that money. That jam was precious to me and we made a ton. About three months later, Kristie and Anthony moved in. We shared groceries, cooking and chores (though they were lots better at doing their chores than I ever was...). I saw the jam disappearing so quickly it made me want to cry. Kristie had a rule that if we have any kind of pasta, from lasagna to mac'n'cheese, we must have bread with the meal. Of course, having bread means you must have jam. It sure went fast. There were about 8 bottles left when we moved to Virginia. I seriously considered how I could bring 8 jars of freezer jam on the airplane. In the end, I bequeathed them all to Kristie and Anthony. It was a really sad day for me to say goodbye to it.

Angie, Maddie and Ben picking raspberries.

Upon our arrival in Virginia, I became great friends with Cara Glassett. She lived around the corner from us and moved in only a week or two after we did. She decided to find an orchard in Virginia to pick apples. She found one and had a fantastic day picking apples and got us a bag. Finally, I saw my chance. We (Cara and I) decided to make applesauce together. I already had the sauce maker machine and lots of empty bottles, she had the steam canner and the know how.

Ben at 3 1/2 in apple orchard trying to keep the bees and flies out of his ears.

Brian was out of town for two weeks when we undertook the crazy process. I put down huge blue tarps all over the carpet and we began. The entire kitchen was a disaster and the tarps were so sticky from apple juice drippings. We learned a lot but never had I had so much fun spending so many hours working, cooking, squishing and measuring. I think every dish in my entire house was sticky when we finished. I let it all sit for a day or so before I had the energy to clean it all up before Brian returned from his trip to Europe.

Brian and Maddie in apple orchard at 1 year.

Brian was totally impressed and loved the applesauce. Since then, we have become serious canners. We buy bushels and bushels of peaches and apples each year to process. We do strawberry, raspberry and peach jam. Every time I can something, it makes my house feel like a home. Ben loves to do it, from picking in the orchard and eating as many peaches as he can, to mutilating the fruit (his best effort at peeling a peach), to squishing the apples or turning the crank on the saucer. Our home is full of love when we can fruit and spend that time together dancing to whatever comes on the radio and working hard as a family.