aww, applesauce!

We are enjoying, and are very thankful for, a bumper crop of wonderful apples! This past weekend our Des Moines relatives came down, and we spent a lot of Saturday coring and chopping and cooking and milling apples. I was so blessed to have the help! I have a Foley food mill, which is powered by me, and my arm, shoulder and back are quite sore. I ordered the fruit and veg strainer for my kitchen aid today. That, my friends, is powered by electricity, which will be much better on my back, arm and shoulder. But I am glad to report that the applesauce, with 'our secret blend of spices,' turned out pretty good. There is much more to be made. I am also going to can some apple pie filling, and might try making apple jelly. Of course, I will have to make a batch or two of crock pot apple butter.

I picked the last of the grapes today. Last week I made four batches of jelly, so these grapes are going to be made into good old grape juice.

Today my better half tracked down a source for good quality organic pork products to blend with our venison for sausage making. He is really looking forward to firing up that smoker! He loaded the loft in the barn with hay bales today, and the goats had fun nibbling at the bales in the truck bed . . . meals on wheels!