Pat:

I envy you your apples.

Well, technically, they belong to DD - they just came to visit my house & find their own special bottles!

Oh, I see. Well, they're kind of fun to do up anyway.

Pat:

Oh, I see. Well, they're kind of fun to do up anyway.

I have acquired a bushel of apples. I want to can some to use in a recipe that DH likes. Plan to use some of the peels for potpourri. Admittedly I am overwhelmed at the thought of this many apples, but refuse to allow them to waste. Garden is still producing peppers, peppers and more peppers. Gathered a few tomatoes yesterday evening, we don't tire of fresh tomatoes. There are so many ways to use them.

 Todays project is canning applesauce. Picked grapes too. I think that they will be juice.They are a tart grape. Babs

Putting stuff by for winter includes meats too. The boys butchered 7 young rabbits yesterday for the freezer. I pulled a goat leg out last night to thaw and today Im cutting and grinding and making Jerky in my dehydrator.

zohnerfarms:

Pat:

I envy you your apples.

 

Well, technically, they belong to DD - they just came to visit my house & find their own special bottles!

Tomorrow will be an at-home day, canning applesauce & sliced apples, drying apple slices & sliced pimentos, trying to get everything "put by" before DD comes out to SLC for grandson's biopsy on Wednesday.

I will probably use both apple crisp & applesauce in the menus of the next few days, from the odd amounts left over that won't fit in the jars at the end of big batches, & I will probably also make chili in the crockpot again, since I have ripe tomatoes, fresh onions & can use the odd ends of the pimentos - - AND because my hands will be busy canning & dehydrating.  I still have over a bushel of DD's apples to process into whatever, down from about 3 bushels.  I am down to 2 of the five-gallon buckets of green tomatoes from 3 - - they are ripening fast, so I am working on those too. Only one 8-quart bucket of ripe pimentos left from the 4 I brought home from DD's to do - - but I have most of a 5-gallon bucket of my own pimentos that are starting to ripen, too.

Yesterday afternoon DH peeled while I sliced to fill all 10 trays on the dehydrator with sliced apples before I went to work, so those are in 3 quart jars now.

I am still saving the cores/seeds from the heirloom pimentos as I slice them to dry.  So far I have over 4 ounces of dried seeds in little plastic bottles, & more set out on plates to dry.  One of the RNs at work is willing to trade me heirloom tomato seeds for heirloom pepper seeds .  If she has enough, I will trade some for DD, too.

zohnerfarms:

Yesterday afternoon DH peeled while I sliced to fill all 10 trays on the dehydrator with sliced apples before I went to work, so those are in 3 quart jars now.

Busy, busy, busy. Your pantry and your daughter's should be looking great.

I checked the green tomatoes I'd put in newspaper and almost all of them are ripe now! I wasn't expecting all of them to ripen so fast. Now I have to do something with them, so I'll probably give them away to a few different people. There have been years when they kept until Thanksgiving, but I guess no real tomatoes for Thanksgiving this year. I have a pumpkin to work up for the freezer and that's about it this year.

 Yesterday. I picked all the green beans taht I could find. There was a frost this morning so will see if anything survived. Picked some more green cherry tomatoes. I was given another half bushel of apples. We have men from Jamacia picking apples at the orchards. One man is a Pastor and has been coming to church. He brought apples for me and some for soup kitchen. Nice blessing. Not sure what I will do with them. I havent dried any so maybe dry some. 

Also need to can a bushel of apples for Bean. Babs 

Pat:

I checked the green tomatoes I'd put in newspaper and almost all of them are ripe now! I wasn't expecting all of them to ripen so fast.

Mine aren't in newspaper, just a bucket & a spare water bath canner, but they are ripening faster than I remember in past years, too - hence the tomato sauce!

zohnerfarms:

Mine aren't in newspaper, just a bucket & a spare water bath canner, but they are ripening faster than I remember in past years, too - hence the tomato sauce!

Must have something to do with the weather making them so late in starting to ripen. Or something.