Busy day

Mom and I have been working all afternoon, and we have quite a nice little bit to show for our labors.

Amber was a big help as well, and got to taste test everything, which she REALLY liked! I had a towel over a stool that I had my kettle sitting on while I put my apples through the sieve for applesauce, and when I put the kettle over on the stove to get more apples, I turned around and my towel was gone. I then looked for her - she'd been standing beside me watching me, and she had taken my towel, folded it and was putting it back into the drawer I keep my kitchen towels in! I explained to her that I needed it for a while longer, but I made sure to thank her for being such a big helper. Not bad for a 22mo!! She certainly takes pride in helping, as does Hannah.

Anyway, Mom just left a bit ago, and everything is cleaned up and our jewels in a jar are resting upside down on the counter - don't know WHY we do it that way, we just do. Mom claims it helps create a better seal, and we've never had problems with anything not sealing from doing it that way.

We got 23 pints of lovely pink applesauce from 1/2 bushel of apples. They were a red apple, and we cooked them with the skins on to get the lovely hue. This picture does not do it justice, but it's beautiful in the jars, and it tastes soooo good!

We also got 20 pints of apple butter. Well, technically 21 pints, but we kept one back to eat now! I made homemade (well, Bisquick!) biscuits and that's what we had for dinner. Biscuits, butter, fresh apple butter & decaf coffee. Yum!!! That was worth all the work we've done today.

On the agenda tomorrow: Grocery shopping, go buy more jars, then come home to make lunch, using the very last jar of our canned beef to make beef & noodles. Then Mom and I plan to make a batch of apple pie filling. Since Wednesday night is church night, we'll try to get it done as quickly as we can. Will also ask Peter to make some more supports for our canned goods pantry, as the shelves are trying to bow some.

After that, it's time to relax! Well, until Thursday, when we start over again!