This year, the Criterion apple blossoms got nipped by frost, resulting in no baby apples. The newer Golden Delicious blossomed at the same time as the red apple. Wow, what a difference with the existing red apple crop! Both trees had lots of apples, somewhat heroic of them on account of such a dry summer. The Golden Delicious limbs were actually too young to bear such a lot of big apples. I did thin them a lot but just propped the limbs up and tried not to feel guilty as the slender things bowed under the load. When I picked the last of the apples, I believe I heard a big sigh of relief from the young tree.
Those were the best apples. The Pampered Chef peeler, corer, slicer that Lis got for me one Christmas made short work of them. The 12 dehydrator trays of slices fit nicely into 3 quart jars.
I'm just emerging from a week of making applesauce. Lissa came up on Sunday and picked the rest of the high apples for her short Mom. We made two more batches of applesauce pints, bringing the total to 47 pints, with enough left for me to finish with a batch of apple butter, now cooking down in the Crock Pot.
While we worked by the hot stove, we watched a documentary about people stranded in the woods in a spring snowstorm. We couldn't help but comment how no one in the hiking party knew how to make a fire to keep warm. Winter seems to come every year, so a little planning and effort now always seems sensible.
Last week, a bumper crop of grapes needed to be dealt with. It apparently was just a great year for grapes in these parts. For years, I've pruned the grapes in late winter and trained them up in the way they should go. They refused to stick to the script, running wild and bearing little. This year, I let that go and basically gave up on the endeavor. Molly and I noticed lots of baby grapes in springtime, but I was quite surprised to see them all mature, sometimes even growing on long, un-pruned canes under the grass that grew up around them.
So, a grape juice project was in order. The first batches I did were lots of work, crushing the grapes in the food mill, straining them and myself.
Lissa came up and showed me a much better way. Not the extra-sweet recipe I found in my old Ball Blue Book, just grapes and a little honey. Much easier, especially with Lissa's help. When they are ready, they just get strained before serving.
Yesterday promised to be the last of the 90 degree days with a blast furnace wind. I awoke to a welcome gentle rain, the first one in a month.
Now, I just have one more batch of honey to extract and then I'll put my feet up and knit!
In the winter, I'll enjoy the fruits of my labors. By then, I fully expect my hands will have recovered from days in the sink. The shriveling surely will go away by then.
