Saturday BlogRoll call

Overwhelmed With Joy is a blog I found only yesterday with the help of Adventures in 100 Acre Wood. Monday Oct 2 starts Holiday Cooking Blogger style. Where Blogger's will post their favorite holiday recipes to be shared with the world. I hope to see more of you signed up.

Millertime comes to us by Lisa. A witty woman and a great flower gardener. I am envious, and find myself living vicariously through her gardening. My flower garden gets over run by pumpkins, watermelon, edible sunflowers or tomatoes every year.

Gardener to the Big house. When I first saw the title I thought, a prison gardener? Nope, he is a gardener on a large estate in the UK. A professional that shares tips, opinions and his life stories.

More Cowbell is written by Justin. He is in med school, and doesn't update regularly. But still worth the short trip over to see him. He too is witty, and very playful. I am confident that he will be a hit with his patients. An old soul and kind hearted, his blog is about his observations of the world.

Sweet Potatoes and apples

My camera is still missing, and I fear that the youngest of my boys has thrown it out with the trash. It wouldn't be the first time this has happened. And yes, we do get trash service out here. Everyone in the county does, no matter how far from a town they are. I have lived in places where there was no trash service available, but because of one man who started his own trash removal service, decided to give rural dwellers trash service {because he was rural} everyone here has that option. Burn bans are common here. Between the Kansas winds and the semi arid conditions, fires can easily get out of control. But I am sure that you are not interested in my trash removal habits.

It was a beautiful early fall day, yesterday. I was dragged out {kicking and screaming APPLES!} to the garden, where I was desperately needed. I can't gather food items from the garden, I won't be able to process them, not until I get these apples under control. Don't marry an intelligent man with high work ethics if you ever want to have your own way. No amount of appealing to his logic helped. I had to work in the garden. I could have walked away, but when I saw the state of my neglected garden, I was soon digging up my sweet potatoes. It is time to check them.

Sweet potato vines

I dug up two plants, instead of the one test subject. The roots had intertwined, and I was forced to if I wanted to save any of the sweet potatoes from the second plant. I pulled up 5 very robust tubers, the largest is almost a foot long. {where is my camera} and 12 smaller tubers, which I will can, yam style. This is my first successful year with the sweet potato. A feat I am most proud of. In the previous years, we were only getting the spindling, dry, long roots. Discovering these nice fat ones, makes all the work {not much real work involved, mainly planning} worth it.

I noticed that our green beans have dried up nicely, and they need to be seed harvested for next year. I also need to plant the fall and winter garden, and prep the remaining area for next spring. Peanuts will need to be dug up soon, and my tomatoes are attempting a second round of blooms. This year was a bad year for tomatoes.

On to the apples.

I am now at the point where I can confidently declare, I AM SICK OF APPLES! I can not tell you how many pounds I am down today. I had this brilliant idea to take a bushel and process the apples into juice. This is more work then expected. Late last night, my back burning, I wanted to chuck the apples to the hens, throw my hands up and declare defeat. It's so much easier just to buy apple juice. The cost of my labor is more expensive then the 10% real juice drinks. Yet, it didn't feel right just to give in like that. Not in a fit of my drama queeness. I put my work away in the refrigerator, and decided that things will be better in the morning. I skipped reading last night and went to bed early. Now as I sit here typing, I can see that bushel of apples, and they are mocking me.

My mood is not much better this morning. I am not looking forward to my back burning and pleading with me to give in. I do not have an apple press. My husband had me find some blueprints on one, and he has promised to build me one before next years harvest. That doesn't help me right now. I am using a food processor to shredded the whole apples, and cheesecloth to squeeze the juice out. It's a slow, trying way to do it, but it is all that I have, and must make do. Funny, if I had the money to purchase the much needed equipment at the time it is "needed", would I still want to do this? With what some of these items cost, it would be cheaper to buy the food stuffs at the grocer. As of this morning I could truthfully answer you as, no, I would not be doing this if I had more money to be able to "splurge". Yet, if I scroll down a few entries and recall the day out, picking apples with my family, I will have to reply to that question as, yes, I would still do all of this. I didn't have this kind of time, or blissful moments with my children when I was working third shift at the hospital. I ended up bringing work home with me.

Needless to say, I am still in the process of making apple juice. I have decided to freeze it, rather than can it.

To my question about apple recipes that do not contain cinnamon;

Magid suggested apples cooked with red cabbage, cider vinegar, and spicy sausage -apples in turkey stuffing (with bread, onions, mushrooms, etc, possibly also walnuts) -apple-[other fruit] jams

Cheryl suggested "This isn't really a recipe for an apple dish, but my kids love it and it might help get rid of some of your apples (and there's no cinnamon). It's for Apple Dip (tastes like caramel but is healthier). Stir ½ cup of brown sugar into 1 cup of cream cheese. Add 1 tablespoon of vanilla (sounds like a lot, but it's right). Stir until smooth and use as a dip for apple slices."

Marina sent me a recipe for butternut squash/apple soup.

Lynn S sent me to her site where everything she knows about apples are in one convenient place.

Merry asked if Venison and apples go good together. I don’t know, as I am not a hunter the only time I get deer is as a Christmas gift from my sister-in-law and her boyfriend that do hunt. I will see if I can find a recipe, and keep back some apples just in case I do get deer this year.

Sirannon informed me that she was going to ask family for any ideas.

Thank you guys. More suggestions welcome.

Some apple trivia to amaze {annoy} your friends with; Folk hero Johnny Appleseed (John Chapman) did indeed spread the cultivation of apples in the United States. He knew enough about apples, however, so that he did not distribute seeds, because apples do not grow true from seeds. Instead, he established nurseries in Pennsylvania and Ohio.

I do hope there are no more problems with the feed for my blog. You should now be able to see the entire post. If you are still having problems, please let me know. Comments and questions are always welcome.

My apologies

In an attempt to fix the syndication feed, at least one of the programs that this blog is syndicated to, republished many of my past posts, in full. This was not my intention.

If you are reading from one of those feeds, I do apologize.

Overslept

I hate to say it, but we might need to light the furnace. The cool temperatures pushed me back under my warm quilt this morning, and I fell back to sleep. As much as I don't want it to be officially fall quite yet, the low temperatures do help the apples to keep longer.

I have signed up for the One hundred Mile Thanksgiving Challenge. This venture comes to you from Alisa Smith and James McKinnon that started the One Hundred Mile Diet. They ate only foods grown within one hundred miles of their home for one year. I have heard about the diet, as many of my homesteading friends have taken the challenge {between us, homesteaders have a slight advantage}. Their year of eating only locally grown foods has gained world wide attention. But none of these reasons are why I decided to join, except for one. Saving the small farm. And here is where I run into a problem, the small town grocer. Rural towns are disappearing, mainly because the children grow-up and move away where there are more opportunities, i.e. the city. I adore the small town, it's unique history, the way you can walk into the only gas station or bar, and there is a small group of elderly gentlemen just itching to tell you all the gossip since 1945. I understand that my small amount of spending in locally owned stores, doesn't amount to much, but with Wal-mart invading 200 acres of farmland just a few miles down the road, the local businesses need all the support they can find. That ,and I can not live without my coffee and sugar. Dandelion root and honey just isn't the same.

If you decide to join me and the other's that have signed up for the One Hundred Mile Thanksgiving, let me know. Maybe we can help each other out on dinner plans.

On to the apples;

Julie over on Flip This Body, is scaring me. She's a mind reader I tell you. She has suggested that I make apple dumplings, And I just happened to have one of my cookbooks open to 'Apple Dumplings' I will need to go into town this weekend to buy containers to keep things in the freezer. Right now I have nothing.

Alrescate suggested apple chips and baked apples. She did have concerns about canning baked apples, but they can be frozen.

Kf_in_georgia shared some family history with me, a relative of hers developed the Hoss {Haas} Apple. {you will have to scroll down} Very Cool.

My camera has disappeared. I am sure I will find it somewhere today with a bunch of 2-year-old's view of the world, photos on it. So bear with me.

11 lbs down! {4.9 Kg}

Yesterday I made apple crisp. {insert photo here}

After baking the dish, I realized I had nothing to store it in {see above about freezing apple dumplings} We ended up eating it. The serving size says it serve 6. My children will disagree with that. I have been instructed to double the recipe next time. Apple Crisp receives two sticky thumbs up. {insert cute little photo here}

Apple Crisp;

2 lbs cooking apples {5 ½ cups sliced} peeled, cored and sliced
1/4 cup water
4 tbl lemon juice
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
½ tsp ground nutmeg
½ tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup flour
½ cup unsalted butter

preheat oven to 350F {176c}

Place the apple slices into a 2 quart baking dish. Stir with the lemon/water. Make sure you do this as soon as you slice up your apples to keep them from turning brown. In a mixing bowl, combine the sugars, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt and flour. Cut the butter into the flour mix until it resembles wet bread crumbs. Spoon out evenly over the apples. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 30 minutes.

Serve warm, or if you want the crisp crispier, allow to cool completely before serving at room temp.

Apple facts to amaze {annoy} your friends with: Americans eat about 19.6 pounds {8.8 Kg} of fresh apples annually, compared to about 46 pounds {20.8 Kg} consumed annually by residents of European countries.

Is there such a thing as an apple recipe that doesn't involve cinnamon? If you have one, please tell me about it.

A Nice Rural Buy

A few weeks ago, my husband saw an upright freezer for sale outside of a rural home. It was a little pricey, almost $200 US. We need a freezer, but couldn't justify spending that much on a used one. Yesterday he noticed that the freezer was back out in front of the house {it had been removed last week} and saw that the price was lower. He came home and asked if I wanted it. I, being in a bad mood, could have cared less {my 5-year-old, in a fit of being mad at me, smeared toothpaste inside of my towel cabinet} My husband took the truck and bought the freezer. Now I am glad he did.

It is 6 years old, barely been used. The house that he bought it from is also up for sale for almost $400,000 US. An elderly couple, and they took good care of it.{They said that someone had tried to steal it, but must have been to heavy for them to remove it, and that was why the freezer had been placed back inside the house for a while }

Brand new it would have cost us $300 US, we got it for $100 US. Now I don't have to can all those apples, I can make other desserts and main courses that use apples and freeze them. I also have a place for that turkey.


Apples; 9 lbs down.



Picture's a little crooked, isn't it?

Yesterday I made spiced apple rings. Mine are slices rather than rings, but they do eat the same. Warm them up slightly, top with whipped cream, and it eats like a crust less apple pie. Not too bad. {The recipe is being used in an article, when published will link to it, if you want it}

Apple trivia to amaze {annoy} your friends with; The Celtic word for apple, abhall, is still used in many place-names, and some towns and cities have particular associations with fruit trees Norwich was described in Tudor times as 'either a city in an orchard or an orchard in a city'

I dreamed of apples last night. One of the draw backs of processing the same food item over and over.

Thanks to alrescate, I walked around most the day saying "Porkchopsh and appleshaushe" thanks Brady Bunch!

Bug sent me her German apple pancake recipe that sounds incredible.

Any more apple suggestions?

on an amusing story note; I gathered some peppers out of the garden, they looked like hot peppers, but were in the sweet pepper area. I asked my husband to taste them, and tell me if they were indeed sweet. He tasted and told me they were. ok, so last night I cut them up and used them on the pizza. I then rubbed an itch out of my eye. They were hot peppers!

Applesauce

Over the next few days, or more than likely, weeks, I will be writing a lot on apples. My life wil be dominated with them. It's all part of a bountiful harvest, yet still, you will become as sick of apples as I am by the end of it. If you have any questions for me, now would be the best time to ask them. I will answer the questions in my posts. It might make both of our lives a little less repetitive.

On to the apples.

Lisa suggested that I make pre-spiced pie filling

Merry has an apple dessert handed down through the generations she is allowing me to use

Carl informed me that hard cider is the way to go

anymore suggestions?

6 lbs down! I made cinnamon apple sauce yesterday. Unfortunately, I do not have anything to weigh out the apples I am using. So when a recipe calls for a certain weight rather than measuring in cups, I am at a loss. Doing a little digging, I was able to find out that 2 cups of sliced apples equals 1 lb of whole apple. It took a lot of different key words, and it was buried in page 30 of a google search, but I did find it.
The recipe calls for the use of Jonathan apples. I do not have as many of those then I do the others, and I prefer using them {Jonathan apples} in pies. I used the red Delicious, as I have 2 bushels of those, the applesauce turned out well using them.

6lbs apples {12 cups sliced}
2 cups water
1/2 cup sugar {more if you like it very sweet}
1 tbl bottled lemon juice


Mix the lemon and water together in a large pot. peel and core, slice and measure your apples, and immediately place them into the water/lemon, this will keep you apple slices from browning. Stir well every time you put more apple into the saucepan, coating all. Heat over a medium-high heat until your apples are soft, stir constantly. The timing will depend on how firm your apples are. Using a food processor, puree the apples and juice. If you don't have a food processor, keep the pot on a low simmer, and mash until desired consistency. Once you have done that, return the mix to the saucepan and heat back up to a boil over medium. Stir in the sugar, {if you want cinnamon add 3/4 tsp after the sugar}. mix well. This can be canned, makes 4-5 pints, use a hot water bath {20 minutes}

Apple trivia to amaze {annoy} your friends with ; Apples originated in the Middle East more than 4000 years ago.

I also canned tomato pureeAnd a quart of corn
Want to see something very scary? Actually it's more like lack of talent. Yesterday while sitting on the porch watching the kids play in the yard, I felt Children of the Corn'ish and made a very bad cornhusk doll.
I have watched one too many horror movies. I remember doing this as a kid, though they were prettier in my memories. I saved all the husks knowing that I wanted to do something with them. Maybe use them as packing material as many households use newspaper. Now I think I will have to find some instructions on how to do different decorations with them. Might be a fun thing for the kids. Anyone have any ideas?

I almost forgot

But a friend reminded me. . .

Today is the first day of Banned Book Week. Take a few moments to see what books have been challenged this year at Google Book Search.

BookCrossers from around the world will start releasing books that have been challenged in their area today, and throughout the week. Check out the go hunting page and see if books are being released in your area.

Gathering apples in Eden

I can not stress this enough, if you want to homestead, then talk about the things you want or need.

I was talking with my mother-in-law, asking her about an orchard that was down her way selling pick your own apples for twenty nine cents US a pound. Not a bad deal, considering our local grocer is selling them for $1.29 US a pound. After losing the phone number to the orchard, and not remembering the name of the place, my mother-in-law said she would ask someone at her work and see if they knew. Lunchtime the next day, I had the phone number and name of this orchard, and my mother-in-law saying that there was a man she worked with that wants me to come out to his place and pick all the apples I want. . . FREE. I immediately jumped on that one, and told her we would be out Sunday. We needed to justify the drive {about an hour} and my niece's birthday party was down in that area on Sunday.

SUNDAY:
We followed my in-laws further out into the middle of nowhere, one of those places where what is labeled as a public road is really a private drive. And found ourselves in Eden.
Picking apples in Eden. My in-laws think I am slightly more odd then before, because I got a big kick out of this, and had to take a picture. I digress, we arrived late in the afternoon and were greeted my the biggest {overweight} dogs I have seen in awhile. Very friendly, and just a little too excited to see children. My 2-year-old- was face licked to the ground twice, and my 5-year-old- was bum rushed from behind. My oldest discovered that they liked eating rotten apples, and distracted them with fetch until the owner could gather the dogs up and put them away.

We brought with us one bushel basket and two boxes that held slightly over one bushel. The property owner showed us where his apple trees where and explained which ones were good for "eatin" and which ones where the best "bakin" apples. Then left us alone to pick. My parent-in-laws stayed to help, as my 3 children found it more satisfying to beam each other with the rotten apples. Our 2-year-old got his grandpa a few times, and my husband shook out a tree, only to have the apples fall on his mother's head as she gathered from lower branches.

My father-in-law and I started with the baking apples. We had our bushel basket full in no time.


I left the basket under the tree and went to help fill the other two boxes. The next time I looked up, Grandpa had found a wooden crate in the woods and was gathering more baking apples. I walked back over to him and helped gather them up. My children were coerced into helping as well.
With the wooden crate filled, it was back to helping the other's fill the last box. We where having a grand time. We laughed and joked, it felt good to be apple picking as a family. And then I looked back to grandpa. He had found a milk crate and was filling it with the green baking apples. Maybe he wants some for himself? sure sure. Then I hear the owner calling out to us, he had found an empty box for us to use. My 5-year-old discovered a plastic bag inside our new box and was excited! He took the bag and began to place apples into it, as we filled the box.

What started off as a little adventure to gather 3 bushels of free apples turned into an expedition that landed us over 6 bushels. Approximately 250 lbs {113 Kg} of apples!

Our car groaned a bit once we finagled the boxes into the trunk. I will be making apple butter, applesauce, apple chips, apple pie filling, and apple juice until I choke. My question for you is. . . what else should I do with so many apples?



I adore old barns and windmills. While we were picking apples, this barn was to our backs. I looked inside, and noticed that is was not being used as a ground floor storage as so many old barns are. We are going to talk to the owner about pulling it down for him, if we get to keep the barn wood.

The owner of the apple orchard on Eden, invited us back out next year to gather as many peaches as we want, and he would let us know when the apples are ready again. We found a wonderful hook-up until our trees start producing. 250 pounds {113 Kg} of apples, and all we spent was about $10 US on gas. Of course there is labor involved, but nothing that I do not enjoy doing.

On a side note, my blog has been critiqued. You can read what was said here at Critique my blog