Friday, September 28, 2007

Small Pleasures, Big Blessings

What gorgeous weather we have been having! Such a treat! The kids have been soaking up the sunshine. We also had another round of knocking down apples. It was a great stress reliever with our court (crap) stuff & impending lay-offs at Dave's workplace. Dave & I also started in on our growing pile of apples. We've canned 8 quarts of applesauce so far! Lots of spaghetti sauce & tomatoes too. God has blessed us richly with our garden and apple trees this year.


Giant Sandbox!
Since Dave put away the pool the kids have enjoyed playing in the "sandbox" that was underneath to keep it level.


Oops.
One of the hazards of using shoes to knock down apples. :)



Wonderful Invention
We bought this apple peeler/corer a few years ago when we started our annual tradition of apple picking. It's such a time saver! Below I have posted some step-by-step pics in case you are curious how this works.



Step by Step
This is the apple after it has been peeled & cored.


Leftovers
The core of the apple stays on the peeler/corer while the ribbon peel is lying on the table after it has been peeled off. Pretty cool, eh?


Can't Help Myself
Bugs kept coming over to snitch apple slices from the pot.



Caught Ya!
How can I resist a face so cute?



My New Friend
E-boy "adopted" this potato as his new pet. Bugs was intrigued.



That's My Boy!
E-boy announced he was going to have a staring contest with his new pal. Here they are in action. His new pal is quite the contender!



Big Helper
At first I was working the peeler/corer AND cutting out the bad parts on the apples AND getting the applesauce going. Plus I was keeping the kiddos occupied & under control. Dave was canning spaghetti sauce that I made earlier in the week. After he was done he came in and helped me. The work went much faster then! And it was nice to have his company. As you can see he is having a fabulous time! Lol!


Blessings
I couldn't resist taking a picture of some of our labors. This week we canned 10 quarts of spaghetti sauce, 5 quarts of tomatoes & 8 quarts of applesauce (1 has been set aside to take to our friend Al.) There is something about preserving & stocking food for the winter that gives me a cozy, happy feeling.









No comments: