Growing my own veggies certainly has its rewards, but at the end of the growing season, all those rewards come with the price of labor.
Canning really isn't that hard, it's just time consuming.
And it's also very demanding because produce goes bad very quickly if you don't take care of it soon enough. So, when the produce is ready, just like when a baby cries, you must set everything else aside and make it your priority to preserve your rewards, unless you don't mind eating rotten rewards.
A lady at church gave me a box of apples.
(Oh yay. More work.)
I was excited about this because it's relatively rare to find apple trees in Alaska. I don't know exactly why that is - I guess because they just don't do very well here and they have to be a certain variety. I wanted to start my own apple tree years ago after we moved into this house, but Chuck was never into that idea. Unfortunately, it takes several years for an apple tree to produce anything worthwhile, so it almost doesn't pay to start any apple trees now - not with Chuck's looming retirement years coming (who knows if we will end up leaving right when the apples start coming in?)
Yes, Chuck is starting to make talk about retiring in another state, but it's too sad and depressing to think about that, so .........
back to the apples.
I've never canned apples before, so I looked up as much information as I could, and proceeded with hope that I knew what I was doing.
I had about 17-1/2 pounds of apples to work with. This wouldn't have been so bad if the apples were larger, but all these small apples took a long long long time to core and peel.
After getting about halfway through them, my apple corer tool broke.
Argh. (what cheap junk!)
And that made the rest of the job seem even more tedious and long.
But I got through it.
I divided my apples up into 5 pound increments. Focusing on 5 pounds at a time seemed less overwhelming than 17-1/2.
I used 10 pounds for plain ol' sliced apples that I can use for pies or whatever.
And out of the rest of them I made applesauce.
I ended up with 6 pint jars of sliced apples, and 8 1/2-pint jars of applesauce.
It turned out that apples are very easy to can because there's nothing to measure, and no chemical science behind it.
Just very time consuming to prepare the apples.
It took two days to get these apples canned, and I could finally relax.
But then I checked to see how all those tomatoes were doing that I put in brown paper bags to ripen.
Siiiiiiiggggghhhh.................!
I guess I got more canning to do.
In the picture it might not look like a lot, but.......it's a lot.
Especially when you look at them and think about the long tedious job of coring them and peeling them. Each individual one.
I didn't plan on spending my day doing this today, but I know it's gotta be done asap.
But I just remembered I have to bowl tonight, so these tomatoes will have to wait until tomorrow because I hate to start a big job like this if I'm not sure I can finish it. (sometimes I wish I had a maid to help me get things done.)
I never thought I would say this but........I think I'm sick of canning now.
I don't even really wanna look at that big pile of tomatoes sitting on my counter.
If I wait long enough, maybe I can get Chuck to help me with them.
And this is only half of them. There's still a lot more green tomatoes in my pantry that I will have to deal with after they turn red.
But I suppose it would do me much better to think about how blessed we are to have them, instead of thinking about the work involved. At least I can take a break from buying canned tomatoes for awhile, which have been linked to cancer (so some say).
In the meantime, when I'm not busy in the kitchen hording my winter vittles like a squirrel, I'm still working on my Halloween plans.
Only a few weeks away! YIKES!
So much to do, so little time.
I started working on some cards and also made these scarecrow treat boxes.
I love getting creative with my Halloween stamps!
It is SO fun!
Can you find the Waldo scarecrows hiding in my pumpkin patch?
They look pretty cool when they're all lined up on the windowsill.
Hmmm..........I wonder if I could somehow attach them to a scarecrow body.
This time of year, I'm always thinking.
I hope my next post won't be about canning.
We were invited to go on another 4-wheeler trip this weekend to Knik Glacier, so if it's not too cold out that day, maybe I will have something else to post about.
But hey, you're the one who keeps coming back to read my boring posts, so what can I say?
While you wait for my next post, be sure and count your blessings.
All of them - right down to the last tomato.
God is good.
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