Thursday, September 24, 2009

Sunshine & Apples

The sun returned & disappeared throughout the day, but I am just glad for the amount we had! The boys and I took a bit of a country drive. It was wonderfully sunny and we enjoyed seeing some of the leaves changing.

We went into a little town, Hygiene, which was in fact quite clean. We checked out the little store and stopped in the local cafe. I bought a cup of coffee and the ladies there let the boys each pick out a gourd from a box a neighbor had brought it. I bought some potatoes from an unmanned roadside stand just tucking my money in the jar and taking the potatoes. Love this life!

We then went to Sweetheart's office and the four of us enjoyed a picnic lunch. The weather turned and it got rather chilly by the time we were done. On the drive home we stopped at the farm and picked up our first box of apples.

While the boys napped I filled the two dehydrators up with apple slices and took my book, The Ministry of Motherhood, by Sally Clarkson out onto the porch with my cup of vanilla tea. I was happily reading and rocking and sipping my tea when the clouds rolled back in. I read for a few minutes, but since my book was getting wet from the rain I decided to come back in.

Now the boys are up and playing with their blocks and gourds and dinner is cooking in the background. I'm planning to do a bit more prep work on the apples and getting ready for canning tomorrow. I'm going to make applesauce and maybe more apple chips. I recently read about making apple butter from milling the cores and peelings. Since I was given a food mill last month I'm planning on trying this idea. I've also been longing to try a apple-ginger-curry chutney recipe so I'm going to try to squeeze that in as well. We'll just see how far the apples go.

I've also got to do something with the cucumbers from the garden so maybe I'll get a batch of pickles in as well. The kitchen will see plenty of use tomorrow! I think I'll plan to do something in the crockpot as well to make sure we have dinner.

My, what a difference a little sunshine can make. Have a wonderful rest of the day.

2 comments:

Bonnie said...

I need to get back to canning next week. Sigh. I have to admit I've been enjoying my break! More tomatoes, and hopefully pears and apples are on the agenda.
You are right, sunshine does make all the difference!

Anonymous said...

Sunshine is such a blessing, isn't it? I just bought my first box of vanilla tea and am enjoying it. Happy canning! ~lisa

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