The fruits of our labor...

We've been doing our best to eat up the fruits and veggies we've been accumulating. People have generously been sharing their crops and we're trying hard not to waste them. Maybe it's popular everywhere and I just never noticed, but it seems that everyone here grows something. Almost all of my friends have veggies, fruit and/or herbs in their garden. They're all preparing, freezing and canning things for the winter. A girlfriend dropped off some soup she had made entirely of things from her garden, with a peach/pear (from her tree) cobbler for dessert. I stopped by my other girlfriend's house to raid her pear tree. They are tiny little pears and too much work to chop up, but they're really sweet so we eat them as a little snack. They're the perfect size for Wyatt.

We've cleaned off both apple trees, which proved to be a job in itself. We really don't have the best system for retrieving the apples. If we wait for them to fall, they rot quickly. If we shake the tree, they get bruised when they hit the ground, not to mention they bonk us on their way down. We picked all the low hanging fruit, but we needed the ladder to get to the rest. Wyatt wanted to "help" but he was eating them as fast as he was picking them. Dayven bravely volunteered to go way to the top to get the highest ones. We ended up with a pretty good amount.

While both kids were taking their afternoon naps this week, instead of getting in a nap myself, I have been madly picking, washing, cutting and freezing. I've frozen all the basil, chives and parsley I was growing to use for soups and recipes later this winter. I peeled, cored and chopped up all of our apples. I did make apple muffins, but decided to do something else with the rest. One can only eat so many fruity desserts before needing a break. I pureed some into applesauce and froze it for Hadley when she's eating solids. I used the rest to make my beloved apple butter. I found several recipes online, but many required you cook it for two days. I found a nice slow cooker shortcut recipe. You basically start with an applesauce base and throw in a little cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar and all spice. Eight hours in the crock pot with the lid cracked helps cook off the extra moisture and thicken it up. A nice side bonus is it fills the house with a delectable warm cinnamon apple smell. Delicious!

First, you peel, core and slice the apples.

Then you simmer them in a small amount of water until they're tender.

Then you puree them to remove all the lumps (if, like me, you don't have a sieve, use a food processor).

Then you store them - I froze them in individual portions for Hadley.

I used the rest to make the apple butter. Spread on warm toast for the perfect snack!