…to drive a woman crazy?
Apparently the answer is 150 pounds because that’s what we harvested last Friday evening and, at this point, I’m feeling a bit crazy about the process of processing 150 pounds of delicious (unforgiving) apples.
Let’s go back a bit and explain how we acquired so many apples…
I have a friend named Madonna (yes, that’s her given name and yes, everyone questions it) who has a mom and a dad (imagine that) who own a nice little piece of property just outside of town. Derfy and Lulu (as they’re lovingly called) love plants, and while they don’t have a large garden, they do have a million house plants and almost a million trees on their property. Some of their trees came with the house when they purchased it over a decade ago, but most of the trees have been given to Derfy as gifts for every occasion because he loves them that much.
A few of Derfy’s trees are apple trees and because of our warm spring, his apple trees are jam packed with fruit! Through a few conversations, we came to the agreement that Tool Lady and I could harvest as many as we liked and, in turn, we would make Derfy and Lulu some apple sauce and other canned apple goodies.
So, on Friday evening (after a ridiculous day at work…Blue Moon anyone?), we headed over to harvest some apples.
We harvested and harvested until it was too dark to see well and wound up with a whopping 150+/- pounds of Red Delicious and Dwarf Granny Smith apples. We didn’t even put a dent in the bounty hanging from those trees and have been invited to return in a couple of weeks to take some more.
Amazing as the trade is, I am freakin’ exhausted! Never before have we processed such a great bounty at once! We spent several hours on Saturday and most of the day on Sunday processing them and we’ve only gotten about 60% done! Holy hell! Yesterday I couldn’t handle handling more apples so I moved on to tomatoes instead (6 pints of salsa and 2 half pints of tomato basil jam).
So, what did we accomplish in the way of canned apples?
- 8 pints unsweetened apple sauce
- 8 pints unsweetened apple sauce with cinnamon
- 5 quarts unsweetened apple sauce with cinnamon
- 11 pints apple butter
- 10 pints apple wedges in cinnamon hot syrup
- 5 quarts Apple Pie in a Jar
Sounds like you need an apple corer/slicer/peeler like we have! Everything comes out in rings but it saves a bunch of time. We were gifted the wal-mart cheapie version and it has worked like a charm so far.. but I’m not sure how long term it is… might have to find another sturdier version just in case! But no matter, i’ll use this one to the ground! 😉 They have changed the stands on it since our version but ours has a C clamp… works fine. Not sure about the new ones though.
Oh the joys of a free apple bounty……………Love the sound of wedges in cinnamon syrup YUM ! Feeling a little nervous just planted another 4 varieties of apples to our orchard…….
Are you peeling apples in your sleep ? Ha Ha
Oh my! I’m very impatient for our young orchard to start producing, but maybe I should be careful what I wish for! I know just how exhausted you must feel, but what a wonderful bounty! I think the only thing you’re missing is a few jars of apple pectin! 😉
It really is amazing how exhausting the whole process is! Thanks for the reminder about pectin! I do want to make our very own pectin!!! I hope your young orchard provides a great bounty for you soon….even though it’s exhausting, it’s so incredibly wonderful to fill our shelves with home grown and/or made/preserved yumminess!
And of course Amazon.
Lehman’s also carries them!
You poor babies! You need to get one of those gadgets that peels, slices and cores all in one fell swoop! I would never make applesauce without one! Look them up on the Internet you may be able to find one locally. Sur la Table sells them and so does Win Co and I think some regular grocery stores like Fry’s Marketplace also offer them.
Mine’s from something Mountain. . . I know that info will be really helpful ; – )
Good luck!
Oh yes! We’ve been thinking about getting one of those…just haven’t yet! Thanks for all the ideas for where to look! Do you know what model we should be looking for???
Fabulous work – I have to admit I do find the idea of large amounts of fruit and veg somehow more attractive than the reality…although once I get to the end of the pile it is pretty rewarding.
Oh yes…I’ve learned through this whole urban farming adventure that I have lots of romantic ideas about things that aren’t very romantic at all when your elbow deep in them 😉 But you’re right, the reward is very worth the effort!
Wow. Amazing job. You’ll forget about all that soreness with your first apple pie in the middle of Winter! 🙂
No doubt! I can hardly wait!
150#? holy moley! No wonder you are sore! Any thought to cider?