It's Cider Time

Yes it's that time of year when my hubby and I get to make cider.  Last year we had no apples due to a late frost so we were looking forward to the cider this year.  We usually pick all the apples at once and then do our marathon cider making project but it's kind of early this year and all the apples aren't ready.  They have not been keeping very well in the garage either.  We thought now that we're retired we don't have to do it all in one day, so yesterday was the first.  I started saving the half-gal milk jugs in the spring but I wasn't drinking a lot of milk then, so we don't have an unlimited supply of jugs.  My hubby has been working for a few days on preparing the chipper/shredder for the the chopping process and getting the press ready.  I made more muslin bags the other day to use in our small press.  The apples were picked the other day with a variety of apples then yesterday they were washed and bad parts cut out.  I had my usual job of holding the bucket coming out of the chipper which makes me be covered in apple mush so I don a rain poncho with the hood up.  This time I even had to put gloves on because it was too cold for my bare hands in all that mush.  Things progressed smoothly to bottle about 9 gallons of cider in whole and half jugs.  I tasted it last night and we made a very sweet cider.  It's very good but I still prefer a little more tang to it.  It was nice to do a smaller batch instead of the marathons we did in the past.  I still recall the Sunday nights out in the garage making cider so we could have it all done that day.  I'm not as sore as I thought I would be but this is still hard on our backs.  At one point I looked at my hubby and asked "What are we doing?  We could take them all to Fuhrman's and have it done for us."  I know that's not going to happen because down deep we love this and we get to spend some quality time together  -  ha, ha.

One Winner - One Redo

I made the canned pears with the white grape juice yesterday and it was awesome.  It's a lot of work peeling those pears, then coring and taking out any bad spots but it was worth it.  That juice smelled like grapes right off the vine.  I only got 6 pints but they look beautiful and taste great.  We're slowly taking care of those Bartlett pears which in my opinion are the hardest because when they start to ripen, you gotta move fast.  The other pears have a much longer standing time where they don't get too ripe too fast.  That canning was the winner, my redo wasn't something that turned out bad but rather not what I expected.  I made a batch of hot salsa or what was supposed to be hot based on the peppers I used, and it ended up being mild.  I had been asking my hubby to try it and make sure it was what he wanted and he finally did that yesterday.  Mind you not much is hot enough for this guy so when he said it wasn't hot I simply disregarded it.  Then it bothered me so much I thought I better bite the bullet and get a taste myself.  I tasted, then waited and waited for the heat to arrive and it didn't.  By golly he was right!  I used what he thought were the hottest peppers he had out there  -  hot Portugals  - but the jalapenos I used in my medium salsa were hotter.  I had to change the label to mild and I'm making a hot batch with the jalapenos today.  Even he was amazed that they weren't hotter.  So today will be that batch of hot salsa and whatever peppers are left I'll do the hot pepper rings.  That'll pretty much take care of the tomatoes for now and with some nice weather, maybe I'll have more ripe ones to do another batch of juice.  Wish me happy canning!

Back on the Canning Train

I've been supplied with more canning jars so I'm back on the train, despite not wanting to be.  Yesterday it was another day of salsa and preparations for pickled jalapenos and canned pears.  I have to admit the weather has been beautiful for canning.  There was a slight chance of a frost at the cabin but here, we're in for another great week.  So the last batch of salsa was a hot one but not the hubby's usual hot.  This time I made it by my recipe with sweet peppers and just an extra dose of hots.  My pears will also be a different recipe, one I found somewhere using white grape juice.  Normally I would make a thin syrup and can them with that but, for the past couple of years it's been difficult finding sugar at a reasonable price.  I realize that everything is going up but really!  The cheapest we found was Aldi's for $2.39 a 5# bag and we got 3.  Mind you I go through a lot of this when I make my candy, which I will be starting soon.  So I found the juice at Sharp Shopper for a little over a dollar for a good size bottle.  Anyway, that's the plan for this week.  One other thing that I found kind of humorous this week.  You can always tell who has extra produce to get rid of when you offer them some pears and they respond with "Do you want some apples?"  That's what I got from a friend I talked to yesterday.  It seems she is in the same place we are with the pears.  We've picked our Honeycrisp apples but that's it so far, and they are absolutely delicious!  There aren't many and because of the water going in last year, we don't have our second tree producing this year.  I have a feeling it will be an exceptionally good year for cider!!

Fall Gardens and Produce

I've already informed my hubby that things will change next year with our garden as I don't want to can anymore.  I can safely say that now that I've put up 3 batches of crabapple jelly, 7 qts. of tomato juice, 7 qts. of tomato soup and 8 pts. of salsa,but what happens next summer.  It's not that I don't like canning, it's that we aren't using what I put up, therefore a shortage of jars.  Right now I'm faced with pears out the wazoo, and hating to let them go to waste, struggling with who to give them to but wanting some for myself, too.  I have been trying to cook more with the fresh produce such as a triple batch of chili, tomato basil soup and spaghetti sauce with basil.  I'm sure a big batch of Unstuffed Pepper Soup will be in the works soon and will use some.  It wasn't long ago that I made that batch of Stuffed Peppers which were oh so good.  I think what is so different with  the garden issue is that my time is dependent on when everything ripens.  I'm excited to work on stuff at first, then comes the deluge and a time frame is issued and that upsets me.  If I could do it at my leisure it would be fine.  These pears are tricky as they are hard now on the trees but as soon as 1 drops, they are ready to be picked.  They will ripen on their own but it's not good to let them do that on the tree.  So I've decided to can a few qts. of pears but use the white grape juice method this time.  It won't be long before all those apples are ripe, too.  I remember last year without any and how at first I was lost and longing for them but we were so busy last fall, I don't know how we would have managed with them all.  This year I'd like to do the cider, which may be our last time to make it (probably not).  Some of you are asking  "Why doesn't she donate them (tomatoes, pears, etc) and help others".  It's not that I don't want to but home-grown items are far from perfect and I hesitate to give others, that I don't know, stuff like that.  We work around the imperfections and are aware that it's best to cut into the fruit instead of taking a big bite.  Don't get me wrong though. My hubby takes very good care of our trees and garden and I still think we have some of the best home-grown stuff around.

Landowner's Conference

I'm always amazed at the knowledge of these people speaking at these conferences we go to. We've been to several over the years, in different places, and other small affairs on people's land. Each time we attend I have the same reaction to their remarks about trees and invasive plants - kill them all! To me it seems completely against everything these people (forest rangers, naturalists, and otherwise extremely intelligent and highly educated in their field of science) should be professing. Maybe they were naive, like me, about these things when they first started out and then the more they learned about nature and how basic principles still exist, they were able to be more objective. The first time we were taking a walk on someone's property, they were talking about thinning out the forest and proceeded to show all of us how to kill a tree. All you do is make a couple of hatchet marks on the sides of the tree and spray it with Round-Up (by the way, is still the weapon of choice). Voila, that tree is basically dead! It was killed for numerous reasons such as being misshapen or hindering the growth of other, more valuable trees . Yesterday's talk focused on killing these plants on the invasive plant list and more specifically what will get the job done. Some of these are very pretty plants but this guy had no use for them at all. At the end of the day, we listened to a girl talk about encouraging more wildlife on your land and for awhile I actually thought she felt like I do about all the ferns we have at the cabin, but then in the end she said her thought was to use chemicals to kill them (not all of course). Oh well, that's probably the closest I'll come to having someone agree with me.

Indian Summer

Well, I think we're finally getting our Indian Summer. We can only have one if we've already had a frost which we have had. It's about time for some nice weather! Of course that means this week will be spent outside doing some long overdue yard work. I had plans in Aug. to do the weeding, etc. while I was home alone but that didn't happen. It was a little too warm and besides I had cleaning I wanted to do. This week will be perfect for it. The garden will need to be cleaned out by pulling all the plants, putting away the tomato cages and filling it with leaves, if my husband decides that's what he wants this year. Leaves will still need to be picked up in the yard though, no matter what he decides. We bought a new leaf vacuum which I'm excited to try. We used the other one until it's demise last year (good investment). This one has some different features such as a metal blade that should grind them up better, otherwise they won't decompose as well in the garden. I also want to dig up those coneflowers, repot them and have them ready to give out to all that wanted some. They really are pretty, easy to grow and very prolific. I started with 2 small plants and now they have taken over the bed in front and even traveled to another one. I like them but that's all I can see ! They say you can plant in any month that has an R in it as long as the ground isn't frozen. I'm afraid around here that doesn't leave many. I still think May and June here would work fine. Anyway, that's my plan for this week - getting some fresh air and getting some much needed workouts.