Apples...Mountains of Apples...

We haven't had dinner at the dining room table (or school for that matter) since last Friday.  See, last Saturday I went to the orchard and picked up 125 pounds of apples...a little extreme you may say, but a $15/bushel for seconds, I couldn't pass it up (and 25 pounds or so are for a friend so really 100 pounds of apples for 4 people isn't really all that ridiculous is it?)  This year the going rate for apples is $35-$40 per bushel...the lower end is pick your own...yikes!  I was hoping to make apple products for a year out of this much and now it seems like it may not be enough.

So on Sunday I began canning applesauce much like I did last year.  This year I got 18 quarts/bushel.  I also decided to make apple pie filling since my husband enjoys a flat topped apple pie (when you cook with raw apples it mounds the top crust and then the apples cook down and you are left with a large air pocket...when the apples are pre-cooked, this doesn't happen and the husband is happier.)

So since I posted last year on apple sauce and how I do that, this year I will attempt to show apple pie filling in all it's glory.

I have been looking at several recipes on line as well as in various books and have kind of agglomerated these into my own version using spices we like (love cinnamon!) and leaving out/ reducing quantities of what we don't (we don't use much ginger or nutmeg as the smell of the spices give me a bit of a headache.) Spices don't effect the canning time, but everything else does so I went with the longest processing time.  Since apples are high acid and I'm also canning using sugar (organic raw evaporated cane juice to be more specific...not grocery store white sugar, which would work equally as well, but I like the slight molasses flavor that this gives...sucant works as well if you  have that.)  So here it goes.

Homemade Apple Pie Filling

Makes about 6 quarts 

12 pounds of  apples (1/4th of a bushel)

Peeled, cored, and then sliced

4 cups water

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 Tbs lemon juice

2 Tbs cinnamon

1 tsp each ginger, nutmeg, allspice

Mix the water, sugar, lemon juice, and spices in a large pot.  Put the apples in and coat with the sugar mixture (if you want to be especially tricky, put the apples in the pot and then pour the mixture from another container.)  Heat over medium and carefully (as not to break up the apple slices) stir the mixture.  Once the mixture starts to get hot, cook for about 10 minutes until the apples are firm, but starting to cook.

In the meantime sterilize your quart jars and prepare the lids.  Ladle the apples into the quart jars, pour the syrup over the apples adjust the head space to 1/2 inch, adjust the lids and process in a water bath for 25 minutes.  

Now that you have the jars of apple filling what do you do with them?

• Well first you can make pie...just like you would otherwise with raw apples, but the cooking time will be slightly reduced.
• You can make apple crisp...just pour the contents of a jar into the baking dish, add your favorite topping and bake.
• Warm up and enjoy over ice cream (or just eat as is warmed up...maybe sprinkled with a little granola for a quick pseudo crisp)
• Make mini pies in muffin pans for those school lunch treats (or for breakfast...much healthier than poptarts.)
• But first, before anything, admire them on your shelf and know how wonderful it is to have all your apples preserved in one way or another for the coming year.

And for cost analysis...much like the applesauce, it is much cheaper to make your own pie...

At the local grocery store a (conventional) pie goes for about $8.99.  

One quart of apples costs $0.62 ($15/bushel divided by .25 divided by 6)

Sugar 3/4 lb is approximately 1.5 cups at 1.25/lb it is $0.94/6 is $0.16

Lemon juice and spices call it $1.00 for the batch $0.17  

So in total it is less than a dollar per jar ($0.95)

To make a pie crust  it is about $0.50

So for about $1.50 I can make a pie.

That is if I want to...

I may just eat some of it straight up.

(Using "natural" apples, and all else organic.

Also, by buying from the farmer, I help keep the money local.)

I'll be submitting this to Punk Domestics...cause it's fun.

Scrumptious Saturday...what's not cooking

The bread is baked.

The tomatoes picked.

It's cooled off here, but still I try not to cook too much.

It's summertime; the time of fresh eating.

And, I try not to think about it, but time to start the first thoughts of next year's garden.

Seed saving is in full swing.

I let some of the first green beans go to seed so that I could get more seeds for next year.

My provider green beans have been going berserk...they produce so well and continuously.

So the first dry beans have been picked with hopes of seeds for next year.

I have also been going to the farmer's market to buy tomatoes.

Varieties that I didn't plant this year.

Why?

I save the seeds.

The seeds that will grow next year.

For example I bought "heirloom" tomatoes from a farmer who said they were the variety

"heirloom"

(Some of the family farms, the rest sell at the markets so the sellers don't know as much about the produce as the farmer part of the family sadly.)

I think it's a Cherokee Purple.

Let me know if you think otherwise.

To save the seeds, I scoop out the seedy goo from the tomatoes and place it in a cup.

Then I add a little water (enough to cover the seeds and then an extra inch or so.)
Then I give them a stir to loosen the seeds from the goo.

I put it on a window sill and let it build a moldy crust (about 3-7 days)

Then the goo is removed and the seeds are cleaned from their protective gel.

(This is why tomatoes are moist, but don't sprout inside a good tomato.)

Then the seeds are placed on a towel and dried for about a day.

Then the seeds are placed in labeled envelopes and put in the seed bin part of our fridge.

This process only works for open pollinated "heirloom" tomatoes.

Ones bought at the store unless they are labeled as an heirloom variety usually will not grow true to the parent (they won't look like the tomato you bought and/or may be sterile.)

That simple.

Lets talk cost.

Organic seeds cost about $2.50 for a packet of 20 seeds.

I get about 100 seeds from a tomato (depending on type and size.)

I only spend about $.50 for an organic heirloom tomato or $2.00 for a pint of cherry tomatoes.

See the savings?

Not to mention from those 50 cents I get tomatoes to feed a family for a year.

For many years to go.

For the cycle keeps on going.

For this I am thankful.

Frugal gardening at it's best, the way it was meant to be.

Scrumptious Saturday...Corn update and Glummer

Tonight is the annual Glummer party.

Picnic food

Bonfire

Family and friends

It's Glummer time.

(GLUM end of SummER party.)

That sack of corn held 77 ears.  My mom said that up her way corn is going for 75 cents an ear...here in the beginning of corn country the stores are selling conventional corn 5/$2 (40 cents an ear.)  The farmer's market was selling  13/$3.50  (fresher and more local...while they are not organic, they follow similar practices but can't afford to get certification...and cheaper at 26 cents an ear!)  or my 77 ears for 25 cents an ear...not much of a discount from the regular price, but I'm glad to pay it to a local rather than having a middleman such as a large grocery store chain (even if it is a locally owned chain)...

What I did get?

15 pints of cream style corn

(I think it's gross out of the can...it smells and looks like something in a diaper, but homemade it's not so bad.  Not to mention the brownie points I get since the husband would bathe in it if allowed he loves it so much.)

7 pints of whole kernel corn

16 ears frozen corn

8 ears eaten fresh.

So at grocery store prices it would have been about $1.50/can (organic on sale)

$4/4 pack for the frozen corn

$3.20 for the fresh

also known as $51.20 for the same corn processed.

Sure, canning companies must profit, employ, and keep the overhead...groceries must then have the same issues... but it is more than a 50% markup from the fresh from the farmer cost.  

(note: cost does not include the price of the jars...I have them...so all I had to buy was water, gas for the stove, and lids ($1.25/12 pack))

So here is what I did...decide if it's worth the time or not...

Creamed corn

(Followed Bell's recipe)

Wash corn and then cut corn off the cob then scrape the pulp and milk from the cob

For every pint of corn/milk/pulp mixture add 1 and 1/4 cup boiling water and 1/2 tsp salt.

Boil for 3 minutes.

Put mixture in pint jars with an inch of head space and then wipe rims and adjust the lids fingertip tight.

Process at 10 lbs of pressure in a steam pressure canner for 1 hour 25 min.

Whole Kernel corn

(Bell's again)

Wash corn and cut off the cob (not scraping this time.)

For every pint add one cup boiling water and 1/2 tsp salt.

Boil for 5 minutes.

Put mixture in pint jars with an inch of head space and then wipe rims and adjust the lids fingertip tight.

Process at 10 lbs of pressure in a steam pressure canner for 55 minutes.

Frozen corn

Put corn on the cob in boiling water for 6-8 minutes depending on size.

Place in freezer bag with as little air as possible (I have a little hand pump, like a mini bike pump, that sucks air out.)

Freeze immediately.

In the end I gave the chickens all the leftovers...they can try the bits left on the cobs...they will peck at the husks, but most likely are using them to provide fun scratching material.

As for the corn products, it really is that easy...and rather reassuring (disclaimer...follow safe canning advice from trained professionals, this is provided as just an idea of what is done... disclaimer over.) that you know exactly what is in the corn...no yellow dye to make it pretty or unnameable chemicals for texture...just corn, water and salt...and don't forget the love,

Yes...

Lots of it.

Holy bag of corn...

We didn't plant corn this year.

Yes I had the seeds.

Yes I had the space.

But the space was covered by a chicken run and they didn't get moved in time for the seeds to be planted.

And corn seeds last so well...next year we'll have our own corn.

So this year I bought corn.

A lot of corn.

For $20 at the farmer's market I got a sack of corn.

So big my husband walked in the house and said 

"Holy bag of corn."

So what will this girl do with all this corn?

The husband loves creamed corn.

He really does.

So I am thinking about making it for him.

Along with frozen corn on the cob.

And some fresh roasted.

And I have a feeling we'll have corn to last the year.

Summer in a jar.

Summer in the freezer.

One wonderful thing about putting your food by.

Don't forget...there is still time to enter our giveaway.

Just become a follower...AND leave a comment on the post about your favorite post.

If you are already a follower, just leave a comment...love to hear from you all.

bubble bubble buzz....

Despite my total absence from this space for the past few months...things have indeed continued on here on the Country homestead.  There is plenty of updating and filling in to do.  Reflections on summer.  Changes in the landscape and on the animal front.  All that.  But for today, late as it is, I can tell you that amidst a house full of children, lawn mowing and thunderstorms, and in the face of an oven repair that was two months in the waiting...I was kitchen bound! 
Things have been bubbling, fizzing, buzzing and rising all over the place.  City sister, during her recent (and super fantastic) visit, left me with some sourdough starter that actually originated from another lovely homesteader so many miles away.  By a stroke of miracle I did not kill it.  It is living on the top shelf of my fridge.

I kicked off 5 loaves of oatmeal bread today (oven repaired just in time...phew).  A double batch of cookies.  Rhubarb muffins for the freezer.  Soaked our dry beans for crock pot baked beans.  Two quarts of yogurt culturing away in the cooler. 



One loaf taken by force with bread knife and butter...




Our own Jacob's Cattle beans soaking on the counter.



How we do our yogurt.  Cultured milk snuggled in with hot water bottles in a cooler for 8 hours.

A little of the good fermented stuff to close out a long day in the kitchen.

One of those days where it all comes together.  Busy kids, food put away for the week, kitchen cleaned.  And would you belive it...a blog post to boot!  Feels good to be back.
More details on the buzzing in a couple days.....

Scrumptious Saturday...Cook once for 3 days.

Sorry, the whole household has been sick.
The seasonal flu and cold took me out for a while.
I was planning on posting this last Scrumptious Saturday.
But, better late than never.

I love making roasts.

Why?

You cook once and can eat for days.

I made a 2 pound pork roast make 3 meals for 4 people

(aka 12 meals or about 1.25 oz/person/day at a cost of less than a dollar a meal.)

Day 1 Recipe

1 2 lb pork loin roast

1 can tomato paste

4 cloves garlic peeled

veggie stock

seasonings to your liking

Rub seasonings onto pork.  Cut 4 deep slits into the pork and insert garlic into the holes.  Place the roast into a hot pan with some oil and sear it off.  Pour in veggie broth mixed with the tomato paste.  Put in oven at 300 degrees until tender. Serve with rice (hint...make too much rice so you have leftover rice) and savor.

Save the roasting liquid and make into BBQ sauce by adding

sweetener (molassas, brown sugar, and honey all do nicely and play together nicely as well.  Amounts vary as some like sweet bbq and some like hot.  It also varies by the type of sweetener(s) you use.)

hot pepper powder (I use a touch, like 1/8 tsp of chyanne pepper)

garlic powder (as much or as little as you wish)

ketchup (about 1/4 c)

lemon juice (about 1/4 c)

vinegar (again depending on what kind you like and how sweet/sour you like it.)

Take half of the leftovers and dice...refrigerate with your leftover rice and then make fried rice.

Take the other half, shred it using 2 forks and cook in the above bbq sauce.

My family doesn't always like to eat "theme and variations" style, so I will let you know that the bbq and the fried rice all freeze nicely. 

What else would you do with this "theme and variation"

New Year's Goals...Or...I like me just the way I am

Here it comes...the "new year how can I improve me" entry.

  I have some things I'd like to accomplish this year. 

Yes, like many I see a new year as a blank slate (as Anne Shirley would say "with no mistakes in it...yet.") But at the same time I feel a little silly.

 I am who I am.

  No more, no less.  

I know I will never be a size 4, be graceful (my grandmother used to call me "crash, bang, boom" for a very good reason) or have the perfectly clean home with the perfectly mannered and behaved children.  I may never have a larder filled with the fruit of my summer labor, grown, harvested, and preserved perfectly and the time to accomplish all of this and more. 

After all, I am quite comfortable being just quirky old me. 

As 30 draws ever nearer, I realize I have been perfecting the art of being me.

I am a piece of art.

Yes, I am an oddball.

I like doing some very odd things for where I am. 

Nobody I know here knits, keeps chickens, or cans things.

Some keep gardens...I know a few that home school.  

At the same time, I see room for learning.

Ah life, that never ending classroom.

Instead of making resolutions, I'd like to improve my knowledge of things.

To expand my horizons.

To become an even better version of me.

Citysister 2.0

Homesteading

Weigh everything we grow.

(Just to know...price it out...maybe I'll make a tally and let you in on it.)

Expand the garden so that it can support most of our veggie needs for the year.

(Yummy and delicious and very nutritious.)

Work on learning how to garden around the year.

(Cold frame, here I come.)

Can, Freeze, make pickles.

(Expand upon what I already do.)

Home life

Learn how to bake with alternative sugars (aka honey and agave syrup)

(In hopes that someday we have bees when we have more land.)

Improve my organizational skills

(As I can be really unorganized...but that's a secret.)

Minimize the clutter

(again with the organization...I can't even organize my thoughts here.)

Have a yard sale

(To get rid of all that aforementioned clutter.)

Knit a sweater and a pair of socks...oh how I wish for the perfectly hideous stripy long socks.

(The husband wishes for a cardigan with leather elbow patches.)

Homeschool

Expand my homeschooling network

(I am having a hard time finding like minded people around here.)

Further improve my organization.

(Again with the organization.)

Be the perfect mom 

(hahhahhahahahah) 

Overall, I am very thankful for the last year.  We set aside some worries and have begun to really realize what is important in life.

I have had this lovely chance to reconnect with my sister as well.  

As well as with those people that read this.  

Thanks for coming by and visiting with us.

Progress.

Its a deliberate choice we make to do things...the "hard" way.  Is the hard way better? 

There must be something better about it, because we keep doing it that way, in the face of an easier path.  We've reasoned that in some cases its better for us.  Eating whole foods that are more laborious to prepare rather than processed foods with their strange ingredient lists and excessive packaging.  In many cases it saves us dollars.  Processing firewood to heat our home and hot water rather than picking up the phone for an oil delivery.  And in some cases, it meets those criteria and...it just feels right.  Making our own cheese, or growing our own vegetables and meat.  All of these things seem pretty accessible and frankly, aren't that difficult.  Despite the extra effort that is involved, we continue to feel compelled.  We find enough value and satisfaction in it that we want to go out there and do it...and we're not alone.

You feel compelled to do it even when it is 95 degrees out, or the mosquitos have started a blood bank, or its sleeting and 20 degrees and the animals need water.  And those are the days that try your choice.  When half of the bucket spills down the back of your boot as you negotiate an icy patch.  When you're drenched in sweat and you still have hundreds of feet of picking left or when you get home from a long day at work and you realize that you didn't meal plan well and any well made dinner is at least an hour or more away and you decide to feed your family eggs with cheese and cut up carrots--again.  Is it still better?  Usually my answer is yes.  But I'm no homestead hero.  I fantasize about heated water buckets and, on a stagnant summer day, I love to sit in front of a big fan.

I know for sure that my husband's farmer-grandparents thought ding dongs and spaghettios were two of life's great inventions.  After baking and cooking your whole life over a wood cookstove, all 4 seasons, for your family and a farm crew, a can of "lunch" on an electric stove and a pre-made cake looked pretty darn good.  Interesting, isn't it.  People that wouldn't consider putting pasturized milk past their lips, mowing down a ho-ho with their raw moo juice.  Ah, progress!

Somehow it seems, all of us that do this, this homesteading stuff, we all draw our own lines.  We're, for the most part, doing it by choice.  The ho-ho's and boyardee are all there for us to take advantage of.  But we find value and satisfaction in another turn.  Despite its challenges, we ultimately decide that the more difficult road gets us to a destination that we consider better, or at least, one that we prefer.  And in each little effort to make one or another part of our lives a little more simple, more basic, we notice that we truly appreciate and are grateful for the access to modern conveniences that we have.  And we use them, mindful of their usefulness.  We love chainsaws and toilet paper.  Stuff like that. 

Which brings me to the greatest recent homestead FREE acquistion that had us hopping with excitement.  With much of our small wheat crop still in shocks in the barn, we were tediously and slowly processing little bits indoors in the evening.  It was beyond ridiculous considering the amount remaining to be done.  ENTER our new-to-us thresher.  
We had seen this nifty little chipper-turned-thresher on the interwebs but never figured that we would acutally find one---and certainly not for a reasonable price, like free. 
The great news is that without any modifications, it works pretty good!  We are still in the initial stagesbut....having done this job "the hard way" , we are definitely appreciating a little help from mother necessity.  And so, feeling a little like my husband's grandparents, we indulge, and plug in the mechanical thresher.  Now let me say that threshing and winnowing wheat at dusk in 20 degree weather while kneeling on frozen ground is a far cry, with regard to ease, from grabbing a bag of flour from the shelf at the store (and I might have mentioned that once or twice as I lost all feeling in my fingers)...but the wheels of "progress" were a-churning.  Ah, progress!

Wheat Berries!!!(and a little chaff)

http://sustainableseedsystems.wsu.edu/nicheMarket/smallScaleThreshing.html

Old Mother Hubbard...

Yes, it's that time of the month...when the food budget is gone and we are "inventive" mode aka...simple, use what you got mode. I will admit to overspending this month to buy milk and medication (sinus infections, bronchitis and ticks got us this month.) But here are some pictures of what we have:



Whole Wheat and White Flour with
Vinegar




Canned Applesauce and Tomatoes with
homemade granola, raisins, beer, spritzer,
and wine



Pear Butter, Dried tomatoes and Peppers,
Dried herbs and lemons, Dilly Beans and jellies





Eggs





Green Tomatoes



Rice, pasta, beans, quinoa, one can tuna,
and a can of Pumpkin.  I think I see some
marinades and PB as well.

So here are some of my meal ideas...

Breakfasts:

Yogurt and Granola (not too inventive, but it's something that not everyone in the house typically will choose from their free will...) Fruit????

Pear Butter Muffins

Toast and Eggs (need to make bread) I think we may have some frozen berries to go with it!

Lunches: 

Peanut butter and raisins on apple slices, Milk

Peanut Butter and Jelly (again with the bread I should make...) Applesauce on the side

Dinner:

Pasta with tomato sauce

Beef Veggie soup

MEAT (1/4 of a cow is in the freezer) maybe with some spiced up pumpkin and dilly beans

When I started writing this, I could hardly think of something to make tomorrow, but now that I took pictures, took stock, and thought about it, we have lots of things to nourish our family.  It just is back to basics.

We are so fortunate for what we have. We have the ability to be picky. We have the ability to choose what we want to eat. It takes moments like this to realize how truly blessed we are. 

I am almost embarrassed to publish this with my original thinking that the cupboards are bare, when there are people out there who do not have the makings of one balanced meal. 

I bet we could go another 1-2 weeks on what is here.

I'm also thankful I have a food order to be picked up on Saturday (then I can really get cooking!)

I think I also need to start monthly meal planning.  That would make us that much more efficient.

Then I could share with all of you the family meal plans, and maybe you could share with me as well?

What do you think...

What are you cooking...

If you have your own blog, put a link to what you're cooking, or leave a comment...

Or not...your choice.

Saving...Part 2 Do it yourself

You may have noticed, I'm a bit obsessed with cost analysis.  Part of that stems from a desire to save save save, and the other part from the fact that I just went from a nearly full time, classroom situation, to working one day a week at my job.  We made this change as a family in order to homeschool and allow for me to spend more time with the kiddos. So here are some ways we save money by doing it ourselves.

1) Laundry soap.  It takes almost the same amount of time to make as it does to take it off the shelf and at a savings of /load, it's a real bargain.  It even takes paint out of clothing!
2) Baking and Cooking.  We make our own everything here, bread, pie, cookies...we eat homemade dinners, pack lunches, cook breakfast.  I have even started making yogurt (more on that another day.)  We try to keep it simple, healthy, and nutritious.  At times we don't succeed at this, but we try to keep it good for us at least 80% of the time.
3) Canning, Freezing, Dehydrating.  You've seen about many of the different things I've done here from the Rose Hip Jelly to the Applesauce and many others in between
4) Fixing.  Mend what needs to be mended, maintain things to make them last longer.
5) Don't be afraid to ask questions, ask for help, and ask opinions.  Others have done this before me and I often ask what they think about what I should do.  We've saved ourselves lots of problems this way.  We are also always open to helping hands!
6) Raising chickens (Country sister does this and more! check out each word) for eggs and occasionally meat.
7) Our garden...our connection to the land, food sources, and lots of tomatoes

date is wrong!

Sorry about the lack of pictures in this one, I gave you links to the archives instead of lots of picts of all this stuff!

What are some other ways we could do things ourselves to save?

What are you doing?

Getting saucy...

Tomatoes decided to start growing out of my ears, cabinets, shelves, and other places.  Yes, my kitchen is starting to look like a grizzly crime scene...knives, red juice, boiling water...it is that time of year...the time to can tomatoes.  City hubby makes the world's best tomato sauce.  The following is top secret... his key ingredient is...tomatoes.  I am attempting this year to put up enough tomatoes to keep him happily in sauce for the year.  I am not making sauce, I am canning quartered San Marizano tomatoes. 

This process in the past has seemed much more difficult, but this year I found my stride...the secret of easily slipping off the tomato skins...the X at the bottom of each tomato before putting it in the hot water.  Who kept these secrets from me for so long...

So here is the process...

Wash the tomatoes...make sure there are no bruises, nibble marks (dratted chipmunks), etc...

Cut a little X at the bottom of each tomato...

Place tomatoes in boiling water for about one minute...

Then scoop out each tomato and put it in ice water...

Remove the skin and core...put in the jar with the correct amount of acid...

I added a little boiling water to make the head space correct.

Place on the lid and band and process in hot water.

As always...don't take my word for it...consult the professionals...Putting Food By...or The Ball Blue Book.

The initial cost of purchasing the jars (I got 12 jars for $8.99 or $0.75 each) is the main cost in canning home grown tomatoes...but after the first year, the jars pay for themselves in fresh, homemade food...

Lets do a cost analysis

$0.75 for a jar

Compost for potting the seeds-free

$2.50 for a package of seeds (purchased 3 years ago- tomato seeds are indestructible, so prorated for 3 yrs it cost $0.83/yr and I have about enough tomatoes for 40 pints so $0.02/pint)

$4.49 for lemon juice ($0.14/Tablespoon)

So not counting cost of labor (me) or the cost of  the natural gas (to heat water etc) one jar of tomatoes cost about $0.91 per pint...The conventional tomatoes cost $1.00 when on sale and the organic ones cost about $2.00, so the jar pays for itself the first time you use it!

Off the beaten trail

It was a dreary, rainy day.  The night before, we had called the place we had ordered a quarter of a cow for the freezer.  It was ready to be picked up, so off we went to get it.  On our way home we saw a sign for an organic fruit farm.  They also had a sign about apples, so we drove down the road rarely followed.  I was thinking that either we'd never return or something wonderful would be down this out of the way road.  Luckily, it was something wonderful. 

We found culled apples they were selling as "deer apples" for $4.00 per bushel.  I picked through 2 bushels and took the ones that were in usable condition (slightly bruised, too small for market, oddly shaped etc) and put them in bags.  I also took some pictures as it was such a lovely sight.  With the apples, I followed "Putting Food By" and made applesauce, no sugar, no juice, no water, just apples and heat.  I have only processed about 2/3 of the apples and already have 12 quarts, oats and apples bars, 2 pints put into the fridge for snacks, as well as all the apple slices and warm applesauce we can eat. 
(UPDATE: I have now made a total of 18 quarts of applesauce, 2 batches of oats and apple bars, 1 pint of apple butter...as well as all the eating slices and warm applesauce my family could eat.)

As you may know, I love cost analysis...so...

$8.00/2 bushels of apples

$12.00/new jars (did not take into account jars I'm reusing)

(Guesstimating how many this will make)

18 quarts of applesauce

Cost/quart is...$1.11/quart for organic applesauce (3.5 cents/ounce)

cost at co-op

$3.46/24 oz (14 cents/ounce) or $4.48 per quart

Savings of...$3.37 per quart!!!!! or for 18 quarts $60.66

Despite all that saving, what made it worth it was:

My kiddos "help" when I was cutting the apples (alright, so they were chowing down on apples.)

The wonderful comparisons of how each different type of apple tasted/looked/was colored inside and out.

The SMELL oh, that rich fall smell.

Spending time with the family in the kitchen.

and...

W. saying, "You made all the applesauce because you know I love it so...you're the best mommy ever!"

Sometimes it's the little things.

French and Indian Wars...

Every year we go to Penn's Colony...a French and Indian war reenactment and craft fair about 45 minutes north of Pittsburgh.  City Hubby can get anyone interested in history, and over the course of a few days, he got W. up to date on the French and Indian war...(W: "But why is it the French and Indian war if the French and American Indians were battling the British?")

(He actually started with Mesopotamia to explain the migration of people and ended up at the French and Indian war in such a manner that you'd think he'd been a history teacher or something...)

The reenactors were very into the whole thing...one year they had W. upset because the British saw him talking to the French...they called him a traitor and a spy...

With all the excitement...

...all C. worried about was collecting acorns.  By the end of the day she had nine packed away in her tiny pocket...

Maybe she feels a need to squirrel away food too for the winter...

Math and Science all in one!

We use mason jars for everything around here.  Our math program encourages children to understand volume and measurement.  It is only natural for us to then teach how to measure in regards to our mason jars. (When else does a child need to know about a quart?)  We also decided to use colored water in order to help C. know about colors and color mixing (afterall, it is her school time too.) 

First we made a jar of red water and a jar of blue water.  We also had an empty quart jar so that W. would have something to fill up.  Since pouring is difficult for him, a funnel came in handy as well.

Then W. poured back and fourth until he had measured 1 cup.

At this point, he poured each cup into the quart jar.

Lo and behold it made...

Purple!

We talked about how the quart was empty...when it had 2 cups of water in it (one red and one blue) it was half full.  We then made speculations about how many cups it would take to make it full.

We also saw how many cups in a pint and how many...

cups in a pint (2)

pints in a quart (2)

cups in a quart (4)

Overall it was a fun experiment...now if I could only get the dye out of my fingers.

Just Peachy

To borrow W.'s new favorite phrase (he starts all conversations with it.)
"Can I tell you one thing about (peaches.)"
It is not a question, for he will automatically go into a long story.
Here is mine.
One thing about living in Pennsylvania...we have peaches. Yes, everyone talks about Georgia Peaches, but you haven't lived until you have had a peach that was just picked. Mind you, I have always hated peaches; the fuzz and dripping juices are too much for me. The ones I grew up with were hard and mushy (somehow at the same time) and mealy, or came from a can. When I moved here, I slowly warmed up to peaches, especially ones that were tree ripened and warmed up by the sun. When I went to the farmer's market this week, I picked some up since the farmer said that it was the last of the season.

And I turned it into...

Meanwhile back at the homestead, we have been learning about numbers.  What is each one?  What is their meaning?  What are the practical applications of knowing your numbers (W. could care less about numbers until we started talking about money.)  When we were making the jam, he started in on peach pit math...it goes something like this:

W: If you have 8 peach pits, how many peaches did you make into jam?

Me: How many do you think?

W: 8 am I right or what...How many peaches go into each jar (we made 4 jars)

Me: Lets find out...

W: Lets pretend the peach pits want their peaches back...I'm putting the peach pits with their mommy jars.

He placed one pit in front of each jar, noticed there were still left over, and then began passing pits out again to the "mommy" peaches. 

W: The jars ate 2 peaches and then said "we don't want any hard rocks" then they spit the pits out.

I didn't think we'd be doing division already.