Apple/Pear Sauce

Ron and I made 8 quarts and a small bowl of apple/pear sauce this morning.  Washed the fruit in vinegar water and then cut it up and removed any bad spots and threw them in the roaster that I had put 2 cups of water in.  We filled the roaster with the apples and pears, simmered until the fruit was soft.  We then put it through the food mill that goes on my kitchen-aid.  Out the front the peelings and seeds came and the sauce out the bottom.  So easy and this way there is no waste of any eatable fruit.  Added some cinnamon, no need for any sugar and heated the sauce and packed in hot jars and then processed in water bath for 20 minutes.  I have about 2 bushels of apples that need done and Renee and I will need to do them this week.  Only have a couple dozen of pears left and hopefully they will be ready this week.   Renee is going to check on the apricots to see how they are coming along and unless something else comes along that will be it for fruit for the season.
When Ronnie and Blossem were here yesterday Ronnie told me that he asked Blossem's grandpa about gleaning his garden when he was finished for the year and he said I was more than welcome to do it.  I guess he has several gardens in the little community he lives in.  He loves to garden and always shares his bounty with family and friends.  Renee wants more tomatoes to make more salsa, Tony has just about eaten all she has canned so far this year.  When the kids were here yesterday they helped me out and took some zucchini, peppers and tomatoes.  Reagan loves to pick the garden so she was the official picker.   My peppers have done wonderful this year.  I have a lot dried for use this winter so I am more than glad to share with others so nothing goes to waste.
I mentioned that Blossem brought her famous cheese potatoes yesterday and there was still a little left today.  She uses hash brown potatoes for the dish so for supper I scrambled a few fresh laid today eggs, browned a little bacon along with some onions and peppers and mixed all together and it is in the oven for supper.  I hate to waste anything, smells mighty fine.  We will have it along with some peaches and pears that I canned. Perfect meal.

The Adventures of Paula and Renee

Renee and I had to go somewhere this morning and she came a little early.  We went to one of the houses where we gleaned white peaches and picked a few more white peaches and visited with the lady who lives there.  From there we headed to our appointment and of course we saw several apple trees and a huge pear tree.  We stopped at the house with the pear tree and Renee went up to the house and asked about gleaning the tree.  His front yard was covered with pears so it was real evident that he didn't pick them.  Renee hardly got the question out and he said we could have all we wanted and he even had a fruit picker we could use so we could get them out of the higher branches.  We said we would pick them off of the ground first and we always ask if they want the bad fruit that is on the ground picked up and put somewhere.  Some people have us put them by the tree trunk and most say to just leave them.  There had to be 400 pears on the ground and he said that was not necessary that he was going to mow the yard today and the lawn mower would chop them up nicely.  We picked a lot from the ground and then used his tree picker (got to get one of those) and we picked some from the tree.  We would have picked more but we had to get to our appointment.  While we were picking he was talking to us about different things and he told us he was retired and he used to can and we talked about canning different things.  I asked if he had any canning jars that he wanted to sell and he said he did.  After picking he took us to his garage where he showed us all his canning stuff.  He had lots of jars with the most being old blue Ball jars.  We picked out the non vintage ones and settled on a price and we ended up with 30 quarts and 60 pints and we will divide them between us.  He tried to sell us the old ones but the price was more than we wanted to pay.  He tried to sell us other things and was a very friendly guy.  He told us to come back to get more pears when we had time and if we had a truck we could just drive it in the yard and pick from it.  We told him we would and also to think about selling some of the old jars at a lower price.  It was fun visiting with him and I told him he was a character and I enjoyed the visit while picking.  His wife still works and he is retired and I think he is a little lonely.

He mentioned that he liked peaches when we were talking so when we came home I canned a pint of white peaches and a pint of yellow peaches to take to him tomorrow along with a pint of peach jam.   I enjoy sharing the things I can with others.  Renee and I have met a lot of nice people gleaning and everyone of them are happy that someone can use the fruit.  When I worked, I worked in a one person office where I talked to people on the phone but rarely in person and am enjoying the interaction with others.

A down side for me to the day was Renee had a job interview and got the job.  My fellow picker and canning helper has to work.  Derek is in kindergarten this year so she said it was time she got back to the working world.  She has 2 boys, 1 in kindergarten and 1 a freshman in high school.   Tomorrow we are going back to the pear house and driving our truck so we can pick from the higher branches and if we are lucky he will sell us some of his old jars.  I would like some of them to put the items I dehydrate in and display them.
Later, take care.

Exhausted

I am exhausted, plum tired, worn out, beat, drained and have no strength left in this old body.  Didn't sleep real well last night because my legs kept cramping and I had to get up and walk around to walk the cramps off.  Then up and out by 6:45 to do the yard work.  I started with the weed eater because it was so early and didn't want to annoy my neighbors with the mower.  I didn't finish until 11:00; 4 long back breaking hours doing the yard.  It always looks so nice when it's done.  Came in and took a shower and went into town and got Renee and we picked some grapes, apples and pears at 2 of her neighbors.  The pears are very nice and should be ready in a couple of days to can.  Came back home and picked tomatoes and zucchini, watered the gardens and am now just sitting here.  For supper tonight we are going to have omelets with some eggs just laid today.
Tomorrow first thing I need to can the rest of the white peaches and go through my pears to pick out the ones that need canned first.  The apples will wait until we get all the peaches and pears canned.  Apples won't rot fast like the other fruit.  When you are canning you go on the fruit and vegetable's schedule not yours.
Got the 2 canners today that I ordered for the girls and took Renee hers and Gina is stopping tonight to get hers along with a lot of zucchini, 2 boxes of peaches and 9 dozen of eggs.  Both the girls have started canning and wanted a canner so I bought one for them so they can put up food for their families.  Now I need to go to some more auctions and see if I can find them some jars.  They said they would pay me for them but they are not the auction type and I love to go to them sometimes.
Ordered a bigger food tray for my KitchenAid a couple of days ago and it also came today.  When I use the attachment to grind meats or have the strainer attachment on it the food tray is so small and needed the larger one so I got it.  I also got the rotor slicer/shredder; and now have almost all the attachments.  I LOVE my KitchenAid stand mixer.  
Later, take care.

My stuff, apples in the white buckets and pears in the crates.

Renee's stuff; concord grapes, pears and apples.

Green Grape Jelly, Grape Juice, White Peaches and Tomato Preserves

Started my day out by juicing the green grapes which took a couple of hours, Renee arrived in time to help finish straining the juice.  Making the jelly took forever and it has not set yet.  It looks like I will need to take it all out of the jars, add more pectin and process it again.  I've never had jelly or jam not set before.  We got 11 pints and 2 quarter pints of jelly, 13 quarts of grape juice and 10 quarts of white peaches.  We still have some white peaches that should be ready Friday.  I will do them for us and will need to do some of my pears.  Before I do much more I will need to buy some regular mouth seals.  After Renee went home I made 6 pints and 2 quarter pints of tomato preserves and put 3 trays of chopped peppers and 2 trays of cherry tomatoes in the dehydrator.
First thing tomorrow I will do the yard work and then will go into Renee's house where we will be picking apples and pears at one of her neighbor's house.  I am amazed at the amount of people who have fruit trees and don't use any of it.  We've asked 5 people so far about picking their left over fruit when they're done picking and all 5 have said they don't use any of the fruit and we could have all we want.   My wish list yet to can would be apples sauce, apple pie filling, pear slices, pear sauce, more yellow peaches, pumpkin and some squash.   When it cools down I want to can some chili beans, black beans, white beans, lima beans, bacon and some broths.  I have dehydrated and canned a lot of food this year.  Making things yourself is so rewarding.  I thought I would end up having a lot of empty jars at the end of the season but if I keep getting things they will all be filled which will be wonderful.  :)
Later, take care.

Wonderful Day of Gleaning

Our (mine and Renee's) day started out with making 19 pints and 2 quarter pints of concord grape jelly from the grapes we picked on Monday.  After the jelly we went up town and picked peaches, pears and a few apples at one house.  We then picked huge beautiful white peaches and some yellow peaches at the second house.  While we were at the second house the man from the first house drove by and said that the grapes were ready and we should come back and pick them.  We finished and then went and picked the white grapes.  So far we have barely made a dent in the amount of peaches there is.  We did pick all the white peaches and they are ready to be canned tomorrow.  We will start out with the grapes that have all been removed from the stems and washed.  I will get up early and get them juiced and we will make some jelly and make white grape juice with the rest.  After the grapes we will can the white peaches.  The pears should be ready at the end of the week.  Renee will can her pears and I will can mine.  The apples can wait until the first of next week and we will use them to make applesauce and we will do them at my house.   Renee will can yellow peaches at her house, we are giving some yellow peaches to Gina and when the girls get what they want I will can some more yellow peaches.  If we had not picked the stuff it would have just sat and rotted.  

Top to bottom; yellow peaches, white grapes, white peaches, white grapes, white peaches, pears, yellow peaches.  All this stuff was gleaned Tuesday August 21st.

Yellow peaches gleaned Tuesday August 21st.

Apples, concord grapes, pears; gleaned Monday August 20th.

Yellow peaches gleaned Monday August 20th.



http://newlifeonahomestead.com/2012/08/mondays-homestead-barn-hop-76/

Gleaning

When we went into town last night we didn't see anyone home at the house where I am going to glean the fruit trees so we went for a nice short ride.  Took the granddaughter to the eye doctor today and on my way back home I went into town.  Didn't see anyone out so I rode past another house that has several fruit trees.  The man who lives there was out so I stopped and asked if when he was done picking could I come and glean the trees.  He said he does not want any of the peaches this year and he has about 6 trees that I could have all the peaches from.  His pears didn't do very good and his apples are going to be picked by his daughters. He also has some grapes that he doesn't want.  I went ahead and picked some peaches (about a bushel) from a tree that had the branch broke in the storm last week.  I was able to get almost a bushel from one branch.  I can't even guess how many bushels are on all the trees.  Renee and I are going over tomorrow and pick some more peaches and then will go back every few days to get more.  He said he was glad to see someone use them.  He doesn't keep up his property and is always fighting with the village over his rights.  There isn't anyone in the area who doesn't know him, a colorful fellow know for his lifestyle.  I offered him some fresh eggs from my girls but he said he didn't need any.  I am going to take a loaf of zucchini bread up to him from all those I baked last week and froze.
When I got home I got a call from Renee and she had been to one of her neighbors and they had several trees and some grapes that they were just letting the birds eat that we could have.  I went to her house, took he the peaches and we went and picked some pears, apples and grapes.  I brought the grapes home and have them juiced and ready to make grape jelly tomorrow when Renee comes over.  At the end of the week we will use the apples and make applesauce here at my house for us to share.  We split the pears and we will can them when they are ready.
There is another neighbor next to the one we picked the stuff at today that has some beautiful apples, pears, grapes and peaches that wasn't home but the gentleman where we gleaned today said he doesn't pick his stuff either and he was going to ask him for us about picking his trees.
I can't believe I am doing this.  If you knew me personally you would understand.  I am a person who doesn't like crowds, stays at home most of the time, not a people person.  I'm sure that like 3 of my grandchildren I have Asperger's Syndrome and most people know I am OCD.  But hey, we are all different.  :)
Later, take care