Yesterday we went to an apple festival, and they had u-pick apples. We picked about 92 pounds of gala, jonagold, and empire apples. That's kind of a lot of apples. Jack Johnson and I sorted them today into "need to be eaten right away", "need to eat fairly soon", and "to be stored" piles. (Well, at least Jack Johnson serenaded me while I sorted. It's what he does.) I am going to try storing these apples in our outdoor shed so that they can stay cool. I used tissue paper and made layers of apples to separate the ones that will be stored the longest. You just can't have over 90 pounds of apples without being concerned about chaos. Apples can rot, and they can then cause each other to rot, so I expect to keep checking on them this fall and winter. What will I do if they seem to start going bad? Applesauce. Giant jars of applesauce. When playing with 90 pounds of food, one should always have a contingency plan!I think this concludes the u-pick season for us, too. We have frozen strawberries, blueberries, marionberries, boysenberries, blackberries, zucchini, tomatoes and pears. I have also canned 14 quarts each of tomatoes and pears. I missed peach season this year, which is unfortunate, but I think I got everything else I aimed for at the beginning of summer! I'm hoping to buy a lot less produce this winter, and, as a result, require a lot less fuel for our food needs to be met. Plus, I've shelled out a bunch of money to a lot of wonderful farmers. It feels good. What's exciting to me is that this is also my first year of intentionally "putting up food", and it went so well. I'm excited to see how long it takes for us to eat all of what we stored, and I look forward to doing even more next year!
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| See the "ugly spots"? They're beautiful to me because they indicate the lack of chemicals used on the fruit! Yay! |
