Falling into Fall

More like plummeting, actually.  Not gentle like Alice in the rabbit hole, floating along and watching things drift by, but a headlong, wind-roaring-in-the-ears flight.  Tomatoes, beans, carrots, venison, apples - my canners live on my stove, my counter is never free of jars!  Grass cutting.  Putting the big cover on the pool and the pool pump in the basement. Lots of painting, too.  Yes, for some reason, I always seem to end up painting my porch in October.  Today's effort was to powerwash the house, only to find out that the powerwasher is dead.  So I spent the day with the long-handled scrub brush, getting what I could reach and hosing it all down.  Not as nice as I wanted it, but at least I got the mold off the north wall, the walls around the front door scrubbed, all the windows washed as well. Glad that's done, but my goodness my shoulders are unhappy! 
My antique miracle apple tree has given about four bushels of apples this year.  Extra bounty God sent along because we had no apples in Michigan last year.  I still have about six 5-gallon buckets full to process; most will be applesauce but I'm thinking about making apple juice, too.  It would be nice to have some without pesticides or arsenic or corn syrup added!
When the weather allows, I tend to process my apples out on the patio.  Between boiling the apples to soften them, then dipping them out and putting them through the Victorio strainer, I tend to make quite a mess and it's great to keep all that outside. I love having that strainer - it's the very one my Mom and I used all the time back on the farm.  It's so easy to use, and it's perfect for using the smaller, somewhat gnarly apples we get from the older trees that don't get sprayed.  All I do is chop the apples in quarters, remove the wormy or bruised bits, and throw them in a pot of boiling water on my grill.  Once they've softened enough, I just run them through the strainer and it takes out all the seed, stems, and peels, leaving me with clean applesauce. I jar up the sauce and can it, I like it better than frozen applesauce.  I add water, since the strainer leaves the apples dry, and certain secret spices.  Good stuff!

Jars of Goodness

The house is too quiet with Daughter gone off to college, and some of the chores are a bit much without help.  We only have a 13' above ground pool, one of the blue ones you see in everyone's back yard during the summer - but have you ever tried putting a cover on one by yourself when the wind is blowing?  I finally gave up and waited for her to come home for a weekend and help.
I did get a couple of chances to go outside and play, kayaking and geocaching for a few hours here and there. My Mom and I have been checking out different put-ins for the kayaks and recently paddled several miles on a local river, it was fun but we learned to be careful going under bridges, after a close call with a fisherman's line.  That monofilament stuff is impossible to see when you're just paddling along, minding your own business; thankfully niether one of us dropped a paddle or anything when the guy holding the pole at the other end of the line suddenly yelled at us.
Michigan is just awesome this time of year and I love being out in the elements when it's all happening and changing.  I went on an 'explore' one day last week, and ended up in a small state park on the lakeshore.  It was one of those signature Michigan October days with a stiff northwest wind and bright sunshine chasing the clouds.  The lake was dark blue, looking so cold and deep and lonely one could see November lurking in it's depths, and for once I had no desire to challenge it with a kayak.  A series of white, mountainous clouds came sailing in from the north and stumbled over the low-lying, flat gray clouds that had been hanging over the lake. They tumbled over each other and continued moving south, dragging skirts of snow showers along. 

I moved from the shore along a trail into a lowland woods filled with popples and maples and oaks, all dressed in their autumn finery and chattering loudly to each other, bending their faces away from the wind.  The air was clear, fresh, and filled with the heady scent of fallen leaves, with a hint of woodsmoke and the round, blue scent of the lake. I rounded a corner on the trail just as the sun burst through the overcast, touching a sugar maple and lighting it into scarlet flame.  A sudden gust shook the tree and I threw my head back and laughed and danced in the shower of red and gold, arms spread wide, exulting in the cold, fresh, bright glory, feet shuffling through the carpet of leaves.

Dancing Boots

The sunlight disappeared just as quickly, and I lowered my arms, belatedly looking about to see if anyone else was around.  Thankfully, I had the park to myself that day, or my face would have been as scarlet as the leaves!  I walked the length of the trail, through a light rain that seemed surprised to find itself landing on my shoulders as tiny bits of snow.  It felt so good to move and stretch and warm my muscles with the exercise as my eyes drank in the beauty all around me.  I was tired and happy when I got back to the truck, and finished off a great afternoon with a peaceful drive home, heater on high and a blazing sunset for company.  Doesn't get much better than that!  Happy Autumn, my friends!

One of my favorite viewpoints

Applesauce!

Well, not quite, but it's getting there.  There's a batch cooking down right now, and the smell of apples and cinnamon is a great counterpoint to the scent of the pumpkin pies in the oven.

Using the strainer.

I use two methods for making applesauce, depending on how many apples I'm processing at once.  When I have a large amount, say a bushel or more, I start by washing the apples thoroughly, and then cutting them into fourths.  I don't peel or core them, just make sure to remove rotten spots or bugs.  Then, using my biggest stock pot, I boil the quarters until soft, scoop them out with a slotted spoon, and put them in a colander to drain and cool for a few minutes.  Then I put them through on of my favorite kitchen gadgets, the Victorio strainer.  This nifty tool squashes the apples, sending all the seeds and skins out the end and beautiful, pure applesauce out the front.  It's a great timesaver!  Then it's quite simple to re-heat the applesauce and can it up. 
The second method for processing apples is to wash them, then sit and peel and core them by hand.  I only do this when I have less than a bushel, or I want to have apple slices for drying.  My tree isn't sprayed or thinned, and I often get gnarly, tiny apples, so doing them by hand is a painstaking task.  Being a vintage northern spy apple, though, the flavor makes it worth the work.
Canning applesauce is pretty simple.  Bring the applesauce to boiling in a large, heavy pot to prevent sticking and burning.  I usually add sugar and cinnamon during this time, but it's only for taste, the sugar doesn't affect the preservation.  This is when you allow the applesauce to 'cook down' to the desired consistency.  While the applesauce is heating, I thoroughly wash and rinse the jars in very hot water, and set them upside down on a clean towel.  On another burner I have my large water-bath kettle heating, half full of water with a 1/4 cup or so of vinegar in it.  If I don't use the vinegar, my jars come out all cloudy because of the minerals in my well water.  A separate smaller pot has the lids simmering in hot water. 
When everything is piping hot I begin by adding 1tbsp. of lemon juice to the jar (to ensure that the contents are acid enough for water bathing) and then using a funnel and a large ladle, I fill each jar to within 1/2" of the top (a good rule of thumb is to fill to the bottom of the ring at the base of the threads).  Then I use a clean damp cloth to wipe the top of the jar, add the lid, and secure it with the screw band.  This process is repeated until there are enough jars to fill the canner.  Once the full canner is heated to a good roiling boil, I set the timer, 20 minutes for quarts or 15 minutes for pints.  The processed jars are carefully removed with a jar lifter, and set on a towel on the countertop, in a corner away from drafts.  That's all there is to it!  With a little work, you can have jars of tasty homemade applesauce ready to enjoy all through the year until the next apple harvest.
Unless, of course, you happen to have a little nephew that just loves it!  I'm making extra for him this year, so we won't run out again.