canning applesauce

mom took me to apple jacks orchard out in delano. we got two pecks of paula reds for applesauce making, plus a peck of honeycrisp and a peck of sweetango for eating. those are my two all time favorite eating apples. they're both very crisp, sweet apples. they have a lovely crunch to them.


the paula reds were seconds, but they hadnt bagged them up in the clear bags yet. instead they just grabbed the regular paper bags for us since they didnt have any other bags out yet. two pecks of paula red seconds cost $18 seconds mean they're picked off the ground, not the tree. there are more likely to be smaller, or have defects, but they are just as many that have nothing wrong with them. fine for sauce making when they're going to be peeled and cored and sliced up and any defects are easily cut away.


all bags were one peck. had some trouble focusing my camera today i guess.


canning setup today is the canner, the stock pot to cook the apples down, and the little saucepan for sterilizing the lids.


wash up some jars (bonus watermelon i grew in my garden in the background)


the apples are on the small side


we use an old fashioned hand crank apple peeler/corer/slicer. makes quick work of the apples.


you just smack the apple on as straight as you can manage, crank it down, and your apple comes out all nicely sliced up, peeled, and the core stays behind.


peeled/sliced/cored apples go into a bowl of water with lemon juice to prevent browning. i ran the peeler. mom cut the ends off, broke the sliced apples into little chunks, and carved out the cores on the ones i put on crooked. its not always easy getting them on the peeler straight.


first stock pot full of apples


now the fun begins! we use a stick blender to puree the cooked down apples into sauce


going


going


gone! ladle into jars


fill the jars. add the lids and rings. run thru the canner.


unload the canner


do it all again and fill the stockpot a second time


fill the canner again


save the scraps for composting


and voila! applesauce!


of those two pecks of paula red seconds, we saved out about 10 apples for making applecrisp.
the first stock pot full cooked down to be 13 cups, or fill 5 jars
the second stock pot full cooked down to be 10 cups, or fill 4 jars.
for a total of 8 pints plus one odd size jar. the odd size jar is an atlass mason jar that is somewhere between a pint and a quart.

it took us two and a half hours.

building a greenhouse from salvaged materials (greenhouse post #3)

my dad came up today with some new 2x4x10 boards. we worked out the dimensions of the north and south walls based on the salvaged materials we had available, and the best use/least scrap of the new purchased materials. it is not the same designing and figuring out measurements when you have to work around what you have. but it made some decisions rather easy. if the glass is this tall, and the plywood can only be that tall, then the overall wall height will add up to 'x' and subtract the sill plate and top plate, the studs must then be 'y'. lots of math was done today. i also managed to rip half my big toe nail off. sandals and construction and being accident prone is a bad combination.





some sheets of OSB for the greenhouse


some 10' boards for the greenhouse sill plates and top plates


south wall frame of the greenhouse


south wall squared and braced for squareness


north wall laid out, glued and ready to be screwed. (we worked around the stack of pavers)


north wall frame of the greenhouse, squared and braced for squareness (and slightly blurry)


yeah i was cutting stuff with my chop saw


more salvaged wood available to use for the side walls and roof and whatnot


north and south wall frames finished and leaning against the garage


the salvaged materials consist of
glass - 6 panes of 35 3/4" x 48"
2 panes of 35" x 58"
storm/screen door and frame - 32" x 80"
cedar 4x4 - 8, in varying lengths from 77" to 80"
cedar 2x4 - many, in varying lengths

canning pears

canned pears with my mom today. she picked up 19 pounds of bartlett pears (37-40 pears) on sale at the grocery store for 68 cents a pound.

pull the stickers off the pears, they get in the way of peeling


blanching the pears


rub the skins off


keep pears underwater as much as possible to prevent browning


cut the core out and slice them up


save the peels and cores for the compost bin


put the lids and rings on


put the jars in the canner and process


use jar lifter to remove from canner


place somewhere safe to cool. we use a cookie sheet under dish towels to protect the surface of our wood table. the jars are hot and will remain so for some time.


bubbles in the jars when they first come out of the canner


yay pears!


our syrup was 18 cups water and 4 cups sugar. plus 8 tsp fruit fresh produce protection mixed in.
we processed for 10 minutes in the canner.
we got 7 quarts and 4 pints.
it took us 2 hours start to finish. not counting the time the jars spent on the table cooling down.

yogurt making

i made yogurt with the boil the milk version. all previous attempts involved no boiling, and some degree of failure. so i tried the boiling and got success!

milk in the pan, stir constantly or it'll scorch the bottom of the pan


when milk boils, it QUICKLY climbs the pan. remove from heat.


add yogurt to a small amount of the milk and stir until completely dissolved, then stir into the rest of the milk


pour into the jars


place jars in the yogurt maker thingy


nice firm yogurt!

drawing greenhouse plans (greenhouse post #2)

i broke my brain from thinking too hard. this is what it looks like when i'm working on drawing up greenhouse plans. in my attempts to draw, i discovered too many unknown variables. how much will the glass overlap the 4x4 frame? how much will the roof overhang the wall? how wide do the sides of the greenhouse need to be? how tall is the back to make the door fit? how am i even doing the roof? 3 glass panes wide or only 2? it goes on and on and on. too many unknowns at this point to lock down an appropriate 'to scale' drawing. and quite a few math things i need time to figure out in regards to roof trusses and angles and lengths.