New Birth

Oh boy! When I typed that phrase "New Birth" I realized that it has so many meanings to my life right now.  When I first thought of it, I was only thinking of how I'm starting again.  I'm going to start writing my blog again because it's such a great motivator for me to remember and write my life's story; so my blog is getting a "rebirth to it".  I have also just come inside from being outside in my gardens and the new birth of plants just invigorates my soul.  Sounds cheese . . . but seriously.  And third, the biggest meaning to the phrase "new birth" is because my pregnancy -- my last, unexpected pregnancy -- is coming to an end and that end finishes with a "new birth" into our family.  Baby Number Six.

Sunsets in Idaho are gorgeous.  This spring has been a very windy one.  Just two days ago we had 30 mile an hour winds come through with gusts up to 50 miles an hour.  On nights like tonight I forget about those days and how much I hated Idaho then.  Just a moment of beauty that calms my soul realizing that I get this scene just from looking out my back windows or stepping out onto our back deck.  During this moment, I love where I live.

February Happenings

Making Apples Sauce

Making Apples Sauce -- For Rebekah

Buy or find access to a Food Strainer

(here is a link to one on Amazon)

http://www.amazon.com/Victorio-VKP250-Strainer-Sauce-Maker/dp/B001I7FP54/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410961698&sr=8-1&keywords=food+strainer

This is SOOOOOOO worth it.  I’ve never made apple sauce without it.  If you don’t have one then you will have to Core and Peel all of the apples yourself. YIKES!!!

 

Step 1:  Go Pick Apples from your local Apples Orchard

Step 2:
Wash them and quarter them.  When you quarter them take the stem out.  Don't use apples with worms.  Make sure you discard those ones or at least the part of the apple the worm was in.

 

Step 3:  Then boil them in a BIG pot.  I have actually borrowed my friend's hot water bath and used it to boil the apples so I could get a lot of apples boiled at once.  If your friends don't have one for you to borrow then just grab your BIGGEST pot and boil the apples for about 10 minutes.  You want the apples soft but not falling apart.

 

 

 



 

 

 

Step 4:  After they are soft put them in your food strainer and get all of the pulp you possible can.  My kids love doing this part.  They love to watch the apples' "poop" or "guts" come out one end and the yummy pulp coming out the other.  My husband will take the apple "guts" and put it through again to get all the apple pulp he possible can.  You would be surprised at how much pulp we still get from the apples guts.

 



 

 I don't know why I didn't take any pictures beyond this point but I don't have them.  When I make the apple sauce this year I will up date :) 

 

 

Step 6:  Return apple pulp to saucepot.  Add sugar to taste.  Bring applesauce to a boil, stirring to prevent sticking.  Maintain temperature at a boil while you fill the jars.  Ladle hot sauce into hot jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.  Remove air bubbles.  Adjust two-piece caps.  Process pint size and quart size jars for 20 minutes  in a boiling-water canner.

 

 

There You have it.  You very own apple sauce.  Trust me, you will never like store bought apple sauce again.

 

 

Huckelberry Picking

Gardening

Tomatoes and Peppers . . . looks like I'm going to be making salsa.

First Day of School

Peas

Peas . . . one of my favorite plants to grow in the garden.  I planted a huge crop at the end of May and hardly any of them came up.  We plants close to 700 seeds and maybe 10 grew.  Because we waited so long for them to come up I finally replanted some more seeds at the end of June and finally this week they are ready.  We keep picking and picking but because everyone loves them so much they are gone with in minutes.  Ashlynn is my little gardener in training.  She loves to the work in the garden with me, especially harvesting food.