Anyone feel like applesauce?

Okay, our blog is sorely out of date. Sorry. I've been wanting to write this story for awhile, and have very little idea how to put it into words. I did something recently that I've never done before.

I canned. You know, like our mothers and grandmothers did. With the cooking and stirring and steam-sealing. The Kerr jars and lids. The whole thing.

Our friends the Harwards can a few bushels of apples every fall. You know, just a hundred or more pounds of apples. Nancy has an applesauce machine and a steam-sealer (or whatever it's called that seals the lids to the bottles), and years of expertise. So my friend Monica suggested that we join her this year and get some applesauce in our respective food storages. I signed up for half a bushel, and Ellie and I went over to Nancy's house one rainy afternoon to get to work. Monica brought Pratt, and the two kiddos traded off taking naps in the pack and play, eating, and playing. They did pretty well for the first several hours.

By the time 5:00 hit, we knew the end was nowhere in sight. So we called our husbands and told them to come over for a pizza/applesauce-making party. Once Rob, Michael Harward, and Jon arrived, they joined the applesauce-making extravaganza, which made the whole thing go faster - and re-energized us. We ate delicious Dewey's Pizza (for those of you who have access to this delightful place, I highly recommend the Green Lantern - goat cheese and artichokes on a pizza!) and then got back to work in the kitchen.

By 9:00 p.m., Ellie was absolutely demanding that we take her home. Monica, Jon, Nancy and Michael pressed forward until past 10:00 until the whole project was complete.

Our total? We made 70+ quarts of applesauce from 4 bushels, which we figure totals about 170 pounds of apples. My half bushel of apples made 9 quarts, which I was sure would last us forever. But this week we're polishing off the second quart, and we're going to have to start rationing applesauce.

Next year a bushel? It's possible. Now that I've entered this particular realm of Mormon Motherdom, or Pioneer Womandom, or something, there's no going back. For a complete photo essay on the project, visit Monica's blog (which is NOT Jon's blog - literally): http://www.cherryredmustang.blogspot.com/