APPLES

First off, our meal plan is basically the same as last week since I never had the money to go grocery shopping last week. We just made do with whatever I had in the cupboard -spaghetti, nachos, etc. We got by and this week we're eating everything I hoped to eat last week.

This weekend has been crazy and fun! My friend Mandy and I made a trip (which we planned a couple months ago) to Eastern Washington to a little town named Zillah to pick apples. We were gleaning from commercial orchards that had already been harvested, so we got as many as we could pick and haul home!! We came away with a LOT of apples- 11 boxes, some smallish and some double the size. Today we got together after church and made a LOT of applesauce. We sauced about 9 of the boxes, dried about 1 box, and gave away another box. I think I have about 40 jars of applesauce piled in boxes in our little apartment and Mandy has another 40 or more at home as well. I think we're going to store ours in bathroom cupboard. I am tired and stiff now - spending all day from 11-9 on your feet with only a few little breaks in between can do a number on your feet. It will be well-worth it, though, when we have home-canned applesauce all winter!

Mandy's mom sent me home with a few cans of home-grown/canned grape juice so I will be making jelly this week one evening I think. She also sent me home with some blackberry something in order for me to make blackberry jam as well! I'm so proud of myself; one of the goals I set for myself this year after I finished school was to try to do some canning but if it wasn't for Mandy and her so-knowledgeable mom Sue, I would never have worked up the guts to try it. As it is, I think I can do it again, even on my own if I had to. It was fun and to see all those sealed jars of applesauce makes me feel so proud!