Ooples and Banoonoos

Really just ooples.... lots and lots and LOOOOOOTS of ooples

It all started about two weeks ago when, me and a group of church friends caravaned out to the "local" orchard... also lovingly called Jenkins Orchard (because that is its name)

And i was all like "I'ma gonna get me some apple, like 30 million bushels of apples" so i got 2 bushels of seconds(the ones that hit the ground) and me and a friend split a half bushel of the pretty ones.

Then i went home and was like "i'ma gonna make some 279 thousand jars of apple stuff"

Well let me tell you what, the week that ensued was one of the worst weeks i have had in a long time... i felt defeated, beaten, broken, scalded, depressed, and many other bad emotions over those confounded apples.

This was the first batch getting peeled and cut... it would have been much faster had i done it all myself, but i managed to be patient just long enough for them to get impatient and go do something else

I got this batch onto the oven and about 6 hours later it was getting ready to be canned... by this time lil' guy was ready for bed... this is where it gets dicey!!! after taking too long putting him down, i got back to my HUGE GUMBO POT full of almost an entire bushel of apples, gave it a good stir... and realized it had burnt

A nights worth of research and experimenting, brought me to the conclusion that i should just dump it down the drain. I was so sad and defeated that my girl came and gave me a hug, out of the blue. I asked her what was that for, and she shrugged her shoulders and said cause you look sad. It really did make me feel better.

The next day we went to the punkin patch, and then came home and made some caramel apples... white chocolate macadamia nut caramel apples.

Our friend and her kiddies came over also, she decided to do marshmallow and it looked really fun. That night we ate our apples and the caramel was way to hard... again with that bitter sting of failure, but the kids ate them without complaint and looked cute doing it.

Afterwards we made apple jelly.... 3 times, and it still wasnt setting up... so i threw it out

We finally got some apples simmered down and ready, and then we put it through the mill, and it was so super delicious the kids wanted to eat it all up... we made half plain and half cinnamon. 

I sealed em up and put them in the water bath... when i went to take them out i tried to use the tongs to lift them out, and splashed the boiling water all over my face... it made blisters on my lips and under my eye... and i was just about ready to give up

Then we made apple cider, and it made my face feel better

here are my jars all sealed up and done GOOD RIDDANCE. We've got apple jelly, apple cider jelly, apple cider, apple sauce, and cinnamon apple sauce

2 apple pies 

(the second one i made a lattice crust but gave it away and didn't get a picture :/ )

Apple brownies

I love this picture, the big ones love laughing at the little one

haha he is daddy made over

halloween festive Spiderweb pancakes!!

With, you guessed it, apple syrup!!

Now that this apple season has forever been ingrained in my childrens head, i feel like i have accomplished my original goal, to give my kids a since of season.... to hopefuly have them look forward to "fall apple canning time" and i think they will, the girl has already mentioned about what she wants to make with next falls bushels :D

To which i replied, "lets not get to ahead of ourselves now, we still have thanksgiving to think about!"

And as of right now i have to many fun things planned for our christmas festivities, that i am working on weeding the less enjoyable ones out (they all sound like great ideas to me so this is no easy task, alas the man wont put up with to many crafts so i'm trying to stick with the basics)

Toodles!!