A Fruitful Weekend

We had a fruitful weekend here at Thistledew. Melissa had two bushels of tomatoes, and, brave woman that she is, she decided to can some salsa. And, somehow, we got the idea that there was a U-pick apple farm within easy driving distance of the farm, so we decided to get some apples, as well.

As with most of our adventures, however, this didn't turn out entirely as planned. The apple farms near us, it turns out, had already finished their harvest. Who knew? One farm had a poor harvest and so shipped apples in from North Carolina to sell - you might as well get them from the grocery store in that case, we decided. And we couldn't justify driving an hour to get apples.

Luckily, there's a produce stand nearby that often has really good produce for really good prices - we got a bushel of winesaps. There was an interesting exchange with the apple man who couldn't seem to grasp the idea that one might want to make applesauce AND pie in the same weekend, but we got our apples nonetheless. I thought Melissa was going to pelt him with apples for a minute or two, but she managed to restrain herself and we took our apples and went home.

So, on Saturday we processed a bushel of tomatoes and a bushel of apples, and I use the term "we" loosely here, because Melissa and the Princess did the lion's share of the work, and I studied. Hey, I have a test and we take tests VERY seriously around here! However, it turns out that the Princess is pretty good with an apple peeler, so we got through the apples without too much difficulty. All in all, we got about 7 quarts of salsa, several freezer bags full of tomato sauce and put sliced apples in the freezer and the crockpot. I got sliced apples and cooked some of them down to make a dessert topping, and we sliced some to take for lunch.

Finally, we made apple dumplings with caramel sauce and ice cream, and guess what I had for breakfast this morning? :) Here's hoping your Sunday breakfast was as good as mine!

Terri