Apple Season

Back in June, I discovered 2 apple trees really close to the house. I can't figure out how I missed them before, but was super excited to find them. I had no idea if we would actually get a harvest out of them. I'm super excited to say that we definitely got a harvest...well enough to eat several a day and can a ton of them...as well as share them with probably deer.  They had some kind of mold and also russet (I guess some kind of rust). They weren't beautiful, but man did they taste good!

The chickens and guineas have loved the apple trees..bugs, fruit. What's not to like?

I absolutely LOVE seeing the little red crate turned upside down. I love that Raelee wanted to be as tall as she could so she could reach the most perfect apple. She did this several times a day when they started to ripe. She was upset with me when I picked the last of the apples off. "Mom, what happened to my apples?"

Like I said, they aren't the prettiest apples, but they were yummy!

We have been throwing the apple scraps and other scraps into the compost bin. The chickens think that it is their own personal buffet.

Please don't mind the ugly walls..but here is what I was able to preserve this year. 

Apple butter, apples in apple juice, apple pie filling (SOOO GOOD), a teeny little bit of dried apples (bc I ate the rest..lol), and apple sauce.

 The apple butter and apple pie filling were both taken from the Ball canning book.  I think you can find them online. I must admit that I'm super sad I have no more apples. I had to take a step back and remind myself that this is WAY more than I had last year, and way more than I expected to have to soon at this house.  I preserved about 85 lbs of apples... Life is good, isn't it?