Turns out right outside my window is a view of the most magical apple orchard I have set my two feet upon.  Thirty varieties of crispy red globes of goodness a stones throw away.  You can believe I am gathering as many of them as I can get my hands on.

Amongst others you know…

We are making our sauce from the hew variety this year.  Roasting whole and coring and peeling with a food mill.  Then vanilla beans, cinnamon and nutmeg added in with a squeeze of lemon for color and I believe we will be scooping the good stuff for many months to come.  It amazes me how happy I am when I pop open a jar of home-made applesauce in February.  The smell of that fall day, the sun shining on my forehead as I look up my ladder, the feel of the cool sweet grass on my bare toes, it just comes back.  Beats a bottle of Motts, to say the very, very least.

Apple trees, being cared for well into their old age… as the proud owner of this orchard says, “It is a testament to the way we should treat our elderly…”.  It’s hard to see in the picture but the trunk is completely caved in.  It is a rotted half moon of a stump.  Then growing right out of the center at the top is a very healthy and producing apple tree, only needing help buy a y-shaped branch to hold it up.  Pretty amazing.

Any good stuff being put in your jars lately?