Fair Prep

I just received word a day ago that out county fair WILL happen after all!  I have been looking forward to this for a year now, after last year's big win:

I plan on entering a lot more things this year in the weaving department, and will compete against myself a few times!  I want to enter some of my canning as well.  In fact, between the two departments, I have 9 things planned.  I know it's a little overkill, but you get a small amount of money if you place.  So the more things you enter, the more money you might get... then I can spend it on yarn for next year's projects!

So, here are some of the things I've made this year that I want to enter:

For the "household item" I will enter a Handwoven Dishtowel in summer and winter:

 

For original idea = P2P2 project

Rug (on the loom right now, and this is not it but it will kind of look like this style with the different shaped squares woven out of t-shirt scraps...)

Scarf

And for the "other" category: Lee's Surrender Overshot runner

 

The spinning category:
Hand spun wool

And last... but not least, the canning category:

apple pie filling

applesauce

apple jelly

I am so excited!  I have to turn it all in next Wednesday, so I have about a week and a few days to finish my handwoven rug and gather everything together.

More apples!

100 lbs of apples so far... 63 quarts of apple products... lots of gifts!

We have 35 quarts of applesauce, 21 half-pints of apple jelly (plus a lot of leftovers!), 21 quarts of apple slices for pies and cobblers and crisps, and next we want to dehydrate some apples and make more jelly for gifts!

That's a lot of apples, and it's only 1 tree!

The first 50 lbs of apples!!!

Here's our first 50 lbs of apples!!!!  We are so excited because last year we got 2 apples total... this year is so much better!!!!  The trees bloomed after a spring snow, so we actually lost the peaches to the snow but thankfully the apples weren't around to get frosted.

 We wash them...

And cut them... 

They are kind of small so I decided to cut them by hand instead of with the apple slicer.  I figured that we would lose too much apple if I did it with the slicer.

 Very little loss!!

Soak them in lemon juice and water to keep them from browning... 

 

My apple cutting station... 

 If I fill up one side of the sink with cut apples, it means that my 20 quart stock pot will be full to the brim!

 

And yes, it is quite full!

After cooking them for awhile, I blend it in the blender.  These are my applesauce holding stations... 

 

 Then add it all back to the pot with the sugar and spices...

Fill up the jars and boil in a hot water bath... this is what I had left after 7 quart jars!  So I will have to do another batch.

And store it away for the winter and spring!!!

Yum!!  I love canning season!!!

Garden update

Our garden is wrapping up nicely this year.  We enjoyed our many cobs of corn over  the summer and TONS of zucchini and cute little potatoes!  It was a lot of fun to eat our feasts of garden food.  Next summer we have some big plans to plant more garden in our backyard.  

Our apples are growing a lovely shade of pink and some are even ready.  I've picked a small box full and started to dry them with the dehydrator.  Just a few more weeks and we will be swimming in canned applesauce!!