Apples R Us

"Take the fruit I give you," says the bending tree.
"Nothing but a burden is it all to me.
Lighten ye my branches; let them toss in air!
Only leave me freedom next year’s load to bear."
~Lucy Larcom (1824–93)


We seriously took this to heart. It was an amazing year for apples. The man got me this load....

and I made apple butter, applesauce, apple pie filling.
　
Then he went back again for another load....and the whole family got to work making cider. The grandsons loved making and drinking it. It has been deemed a new yearly tradition to do with them.

Then a guy hubby works with gave him 6 bags and a tote full of apples...and I made him some apple cider

Then same guy came in with 6 more bags....and I made him some apple fruit rolls ups, apple/cherry fruit rolls ups and apple/blueberry fruit roll ups.

And then same guy came in with a 4 ft long ice chest of apples and 3 more bags...... I am not making him a thing as every time I do he brings more! I asked my husband why he didn't just say no and he said because the guy went through all the trouble of picking them. When the snow comes and I am sure of not getting anymore apples I will make him a basket of apple products as a thank you.

I must say he has some beautiful apples, they are so red that they are almost black,

but I am exhausted trying to find things to do with them. I have dumped some on friends but they are sick of them now too.   I can't stand to see waste so we will be eating a lot of applesauce and drinking a lot of cider....198 quarts that I canned for apple juice so far.

The colder temperatures had us lighting the woodstove for the first time Saturday night the 17th. It was our first frost and freeze and officially ended the garden. We had a fire again on the 18th and now we are back to 70's during the day and 40's at night so no more fire until needed. The freeze made a lot of leaves drop but I was able to get pictures of some of their glory.

 

I put apples aside and went to Rhinebeck this past Sunday. I had not been there since 2013 and I must say I was disappointed. Vendors I was looking for have folded up shop, a lot less spinning oriented and more yarn. I was use to seeing shelves with roving balls, tub after tub of roving, booths with several wheels to test drive, loads of carders/skeinwinder or bags upon bags of fleece. Outside the building with the fleece competiton/sale there were only a few that had a fleece or two for sale.

I did not walk away empty handed....I procured 12 oz of cormo pencil roving, some rootbeer float fudge (for #2 daughter), clover honey, small container of feta pesto, and a pair of alpaca socks for the man.

The weekend before we had the grandsons for a sleepover while their parents celebrated their 5th wedding anniversary. It went very well. They painted two pumpkins each and took them home. Toddler B is very diligent and attacked his pumpkins with such focus and complete coverage. Toddler O is very tidy and didn't like it when he got paint on his hands when turning the pumpkin. They helped with the morning chores and ate like horses. It has been along time without little kids underfoot so we were exhausted when they left!

And time before that I was trying to get pictures of the eclipse. I was able to get some regardless of the clouds until almost full eclipse and then it was total cloud coverage.

So we are about ready for the snowy weather. The sheep are sheared and there is hay in the barn. The turkeys took a short ride. #2 son said they would weigh in at 25 and 18...they ate well and weighed a shocking 37 and 24!

The only thing that has to be done still is butchering the pigs and the longer the weather is above normal the longer they will be with us. This year also saw a bounty of acorns and they are eating their fill. They have an acorn fairy that leaves feed bags of acorns by the milkhouse for them. 

I have been knitting very little but I expect that to pick up once the apples are done.  So until I have something fibery to show I will leave you with this little anomaly....

a road in PA without potholes....or political advertisements!