80 lbs of Apples!

So those of you who were around for the 85 lbs of Peaches will appreciate this week's project: 80 lbs of apples. I have to say though this is only trip 1 of 2 to Sauvie Island in search of Apples. 80 lbs unfortunately is not going to last all that long! First, I love applesauce. LOVE LOVE LOVE applesauce. Secondly, I love MY applesauce. Third...other people are finding they love my applesauce, which is where most of the problem lies. Don't get me wrong, I am a FOODIE. I love cooking, and I most especially love cooking for other people and sharing food with other people. Food and cooking for others is my way of nurturing people. I am happy spending an entire day in the kitchen cooking for a friend or family or people I care about. It's the thing I do to show people they are important to me. So the small issue though is that now people want applesauce. And my weakness is...I of course want to share it with them. The only problem is I am running out of canning jars...so I need to start asking for payment for my applesauce: One jar of applesauce, one canning jar. THEN, I can continue to can & share.

SO- I took the last two days off from work (because I saved all my days off thinking perhaps I'd be on maternity leave the end of this year...) and went yesterday to Sauvie Island. I will be taking a 2nd trip out for apples in a week or two- I think I need to get close to 150 lbs of apples to meet the need for the year....however I may be a bit more frugal with the applesauce this year, knowing that NEXT year I will not have so much time for canning!

This is the 40 lbs of apples I didn't get to today: They are destined to become Applesauce (maybe 15-20 lbs of them) and the rest will become Apple Butter- probably on Sunday.

My Canner...this is a monster. it's hard to tell exactly how large it is, but I can say the burner you see in the foreground is the BIG burner- it's probably half again as large as that. it takes up about 1/3rd of my stove! it takes more than an hour for the water to boil, it's so big!
Some of the fruits of my labors today! There are also a few freezer bags in the freezer in the basement- I'll be doing more in the freezer this year since I'm running short on Jars. There are TWO kinds of applesauce here- regular cinnamon applesauce, and the very special variety my Grandmother used to make- PURPLE applesauce. Any guesses the special ingredient? It was always my favorite, and I haven't made the purple variety in several years...this year I came across an opportunity to get a bit of the magic ingredient, so I had to make some!