Apple of My Eye
Canning season is hopefully coming to an end. It has been one day after the nest with little rest between projects. Tomatoes are coming to an end. Between the blight and the end of their growing season, the plants look as though they’ve finally given up and I am so glad. Tomato soup, sauce, salsa, canned whole tomatoes, pickled green tomatoes, and tomatoes for the vegetable beef soup have marched across the table and been baptized in the canning kettles. Cucumbers have given their all to make pickles of all flavors. The green beans are being ignored and are in decline because so many beans have already been canned, plain and pickled. Corn has been blanched, cut from the cobs and canned although some ears have been left intact and frozen.
This year the apple trees were hanging full and heavy with their fruit. I can’t remember ever having seen such a great crop. And we’ve been harvesting and canning them as they ripened into all sorts of products. We started out by making applesauce, then made several crock pots of apple butter. We’ve canned apple slices to make pies of apple dumplings later.
I’ve allowed others to harvest apples from my trees and I have gathered apples from my apple trees.  I imagine at least seven feed sacks full of Grimes Golden apples and the other red apple have been picked already. I can’t remember the red apple’s name but its flavor is sweet and makes excellent applesauce. We were recently invited to pick apples from church friends and their trees were just as blessed as mine. Trees were filled and the limbs were hanging heavy with fruit. Other neighbors have shared their bounty with us Golden delicious, Grimes Golden, Harleson, Jonathan, and Winesap to name only a few of the types of apples. Jar after jar of their deliciousness have filled our shelves. I believe that we have a nice supply laid in and canning apples have come to an end. I still have quite a bit of fruit in my trees. Most of the low branches have been picked clean. If anyone wants to pick some, they will have to shake the trees or bring an apple picker to reach the fruit in the top branches.
We are watching for the pears to ripen and the sauerkraut to finish fermenting. They will need to be canned when they are ready. The faithful of the caning crew are tiring, but the end is in sight.