Canning: things to remember and some daily life

Canning round 2: I spent pretty much all day yesterday peeling, coring, slicing the apples with our little contraption and got 2 big bowls full - I think about 40 apples. The only problem with our contraption is that it isn't quite big enough to core the whole apple, it leaves the seed beds with their hard covering in the apple so I have to go back through and cut those off, but it still saves tons of time.  So, here is the process I used, it took me about 3 solid hours today of canning but it's all done now, 10 quarts of apple pie filling.

* I started  with filling the canner and heating the water because it takes forever despite having two gas burners of high. 

*Then I mixed up my pie sauce and let it start heating up as well, it needs to boil for about 15 minutes to get it a little thicker. Note: the ultra gel disolves on it's own and mixes better once it's boiling even though it looks chunky at first.

*While both of those were heating/boiling I started washing the jars and bands. Since this is my first time using grandma's jars I had to wash them really well since they'd been sitting outside for 2 years. I really would like a dishwasher if just for canning so they can stay hot without this extra step for me to do by hand. Not sure how much time it would save but still...

*When the sauce was thick I divided it between two pots so I would have room for all the apples, which I did and even added 3 more because I had extra sauce at the end. I added the apples to the pots and kept it on low.

*I would take the jars out of the soapy hot water, rinse, then fill it with pie filling leaving about and inch to an inch and a half using the funnel. I used a ladle to fill it up then the back side to push them in more and added to get to the right fullness. It was REALLY messy, but there are a ton more apples per jar this time around because I did that. Note: the filling really does expand so I wouldn't want to fill any more than this.

*I put the full jars in the rack that was sitting half way down into the hot water, got rid of bubbles best I could, wiped them down, then added the lids and bands. Once they were all on I lowered the jars with the rack and covered it, waiting for the water to boil. Once it did I started the timer.

*I let it boil for about 25 minutes, then took the jars out using the jar grabber, set them on the counter on a towel and will let them sit for 12 hours. I've heard some popping so I'm hopeful they all sealed! I'm hoping to give some of these away as gifts along with the dry ingredients for apple crisp.

We have been getting creative with our apple holding containers as the bushel basket is currently full but the apples are all kind of small in it so I opted to go picking with our new fruit picker!!

Chloe holding 3 apples for size comparison

In the yard: Our neighbor cut his alfalfa field a couple days ago and the babies stood at the fence watching the tractor for a good 30 minutes, until they got distracted and started playing in the dirt pile by the gate... 

 Snow: It has now dusted our yard with snow two times and Chloe and Blain get so excited. I bundled them up and we went out in it for a while. We brought in wood for a fire and picked some apples. I was afraid the snow would ruin them, but they seem to be doing just fine, both picked and on the tree.

 Little eskimos - as you can see it didn't snow very much and was all melted by noon

 Sitting eating snow

Blain brought this log all the way into the house, he was so cute and I could tell he was having a hard time but he really wanted to take it all the way and turned me down a couple times when I asked if he needed me to take it the rest of the way. What a good helper. 

Avenlea: Avenlea is now a little over a month old and she is getting cuter and chubbier by the day. She goes to bed around 10 and sleeps 6 hours most nights now which is a huge help for me. She then takes two more 3-4 hours sleeps and is up for the day around noon. When she gets up I feel like I haven't seen her in a while and it makes me so happy to hold her and see her little face. She has smiled 2 times and is much more aware of what is going on around her and enjoys looking around at it all.