But what about 1,000?
We have been hard at work this weekend picking apples off of one of our apple trees. We have filled two huge burlap sacks with apples, which I think amounts to about roughly 100 lbs. of apples! When you think about how many we had to throw away due to bugs (the tree has not been pruned/sprayed/etc for YEARS, and has a bit of a pest problem - but we are going to remedy that soon, so that NEXT harvest will be amazing!!), the number becomes even more impressive. That, coupled with the fact that all that we managed to pick yesterday was probably only equal to about 1/4 of the apples on the tree, is mind-boggling to me! We have been hard at work drying, cooking, and canning apples. I tell you: we are going to be pretty damn tired of applesauce come next year! *laughing* But I am SO proud of the fact that we are able to harvest and preserve food from our OWN property! We are taking our first big step toward the goal of self-sufficiency. We have also been canning pickled eggs this weekend, using a recipe I concocted with mustard, cloves, and cinnamon (it's REALLY good!). And in the next week or two, the plums are going to be ready to pick, so we will once again be hard at work canning that...ah, the life of a farmer...I LOVE IT!
