Apple Picking

We had a great time apple picking the other day.  Despite the weather.

No, it didn't rain.  It was sunny and 83 degrees.  That's just wrong, somehow.  There should be a crisp chill in the air and you should have to wear a sweater.  Not a short-sleeved shirt!  There should be no smell of fermenting apples.  One should not work up a sweat picking apples.

Regardless, the season is early this year and strangely warm.  So we got our half-bushel of apples:  honeycrisps, vampires (I mean empires), cortlands and macouns.  Even a couple of galas.  The kids had fun running on the haybale maze.  Not in, on.  The best part is running on the top of it and leaping to the next bunch of bales.  Now I have some applesauce to make, as we are just about to finish the last jar from last fall!

Today I cooked up about 25 apples in two batches, each batch with 2 c. water and then run through the food mill.  To all this I added 4 cups of white sugar and ended up with 4.5 quarts of applesauce and one very happy 9 year old who got to lick the pot!