Lessons from an apple tree

There is an apple tree behind our house. Usually I don't pay the tree a bit of mind. We don't spray it, we don't trim it or prune it, we don't do *anything* to it to encourage apple production. It's just an old tree we have in the yard. A few days ago, Jack came in holding some smallish, green apples. They were from the tree back there. Tart little boogers, too. I'm not sure of the variety they are, but other than being small, they're great cooking apples.

So I decided I was going to attempt sugar-free apple jelly and some apple butter again. The last time I made it, the jelly never set up, but the apple butter was pretty darn good. I got a bucket and went picking apples this morning. It never occurred to me that one should wear protective eyewear during the apple-picking process, but it did occur to me - shortly after something fell into my eye. Lesson #1 was an owie. I valiantly contnued to pick apples, my eye running tears like a faucet, filling up the bucket (5 gallons), and staggered back up to the house.

I left the bucket sitting by the kitchen door and went into the house to flush my eye. No good - still felt like something was in it, although I couldn't see anything with the good eye and a mirror. I thought I might have scratched the eyeball itself, so I decided to go to the local pharmacy to get some lubricating eyedrops to help it not be so irritated. Of course, right after I bought the rotten things, whatever it was rolled out on a tear drop.

Once the eye felt better, I decided to go ahead and get the things I needed to do the project - jars, fruit pectin, new lids, and bought some other stuff we needed at the house. I was gone probably an hour and half. When I got back, my second discovery of the day was that apples, when left in a bucket in the sun, will begin roasting inside their little skins. Lesson #2. All of the apples on the top of the bucket had turned a nice, toasty shade of brown and gotten quite soft. Had they been on a rotisserie, they probably would have been very nicely baked.

So far I have 4 half pints of no-sugar added apple jelly with apple pie spice added to it. The jars have sealed, but the jelly still has to set up. This is the nerve-wracking part - waiting. It could be up to two weeks before it sets. If it doesn't set, we'll have apple pie spiced apple syrup for our pancakes. I have enough juice prepared to make at least two more sets of jelly, so I'll probably make a plain no-sugar added set, and a full blown sugar set, to give away as Christmas gifts.

The apple butter is still cooking down. Like and idiot, I put wayyy too much water in the pot and have to boil it down much longer than it would normally take. Lesson #3. Oh well... I'll finish it tomorrow.

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Speaking of Christmas gifts, I went into Hobby Lobby yesterday to get the stuff to make this year's cards, feeling pretty darn good about getting a head start. Got in there and was immediately blown away by the rows and rows and rows of Christmas stuff they've already got out. And here I was, thinking I was early...