don't worry, I put a shirt on him too
A few Saturdays ago, we made baby's first trip to the Farmer's Market. Actually, it was our first trip this year too. Our garden kept us plenty busy and fed in the spring and summer and we didn't have much call to supplement. As we now head into winter, we're doing our final stockpiling and preserving and the market was great for filling in those things that hadn't worked out in our garden or that we didn't choose to grow. While we did harvest some garlic, it definitely wasn't enough to get us through the winter, so we were happy to see some good looking heads at the market. We go through a lot of garlic around here and this probably won't last until next season, but it will be a good start.
In the name of newfound flexibility (I'm having to exercise this a lot with a newborn - it's good for me), I had to give up on my plans for an hour-long trip to the farm for apple picking and cider making this year. There were lots of apples at the market, including a number of uncommon/varieties we'd never seen before. We found a stand where they were actually cheaper than picking and had lots of delicious varieties to choose from. We ended up with 50 pounds of Cameos (a variety we've sauced before, with a nice crisp texture and tartness) and McIntosh (a family favorite - a bit softer than I typically prefer these days, but they have a really great tart flavor and will be well-suited to saucing, I suspect). After making them into sauce, it turned out that we needed a few more, so I got my apple picking in at the nearby orchard the next weekend (I wore the baby, Tres wore 2 picking buckets, and we picked another 40 or so pounds of Fujis in about twenty minutes). I sauced 25 pounds of them and we're storing the rest in the shop for fresh eating. A few things I (re?)learned this year: using soft apples (like McIntosh) means you will have to peel by hand (as the handy dandy peeler doesn't abide soft apples), said peeler will spray juice everywhere (dress and cover your surroundings appropriately), and the pureed apples will burn if you don't stir them pretty constantly (so try to curb the urge to multitask, despite the monotony of standing around stirring a slowly heating pot).
apples from the market
my peeling station
our pantry, stocked for winter
the rest of the pantry, applesauce is on the far left
Speaking of flexibility, the saucing and canning process was a little different this year too. While I followed the same basic steps (peel and slice, cook, grind, reheat, can), it took me a little longer. About 4 days longer, in fact. Now, it's not to say that I was processing apples all day these days, but I was fitting apple processing in between feeding, changing, and otherwise caring for our son. It's interesting what a different rhythm a baby gives your day. I imagine if he were a bit older, I could fit this in during naptime or otherwise structure it around his schedule, but because he is so young and doesn't really have a schedule yet, things are a bit more "fly by the seat of your pants." There are lots of days when I don't do everything I'd like, but I'm learning to set reasonable goals and, again with that word, to be flexible if things don't work out quite the way I'd hoped. I realize more and more how very lucky I am to have a schedule and a life that allow me to do that. Having a cute, sweet baby doesn't hurt either.
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