Fresh Picked Applesauce

Last weekend we went up to our favorite apple-picking place in Flat Rock, NC called Sky Top Orchard.  We went with the Thomas family, another homeschooling family we know and are friends with.  We had a blast running all over the orchard and just spending the day there.  The weather was beautiful and despite the crowd at the Orchard, by the time we started picking there really wasn't anyone there.

We picked 2 bushels of apples and we are making pies, applesauce and apple butter this weekend with the apples.  As most of you know, I am allergic to raw apples but that doesn't keep me from making all of this yummy stuff, since once the apple is cooked I can eat it. I purchased a nifty little apple peeler, slicer, corer gadget today and with great excitement Adam, Ayla and I put it together and began peeling, slicing and coring our fresh picked apples!  (Avery was asleep!). You may also know that I am also gluten-free, and so I had to go get some gluten-free pie crust mix but ended up with frozen gluten-free pie crusts from our local Earthfare instead.  (I like frozen things! Easy to prepare!). The thing with the gluten-free pie crusts though is that they are teeny tiny and it only took 2 apples to fill it up!  For what its worth, the apples were pretty huge though.  I am using Granny Smith and Arkansas Black apples.  I had never heard of Arkansas Black until this past week when I went to NC to pick them!  I will post more pictures and recipes later today.

Waiting for the delicious apple doughnuts!

These were soooooo delicious.  I broke my rules about no gluten-free, but that was a bad idea! You can say that was the last time I will probably have those delicious, flakey, tender, and sweet, hot, apple doughnuts.

My boy

My boy turned 6 last month, and no, I did not blog about it yet. Its been hard to keep up with life and writing about it is even more difficult.  Its like trying to catch a moving train!  I have been documenting life of course, with photos as usual.

I came across this poem tonight and just had to share.  It pretty much sums up how I feel about raising children, especially my boy. 

My dishes went unwashed today,
I didn’t make the bed,
I took his hand and followed
Where his eager footsteps led.

Oh yes, we went adventuring,
My little son and I,
Exploring all the great outdoors
Beneath the summer sky.

We waded in a crystal stream,
We wandered through a wood.
My kitchen wasn’t swept today,
But life was sweet and good.

We found a cool sun-dappled glade
And now my small son knows
How Mother Bunny hides her nest
Where fern and larkspur grow.

We watched a robin feed her young,
We climbed a sunlit hill,
Saw cloud-sheep scamper through the sky;
We plucked a daffodil.

That my house was neglected,
That I didn’t sweep the stair,
In twenty years no one on earth
Will know or even care.

But that I’ve helped a little boy
To noble manhood grow,
In twenty years the whole wide world
May look and see and know.

~ Ms. Peifer

Here is a picture of me and my sweetie from a few months ago: