A is for Apple, B is for Beets.

Hello One and All,
I follow Jenna over at Cold Antler Farm's blog and from time to time she dose postings about "You know your a Homesteader when..." Just now I thought of one I have not seen before, you know your a Homesteader when you can heft a bag of feed on your hip like a baby and pull the wash off the line with your other arm/hand.Yup that's what I just did all by my lonesome self,a moment of pride.
Today was a beauty of a fall day here, warm sunshine with cool air,the world changing colors all around and that slanted light that comes as the Earth tilts her head towards the coming winter.
Chance, Sol and I took a drive to a local farm to buy a box of Apples for Apple Butter and Sauce.We purchased 42 pounds of Johnagold Apples which I am hoping will be enough.This uncertain-ness has prompted me to start a ledger of how much was purchased and how much it yielded.I know in the past people did this for the very same reason so I am riding on their coat tails and learning from the past once again. I am also adding in a seed list for much of the same reasons.I am adding in my own twist of figuring in how many rows were planted or what size of bed was planted and wither or not the harvest was good for us.Time and money will be saved in the future by keeping this log.
Chance also picked up a couple of things he needed to can some Salsa.He used a recipe from the Ball Canning site that was just a very basic Salsa.He ended up with 2 quart jars and will be, in the future, changing the recipe a bit.The Salsa was good but had more zip to it than we thought it would. Even with the extra zip to the Salsa it was a good way to use up our extra Tomatoes from the garden. Chance felt proud of himself because this was the first time he did a canning project all on his own,I was busy doing I don't know what..
I know what I was doing,I was pulling the rest of our Beets and other garden jobs.I now have enough smaller Beets to do a few jars of Pickled Beets.I have never made them myself but we all love to eat them so I am going to give them a try.Since they are not a big part of our diet it will be just fine if I only make a few jars. And they will easily keep in the fridge for a few more days until after I can the Apples up. I am thinking of freezing the Beet Greens too,again I have never done this but willing to try.I can add the greens to soups this winter and sneak in greens without the boys noticing.
Within the next couple of days the house will be filled with the aroma of cooking apples and spices,how fall like is that? Then all we will need is to light a fire in the wood stove and we have the best scents of fall,Apples and Woodsmoke.
Rois