Fall Tidings!

Our winking sunflower was a little shy to reveal herself. ;)

I hope that our friends here in the Northern Hemisphere are enjoying the beginning of Autumn. We sure are!

The garden is finishing off for another year, but we still have some cold weather crops (radishes, beets, peas, carrots, greens). Our pumpkins and squash are ripening, and the last of our sunflowers, corn and tomatoes are almost done.

We have been doing quite a bit of harvesting, both of things we have grown, as well as volunteers.



We also got a whole bunch of apples from a friend's little backyard orchard and have been making different yummy things with them. One thing we made was applesauce using a recipe found in Natural Foods Cookbook by Jean Hewitt.

Homemade Applesauce II

8 cups peeled and cored apple slices
2 cups water
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon mace
Honey to taste

In a six-quart kettle, place the apple slices, water and lemon juice. Bring to a boil and simmer until half the apples are mushy.

Add remaining ingredients including enough honey to sweeten the taste. Press the apple mixture in with potato masher, leaving some chunks for texture. Alternatively, the mixture can be pureed in a foodmill or blender.

Yield: Six servings.

Note: This same recipe can be used to cook homegrown peaches and pears.

Sláinte!

Laurel