Applesauce Extravaganza

After a few years of not doing so well, our apple tree went all out this year and produced a ton of apples!

So, we made applesauce.

First we picked the apples of course. Unfortunately we don't have any pictures of me in the top of the tree shaking the branches like there was a number 10 typhoon going through... or of Benjamin standing on the tractor, balancing a ladder that I am standing at the top of ,extending a rake into the topmost branches to shake down every apple possible... in my pajamas no less. :-)
But we do have pictures of the process after the apples were picked and in the house.

Becca washed and John carried them to the dining room...

Where Rosie and I were chopping.

Most of the time we looked sane; like this... no where near as crazy as that first picture... Really.

After several hours, a chocolate-chip break was in order

Then back to work...

..As our sanity slowly waned. I think we'd had too much fun. :-)

Once the apples were chopped and cooked, it was time to run them through the Victorio.

All this takes time, so we were still running them through when Dad and Benjamin got home from work. Benjamin gladly pitched in to help us reach a good stopping point.

At the end of day 1 both of these pots were full of applesauce!

On day 2, John and I set out to reheat, sweeten, and can it all.

And we were still having fun! :-)

Filling the jars...

I sat up late with the canners, and thankfully all but one of the jars sealed!

On day 3 I washed all the jars in preparation for putting them in the pantry.

Some of them were really sticky! :-)

Finally, write on the date and put them on the shelf.

After having applesauce coming out of our ears for 3 days straight, some of us got a little tired of it... Others however, did not. :-)
Thank you Lord for the blessing of 80 quarts of applesauce!