Apple Butter

• 9 quarts of Applesauce
• 2 tablespoons of ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon of allspice
• 4 cups sugar

[note] Since I was working with already sweetened apple sauce, didn’t need much sugar.. Best advice is to sweeten to taste. ;)

Fill the crock pot to within an inch of full with applesauce, adding your spices and 2 cups of sugar. Save the other 2 cups for later if needed.

Seal your jars and process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath.

Well, that’s all the recipes I have on hand right now.. If we try anything else that is to die for, I will surely share it with you all.

My fave of all of the recipes I posted today has to be the red tomato relish.

Green Tomato Salsa

• 5 cups chopped green tomatoes
• 1 1/2 cups seeded, chopped long green chilies
• 1/2 cup seeded finely chopped jalapenos
• 4 cups chopped onions
• 1 cup bottled lemon juice
• 6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 Tbsp ground cumin [opt]
• 3 Tbsp oregano leaves [opt]
• 1 Tbsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper

Combine ingredients and stir frequently over high heat until mixture begins to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Ladle hot salsa into pint jars and seal, then follow up with a water bath for 15 minutes.

This one is for Red Tomato Relish.. It’s everything I was hoping the green tomato ketchup would have been.

• 1 bucket tomatoes (2 gallons)
• 1 C of 90 grain vinegar
• 2 C sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp allspice
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp cloves
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 4 green peppers
• 4 small onions

Scald tomatoes and place into a cold water bath to peel. Cut into small pieces and add with all other ingredients (finely chop peppers and onions) then boil until thickened.

Put into pint jars and seal. Follow up with a 15 minute water bath.

Now, I’d picked up a good stainless steel pot to do all this in a ways back. It’s got almost a 1” think base which helps to distribute the heat.. If you do this recipe, be careful not to burn it.. I’d just get it going to a boil and then back it off to a medium-low heat and let it go for a while uncovered.

I was so tempted… soooooooooooo close to loading up my car… Not like the selection was large, but the price was great… sooooooooooooooooooo teeeeeeeeeeeeeeeempteeeeeeeeeeddddddddddddddddd…..

I ended up picking up the said 24 mums, 2 rose of 1gal sharon for $1.75/ea and a 2gal yew for $2.49….

I swear, it’s like a gambling addiction.. You start to shake, start pacing.. Start grabbing….

Oh well.. At least I’d shown restraint.. This time.

At any rate, this is my holding spot for all the potted plants.. My plan is to hang at least 2 4’ dual bulb grow lights up and to have them on a timer so that the plants get a little better light.

I’ve also got aquatic plants I NEED to get inside today from the pond, to at least keep them alive.. I’ve got a 20 gallon long aquarium standing by for those.. I just need to set up a cheesy filter for the water. I’ll most likely just set up a pump to pump water into a sock (yes, sock) above the water line and call it done. That will be more than enough biological filtration to keep the water from going stagnant.

Here’s the aquarium.. It’s an old, OLD one that my dad used to have.. I’ve had it in storage for years since I got my 75 gallon tank.

So, now that you have so many green cherry tomatoes, what then? Why, whip up a batch of green cherry tomato pickles!

Was the wifes’ idea to do that… Still got plenty of tomatoes on hand however, so tomorrow I’m going to dig up everything I need to make some green (and some red) tomato ketchup. :)

Still got plenty of figs on the fig tree (bush) that I’m hoping will not be harmed. Wanting to whip up another batch of fig paste for cookies down the road. I figure I should be able to use them if they’re not totally ripe, considering that you add the sugar to it also… So it’s all good.

Also have quite a few eggplant, peppers, tomatios and whatnot we picked. Not sure what’s planned for those..

(pictures are down for a bit due to maintenance)

On the bright side, the storm door I ordered from Lowes came in and we picked it up yesterday along with some OSB sub floor so that I can put flooring into the attic space.

Spent a few hours yesterday installing the door, a 8500 Pella roll screen door in cranberry with oil rubbed bronze hardware to match the rest of the stuff in the house, or at least come close to it.

The color on the door is really nice.. The color of the paint I got to match, is not. Bit too brown.. It’s the second try to get the paint matched. They say the third time’s the charm.

Anyway, I’m going to end up being fed up with the cold in THIS room and will be replacing the the door itself. See, at some point the door was kicked, which bent it, causing alot of air gaps. Reasons why renting a home is a bad thing to do.. Now that we bought it and are fixing up these issues of neglect and abuse that the prior renters and owners before did, well… Alot to do.

The living room is cozy however.. In fact, it’s 45 outside now and I’ve got the door open and the storm door shut to see how well it works.. Not a bit of air is getting through it.. I did good.. :)

So… I figure next week I’ll replace the door over here and see if that doesn’t help out the temps in here some until I can insulate the far wall, which, apparently no one insulated it because it attaches to the garage, which is also not insulated… Idiots.

bbbrrrr…. 62 degrees in this room… That’s 6 degrees lower than the rest of the house..

anyway….. Here’s some pictures of the storm door in the other room.. What do you think? Ignore the crappy looking door. Going to strip it soon and give it a refinish.

I still have yet to install the brick molding.. Went with the PVC molding.. Price isn’t that bad and I never have to worry about it rotting.

A few days ago I spent a few hours in the apple tree doing my best monkey impression. Needless to say apples flew everywhere, so we got a bunch.

Tonight after supper (cooked a ham on the grill. Freakin great!) we went ahead and started working on apples for apple sauce. I think I split and checked half of the apples we’d collected.

In total we have 27 quarts of apple sauce ready for water bathing in the morning. I’m figuring we’ll have another 24 more or so. We’ve got three baskets of unbruised apples we’re going to spiral cut and core for pie and about 2/3rd of a basket to do a little more apple sauce with.

Been a productive and enjoyable weekend so far.

We’d also handled a large batch of persimmons for jelly, however we’re leaving it as juice and are going to water bath it to preserve it. So we’ll have 3 quarts of persimmon juice to do jelly with, in the event that we want to do so. Much easier than storing whole persimmons in the freezer.

Well… Here’s to tomorrow and seeing what it will bring. Got another day of grilling planned for sure. Just doing burgers this time though.. But, going to eat outside again. I’ll be thrilled once we get the roof extended over the back porch and screen it in.

Around front in what I call the courtyard garden by the pond I’d laid out the rocks to edge the new flower bed. I still need to move more rocks over and need to pick up bags of mortar to get them set in place. Also need to mow there for that matter.

Out back on the burn pile is the bulk of the damage that Ike caused to the yard. It’s not as bad as most places around us. I’ll go ahead and burn this off during a good rain. It’s time to get the ashes together and put them in the garden.

Out back under the pecan tree I decided to snap a picture of the back patio. We’re planning on extending the roof out to the edge of the slab and screening it in. Going to have alot of planning on this one to figure out the best way to do it. I’d like to cut the two center posts out and use a microlam to span that section, then tie in extension rafters to the originals. I hate flat roofs.

I’ve pretty well declared war in this section. I could NOT beat down the vine no matter how much I’d dug, bashed and pulled. So.. Chemical warfare it is. Once a week I check the area for growth and if seen, I destroy it. Muhahaha… Stupid entrenched wild grape vine.

Out on the compost pile the bees are having a GRAND ol’ time. They’ve been in love with us since we’d been doing the persimmon jelly and whatnot. Sure, I could lay fresh grass over this, but I’d rather give a free lunch to a passing bee. Not real sure what the flies are loving on.

Look how happy they are! There’s most likely around 100 or so different things buzzing around the pile. Mostly various bees, followed by flies and then wasps.

After I stood watching the bees for a while I figured I’d let them get back to their thing and walked down past the pecan to the side of the house. The Lantana is STILL blooming.. This improved, or new, or what ever golden it is does NOT quit. If I can over winter it, I’ll be thrilled. Else I’ll be buying more. Rose of Sharon is just about at it’s end and should be done soon.

The poor snowball bush I got from the FIL is not doing so well. It’s still got green on it, but it did not enjoy the dry time this summer. I figure next season it will have a root system strong enough to support it. Come budding out time I’ll be pruning back the dead.

Little pink cone flower I picked up at Lowes near dead has bloomed. It’s out front on the bed that’s under the bedroom window which I filled with huge lily clumps. I did have two of these.. The other to the right died, so I’ll either move this one, or split it.

Back around to the side door I pass the pond. The top pond had a hole in it for a month or so now and has been unplugged. Really, it’s been fine however and everything, with the exception of the live filter barrel in the back is nice and green. I’ve got a glue stick and a blow torch at the ready to fix it. The herbs… Have been neglected and are almost all dead now. I think another method of growing herbs is in order. Perhaps in a raised bed which can have a cold frame attached.

Standing on the steps to the house I turned and took this picture. I really.. really need to get those stones mortared into place and the landscape fabric trimmed. I’d sprayed the growth beside the rocks down with herbicide to kill off the Bermuda grass. Going to lay down topsoil over the dead and seed in clover to flank the rick and soften the area against the gravel drive.

Yes, still have to get those 50 cent plants potted so I can overwinter them, too. Ugh, so much to do.

All I did for this batch was;

1. Cut an X into the nut shell with a serrated knife.
2. Start a pot of water and get it boiling.
3. Once boiling, dump the nuts in.
4. Boil for 15 minutes then strain.
5. Start peeling them. They’d easy to peel when warm.

That’s all there is to it.