Time for Applesauce

A couple of our ancient heirloom apple trees are already dropping apples like mad. We actually took three wheelbarrow loads of fallen apples yesterday to the chickens. Our new area that we call the Secret Garden with the 20 by 10 foot sandbox was absolutely covered with fallen rotting apples. So we raked and scooped and wheeled them off to the chicken run for the chickens to eat. After we cleaned up the ground, we got the apple picking device that helps us reach up high into the trees and picked a couple boxes of apples. Then it was applesauce making time. The three boys and I got out the food processor and each had jobs in the process.... River took apples from the box and gave them to Rohan who was on the stool at the sink with a strainer and the water sprayer. He washed the apples and handed them to me, then I chopped them and put them into the food processor while Dylan got out jars and labeled them "apple 2012", while Gavyn crawled around on the floor eating apples. The food processor whirred and I sang. We make our applesauce raw in order to preserve all the nutrients. We just wash the apples, slice them with the apple slicer to check for bad spots and then put them into the food processor with a little cinnamon and usually lemon. These apples were actually so tart that I added a little fresh local honey. Then we put them in labeled jars and freeze them. It is such a treat to pull out one of the jars in the winter and know that we made this from our own apples. Hopefully next year we can use our own honey also. We have two beehives that Ben and the neighbor built themselves. Ben and Dylan went to a very holistic beekeeping class in early spring where they learned how to respect the bees and follow their natural rhythms, rather than using some of the conventional methods of smoking the bees out, stealing their honey in the fall and giving them fake sugar water for the winter. Ben even hosted a second beekeeping class at his office and went to help catch a wild swarm. So when the top bar beehives were ready it was time to add the bees. The first hive was filled with a wild swarm. The second was filled with a mail order of bees. The mail ordered bees came with a dead queen, so we had to get another one and keep her trapped for a while so they could smell her and not kill her. The wild swarm happily took up residence and started making combs immediately. Before long there were busy bees and we could see 5 combs in each hive. Then one day our neighbor came to take a look at them in the bee suit and told us that we had no queen in either hive. That simply wouldn't work because I can tell you myself bees, like boys, can not function without a queen. We researched any possible way of getting another queen and finally accepted that it wouldn't be possible this year. So we let our neighbor take the bees and add them to his hives. It was a sad day for us all. The boys had become attached to them. They would check every day and see what the bees were doing. We still have the hives and now we just have to wait until next spring to find some new swarms to add back to the hives. Our neighbor said he would let us share in the harvest when it comes time. For now we get our honey down the road a little ways from someone that sells it out of their house.