Making Applesauce!

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In an effort to cut back on sugar, I decided to give making our own applesauce a chance!

Believe it or not, I’ve never made it.   I’ve made apple butter before, but not sauce.   And I don’t know why, it was SO easy!

Just peel and quarter up as many apples as you have.  Pop in a nice thick pot and add just a wee bit of water.   It helps to get the going and soften them up.  Then just cook about 45 minutes or more over a nice heat… not too hot but not too cold…  stirring them as they start to soften and mush up.

Once they are nice and mushy, add a little cinnamon to taste, if you want.   And taste them.   If they are little tart, then add a bit of sugar.   I ended up adding just a little under a quarter cup of brown sugar to our 12 apples.  It just needed a little help because half my apples were very tart.  Still, that is SO much less than commercial sauce!   Most commercial apple sauce has a TON of corn syrup in it.  Blech.

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Let cool, and mash with a spoon or a potato masher.  We like ours a little chunky, so we left it so.  If you’d like it very fine, then use a blender or stick blender to get it so.  You can add a wee bit of apple cider or juice if you need to get it nice and creamy.  Store in the frig or you can water bath can the stuff…   just google and follow the directions for time and such.

Our dozen apples made about a quart of sauce and it was gone in a few days!   I think next fall, I will definitely do up a ton of apples and can the sauce.  And I will have a food mill by then so I won’t even peel them!   You can actually leave the skin on and grind it with a food mill for lots of extra fiber and apple goodness!  Sounds pretty darn easy to me!

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And all the peelings and cores make great hog treats!   Heck, everyone likes apples!

Enjoy!

 

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Milkstand Build…

 

Our friend Mary asked if Maggie would build her a nice little goat milk stand for her pair of milk goats who are about to kid.  Of course she was ready to do so!   Mary had some random bits and pieces of wood and boards so it was easy to figure out how to put it all together.  She had built Buttercup’s milking stand, so this was just a sort of adaptation of the first one.  She likes working in her workshop and I enjoy hanging out and helping a bit.  And of course taking some pictures!   In the end, it turned out fantastically and Mary was pleased!   Enjoy our build…   DSC_0289 DSC_0321 DSC_0323 DSC_0325 DSC_0326 DSC_0328 DSC_0330

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Princess Raspberry is Born!

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Miss Pearl sure gave us a run for our money.  She wanted her baby to be the last and special…  and she waited and waited and waited.  I guess she played hard to get when the fall time canoodling fest was going on.  But in the end, she finally gave us our last little baby of the lambing season…  Princess Raspberry!  A little ewe lamb, as sweet as could be.

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She looks like she will be a little brown or light cream baby, which is fine, since her mom is a dark steele color, but her father was a cream.   We really won’t know until they turn about a year old for sure, but seeing her lighter brown color says that we will probably have more of a lighter cream baby eventually.

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Buttercup has been very interested in all the baby lambs.   Which is rather curious because she hated her own baby so much!   And in fact, she has started to produce some milk!   Crazy goat.   But she is the herd queen and I think it’s hard to get past all the baby juice in the area!  It’s making us all crazy in love with all these little darlings.   Lambs are just so fun!

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So now we are done with lambing!   And I am so happy…  3 boys and 5 girls!   It works for us.   I believe one ram lamb will be going on to be a ram with his own little herd…  Fennel!   But Basil and Thistle are going to be fixed and stay with us.   I believe their breeding and temperament will make them perfect for our flock.  And their fleece will be lovely!   DSC_0222

Just so excited to have all our babies happy, healthy and sound.   Our list is as follows…

Basil – single boy
Fennel – single boy
Thistle – single boy
Ginger and Rosemary – twin girls
Willow and Laurel – twin girls
Raspberry – single girl

Everyone is doing great, strong and healthy. Only one baby on the bottle, Thistle. Born over a two week span.

Next up… hog baby watch! First possible due date… June 1st! More likely? Middle of June… second week or so! Two litters hopefully!!!

 

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