An Apple A Day.... or two... or three..

Or a bushel!

Yesterday we went to the Farmer's Market in the rain in search of apples and pumpkins. I plan to make applesauce from the apples so I was looking for "B" grade apples for a better price. The gala apples above were very sweet and perfect for sauce even though they had a few spots on them. I got a bushel of them for $20. Not too bad.

Then on the way home I stopped to check out the apples a man has been selling from the back of his truck for a few weeks now. He's retired and picks up apples from a local orchard at a really cheap price then sells them by the side of the road until his truck bed is empty. He had these golden delicious apples that he said would be great for sauce. He filled this bag for me (a little more then a 1/2 bushel I think) for only $6!!! I was thrilled.

They look pretty good too. I got all the apples jammed into the playroom refrigerator until I have time to process them. Mom gave me her applepeeler/slicer thingy so that should make it go much faster.

While we were at the Farmer's Market, I picked up some local honey. Here's their website. They have everything you could possible dream to make from honey. I was in search of raw honey (which all of theirs is) to use for coughs this winter. Honey is an excellent cough suppressant but it needs to be raw to be effective. The honey in the store has been processed so much that the natural healing qualities has been destroyed.

I told the owner that I am not a huge fan of the strong honey flavor so he had me try his clover and blackberry honeys. The clover honey was much more delicate then the honey I'm used to buying at the store. The blackberry honey was similar but had a faint fruity flavor. I was sold! They call it Wild Meadow. I bought a 8 oz. jar for $3.50. I'll be saving this for this winter's coughs... if I can keep myself away from it!

The last thing on my list was pumpkins. The beauties are pie pumpkins. Not sure exactly what variety. I bought the two biggest ones I could find ($6 each). I put one of my big, store bought apples next to them to show just how huge the pumpkins are. I'll be roasting these and pureeing the flesh to freeze. I look forward to pies, muffins, and any other pumpkin creation I can dream up this winter.

We also bought 4 little pumpkins for $1 a piece for the kids to decorate. I forgot to take pictures of them.

I had some fun taking pictures of the apple from the pumpkin's perspective... poor apple seems so small.

Happy Fall!!