Applesauce 101

October around the Wilsons means apple season.  (Just pretend I posted this in October, okay?)

Grandpa is great with his apple picker.  And when he gets sick of having to reach so high, he just jiggles the branch and lets the apples fall.

There are lots of little hands to help pick up apples.

And taste test the apples.

No good apple picking session is complete without a wheelbarrow ride.

 

....or a makeshift hayride.

 

The best is when you can get Grandma to come, too.

And the very best (not pictured, unfortunately) is when Becca pretends to be a headless ghoul in the orchard who chases after the hayride.

Sometimes the help gets distracted.

Then it's time to set up the assembly line in Grandma's sweet kitchen

And when the apples have been sorted and de-stemmed and cooked, then we set up the sieve, powered by Dad's drill, to crank out gallons of applesauce in record time.

And suddenly the taste testers come out of the woodwork to be of service. (So sanitary.)

And Grandpa gets out his drill to mix in the cinnamon to our 15 gallons of fresh applesauce.

Then, once we're totally sick of applesauce, we leave a few leftover apples to face the dehydrator.