The rains and frost have finally come. Time to get in the last of the harvest. This morning I pulled plants and picked a basket of tomatoes and about 40# of apples and pears to add to the 100+ pounds of fruit, pumpkins, beans and tomatoes waiting their processing turn in the mud room. The tomatoes still have a bit of ripening to do but the ones I left on the vine and covered with a bed sheet actually ripened better than the ones I had earlier brought in. Of course it is a lot easier to pick the last ones when they start to turn than daily go down to the garden to uncover and later re-cover the plants.I still have twenty, 100 year old pear and apple trees behind the house to pick. That will be ladder work. Speaking of work - Several hours went into these 5 1/2 jars of apple sauce. Pick; wash; peal; slice/chunk; vinegar bath; cook down; add cinnamon real vanilla and a taste of brown sugar; smash until smooth; fill hot jars; put on lids; boil in a caner; hope the seal sets and you have not a lot of very tasty winter fruit...
and a lot of clean-up.
