Apple Butter Day

30°f, about -1°C this morning, mostly overcast all day but warming up to 61°f. A few very light sprinkles.

What a weekend! Lots of family, all kinds of busy, and all kinds of apple butter made.

We started Saturday getting everything ready. Son Derek, his daughter Ashley and son Jared came to help get everything set up, which basically meant getting the big copper and brass kettle and stand cleaned and ready, the firepit set up, more firewood cut, etc. Afterwards we were joined for dinner by our oldest son George and his son Clayton, along with Derek's daughter Hannah, her boyfriend Max and her son. When asked if I preferred to cook for everyone or go out, you can guess my answer! I knew I had plenty of cooking ahead Sunday, so off we went to the Yacht Club--no yacht there but they do have a boat with a skeleton crew.

We were quite a crew too. Those Saturday night ribs are not to be missed at the Yacht Club, and we sure did them justice.

Clockwise from lower left: George, Derek, Larry, Jared, me, Ashley, Clayton, Max, Hannah and Ryland.

I was up early Sunday to cook pancakes and bacon for whoever showed up. The guys got the fire going at 9:30am, and the kettle was on and cooking by 10.

Blogger put my photos out of the order I selected,  but what's new.  First is George stirring early in the day. We used some metal to make a "blow George", as Larry calls it, as the breeze was a little strong at first. This kept the fire contained and kept the heat in.

The day turned as nice as we could have asked. Granddaughter Beth, who arrived with son Aaron, his wife Jaime and his two other kids James and Aaron, is taking a turn with the stirrer here. The pot must be stirred constantly or it will scorch.

I was working hard too, can you tell? I actually spent most of the day in the kitchen, getting the jars ready with granddaughter Michaela and making a BIG pot of spaghetti, etc for dinner. But I slipped out from time to time.

This was later in the day, about 3:30 or so, as we began jarring up.

Jaime and Beth hard at it.

Clayton's job was to tighten the lids after the jars were filled. Derek is down in front, using a contraption he made to fill the jars. It does a great job, keeping the tops of the jars very clean.

Son Aaron kept up the stirring as the pot emptied, because even though we covered the fire it was still pretty hot and the pot could still scorch.

Derek taking a short break. He really is the boss of this whole operation.

Clayton takes a stir.

Clayton recently finished his 6yr tour with the Navy, and now works in data center security in Northern Virginia.

Afterwards the evening was perfect for firepit time, and later still inside by the fireplace time. Granddaughter Hannah and her two little ones, granddaughter Haley and her partner Desiree all arrived for dinner and firepit--and really, it wasn't planned that way to miss the work. Really! Actually Hannah had to pick up her daughter, and Haley was suffering with her very bad ankle, which will havebto have surgery in January. It's an old injury but is causing very real issues now.

From left, Desiree, Michaela, and Beth. Desiree is full-time National Guard, and Beth is on the Navy.

Michaela and her brother James. She is a senior in forensic biology at WVU, he is an apprentice electrician.

I guess I missed getting photos of some of our crew, as some came and others left throughout the weekend. They came from as far away as Annapolis, MD, Denver, Colorado, and Los Angeles for this annual event. What a joy to have so many of them here! 

We ended up with 64 pints of apple butter. Everyone got plenty to take home, and there is still quite a lot put up in the cellar.  Now everything is cleaned up and put away, until we do it all again next year.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.