Surprise Harvest

This rental house has had many surprises, mostly the food that is growing in the back yard. We have been enjoying grapes, raspberries and plums. The plum tree was small though and half the fruit was eaten by birds before we got any. There is also a pear tree full of pears. They haven't been ripe enough to pick but I think they're getting there now. The cherry tree was pretty well picked over by the birds by the time we moved in but now I found a surprise yellow squash plant that I didn't know was growing. By the time I saw it the plant was pretty big and had two big squash on it.

The surprise squash plant. It was hidden behind the stack of pine needles and stump.

Yellow squash. I'm not a big squash fan so not sure how to cook it yet.

Bunches of red/green grapes. They were small and tart when we first started picking them but now they are bigger and sweeter.

A few of the plums at the top of the tree. I used my ladder and was able to reach them.

Those pears almost look like ornaments hanging on a tree. Where's the partridge? 😆

Last week my in-laws were able to get some apples from a connection in the ward and so they shared some with me. There were two flavors. The green ones I'm pretty sure were granny smith but I'm not sure what the red ones were. There's so many kinds of apples. Anyway, I was able to finally make applesauce and apple chips again! But new this year I learned from my mother in law how to make apple cider and it turned out good! I didn't even add any sugar to it I just wish I had more!

Dehydrating for apple chips and getting ready for applesauce. I love the counter space I have!

Cooking the apples down so they'll be soft.

The two red jars in front are the cider and the rest are applesauce. And a good amount of apple chips.

The only other thing I wish I could have made with the apples was apple pie filling but I was so stressed out about my Relief Society lesson last weekend that by the time I got around to working on apples again (I had started on Thursday and again Monday) the apples were starting to go bad and I had to cut a lot of spots off. So I just wanted to hurry and get them processed. I'm so happy I was able to do what I did though!

As for the pears from the pear tree. I decided I'm not going to try canning those because I've never done it and because we're moving again in a few months so I don't want to pack a bunch of food jars that could break. I know my kids will eat applesauce but not sure on pears. My mother in law said she wants to can some pears. Maybe I will go help her when she does it.