August 2025 ~ Apple Butter; Farmer’s Market; Thrifting; A Baby Quilt!

I’m making apple butter! I pulled out the canning supplies for the first time in years, scrounged up some jars from hither and yon, and heated up the kitchen (albeit during a fierce wave of heat and humidity–if a heat wave can actually last months.)

I first used the McIntosh apples from our backyard tree. It produced like crazy this year and the fruit was ready early. Then I acquired two buckets of Golden Delicious, which I am now processing. They are soft, so easy to cut up with the apple corer, and they cook up so nicely for apple butter. For the Golden Delicious, I have boiled the apple butter down a little more on the stove, after the crock pot cooking was done, for a thicker finished product.

Apple butter made in the crock pot is amazing—smells wonderful, tastes delicious, and Steve has been very appreciate of it. On a biscuit or raisin toast… yum. No need to even peel the apples during the process.

I used my immersion blender {affiliate link} to blend it up after cooking, and an apple slicer {affiliate link} has been marvelous, especially for the Golden Delicious which I mentioned are quite soft.

Farmer’s Market
I’m hoping to sell some jars of apple butter at the Farmer’s Market in a few weeks, too. Since my last post —a Farmer’s Market has appeared in our town! My mom is hosting it every Saturday morning. During the last several weeks of summer, the girls baked items for it every week. Micah sold lemonade (a dream come true for him!) and homemade mint iced tea.

Continue reading “August 2025 ~ Apple Butter; Farmer’s Market; Thrifting; A Baby Quilt!”

Photo Post: Family Outing to Fugate Woods

Being in a new area of the country means finding new places to explore! We all piled in the van recently to venture out to Fugate Woods. So often in life, simple things bring the most joy.

The photographers happily photographed whatever struck their fancy, the little ones happily ran and climbed, Micah happily hummed a tune, Steve patiently (and happily) pushed the stroller the whole way, and we all hungrily devoured a watermelon at a clearing while the boys tossed a football. The happiness was marred only by a gnat getting in Olivia’s eye and a frog getting in my shoe. Continue reading “Photo Post: Family Outing to Fugate Woods”