Apple Butter Recipe for big batches: Mass without Mess *Pumpkin Instructions too

One of my fondest childhood memories is Apple Butter.  My granny had an orchard for much of my young life and home-canned many jars of spiced apples, apple sauce and amazing apple butter.  They were all picked at the same time and she had to do something with them or lose them.

These days I don't pick them but the 4-H and FFA sell 50 pound cases as a fund raiser.  A friend at church gave me one of these cases.  I ate what I could, gave a bunch away and thought of Apple Butter. 

This is useful for you if you have access to an orchard, find a bargain on aging fruit at the grocery or get big boxes from fund raisers. You can stop at the Apple Sauce stage!  This is pure and only has sugar added  if you want it.  Could even be used as baby food. 

I called my mother, searched my granny's recipes for this recipe and adjusted it.   It is EASY and CLEAN as long as you have an electric roaster oven and a food mill.   With my mom's coaching here is the process and recipe to make it in large batches.  Remember that the Electric roasters cook from the sides and not the bottom.  Always have a little water on the bottom to Keep things from sticking.

Recipe:  Can be scaled up or down

25 Pounds of apples, washed and quartered ( made 2 gallons of apple sauce)
3 cups of sugar-adjust to suit your taste and your apples
4 Tablespoons of Cinnamon
1 1/2 Tablespoons of All Spice
1 1/2 Table Spoons of Nutmeg
1 lemon-juice and zest
2 Tablespoons of good vanilla

Quarter the apples and remove those plastic lables and stems!  Leave all peelings, cores and seeds.  This is a source of pectin. 

First add a quart of water, more if the apples dry out. Cook until they are the consistency of apple sauce, stir away from the sides occaisionally. 




Run the apples through a food mill in small batches, discarding the peeling as the sauce is collected in a large pot. I used the medium screen.


 

You can stop here and either can or freeze the sauce.  For apple butter, place back into the cleaned roaster and add the spices.  adjust the sugar to suit your taste. Cook with the cover on sideways, allowing the moisture to escape but holding in the heat, stirring often, until it reduces by half and it gets to a deep brown color.  This will take several hours.

 Can according to the directions found at http://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/publications_usda.html and clean the outsides of the jars thoroughly.  The butter is sticky. 

Canned, the sauce will last a year, refrigerated a couple of months.  I have not tried freezing it but that should work too.

I tried this with pears.  It was tasty but gritty.  Remove the cores and stems before cooking the pears and use the smaller food mill screen. 

Enjoy on pancakes, toast or biscuits.

Recycled Wood Project: Outdoor Writing or Potting Desk

I wanted an outside desk to hold my materials in a prayer garden. I needed it to be sturdy, weather proof and portable too.   This is the outcome and can be used as a writing desk,  potting desk or a plant stand.

I am still a novice at woodwork and learned a lot from this project. 

This desk, seat,  and bench are a recycling project that is technically easy and  can fit whatever lumber you have at hand, even repurposed pallets.

The measurements can be changed to suit your space and materials.  Some might prefer to have one tall enough to stand behind.   I did purchase a 12' 1x4 but the rest was from the scrap box.  The cost is about $50 after buying deck stain, screws and glue  It could be used in a garden or greenhouse also.  This particular desk is where I will study on my back porch.  It should last for years.

Steps and Dimensions:
1. Cut and Assemble the Frames from 1x4 Lumber
Glue each joint and screw with 1 5/8" deck screws
Dimensions for The Desk:  17"x48", The seat:  30"x 12", and the bench: 25"x 12"
For the desk and seat, install  2x2  brace at the center of the frame,flush with the top-see the photo below.

2. Cut and shape the Legs.  Use 2x4 lumber for the desk and seat, 2x2 for the bench.  Cut as shown, router, cut as desired or just leave them square. They should be flush to the top of the frame.
Lengths:  Desk: 27", Seat: 20", Bench 16"

3. Cut the slats from 3/4" by 2 1/2 " lumber
Desk: You need 7, 52" long.  Space them to overlap the frame 2", front and back, 1" on the sides.
Seat: You need 4, 40" long. Overlap the frame 5" on the sides and 1" on the front and back
Bench: you need 4, 25" long.  They are flush with the edges of the frame.

The backsplash for the desk is from this same lumber, 52" long with two 11" pieces cut and attached to the sides.  They are trimmed at an angle-See the photo for details. Glue them into place and attach with screws from the back

4. Install the slats to the tops of the frames,
Square the legs in the corner-glue and screw into place. Set the frame on a level surface and square in two direction.  Allow the glue to dry according to the instructions on the bottle.
Attach the backsplash to the back of the desk's top with blocks as shown.  Use a 1 1/2 screw through one of the slats to hold the front in place.

5. Sand and finish.  I used "Penetrating Deck Stain".

The legs were cut from 2x4's, drawing a line from the center of the bottom of the leg to where the board meets the frame.  They are flush with the top of the frame.  I routered the edges with a rounding bit to give it a little decoration.  This is optional.  Notice the brace in the middle of the frame.  You could use a 2x4.  This one is a 2x2.

Coated Deck screws and "Gorilla Glue were used to help with the weather.  Squaring the legs in both directions is tricky. You can adjust them by changing the tightness of the screws.  The glue gives you several minutes to get things "plumb" before it sets.

Follow the instruction and things go very well.  Titebond II and Liquid nails/outdoor are  waterproof, a little easier to work and give longer working time but the Gorilla seems quite strong and long as you have a clean moist surface. 

This lumber has been saved from other projects, scrounged from a friends construction scrap, salvaged from some demolition at church and the leavings from a mission project.  Keep and eye out and you can find lots of raw material for these projects.  Many are using pallets.  They are difficult to take apart but they are usually hardwood and useful.

The strips for the top of the desk and seats were slats from a "Danish" style bed that I rescued from a trash pile, abandoned from a garage sale.  They were spaced by a wood scrap, Cut to length, glued and screwed into place

The sides could be left square or trimmed

attaching the back splash-no glue needed

The back splash was cut from these same slats, screwed together from the back and attached with these short blocks.

attach with a 1.5" screw through the bottom

The desk and bench  was designed to fit a space into an outdoor garden but now has this great porch!  Cedar would be a better material if you were leaving it out and exposed.


The pieces can moved around and  used for seats, plants or even a step stool.  They then fit back together and fit into a two foot space next to the wall.  

Find a finish that suits you. Here are some options: Stain and urethane-ok for indoors but would not take the beating of weather, pots and dirt.  Plain spar varnish-tough but an annual application would still be necessary, exterior house paint-cheap, easy and lots of colors but I want the wood grain for this one.  I settled on "Penetrating Deck Stain", available from any good paint counter.  There are a number of brands available. This product is made  for wooden house siding, Decking and outdoor furniture.  It was reasonably priced and easy to apply with a foam brush.  This brand is water base, soaked into the wood quickly, and did not smell.  Make sure it says "UV inhibitor" on the can.  The results are great but they only had one color.  Other brands may come with more choices.  In the future all the desk will need is a scrubbing and then another coat of stain.  The can says it will last 4-5 years.

The Red Guide to Recovery by Sean Scott

Disaster recovery grows in importance every year.   Access to information by victims and those who care for them is more important than ever.  The Red Guide to Recovery is a primer, a "book of proverbs" if you will,  to address the need. 

 
I bought it because it was marketed to the fire service and it is of value, especially in a large scale event.  However, it would be a better course to homeowners than a fire ground resource.  As a small town pastor and fire chaplain, I do very little follow up with survivors and almost no community education. An Emergency Manager might be a better target.

 I spent several years working hurricanes and much of this is old hat.  Those in the fire service could easily assume that everyone knows these things.  Folks that have not been through a disaster need this good and basic stuff.   For example-DON'T run a generator inside the house and DON'T turn off the breakers while standing in a puddle.  People die every disaster over these types of things.
 
This is a multi media resource and does a good, comprehensive job with an extremely broad subject.  Anchored in a book, e-book and app, the author links back to his website, http://www.theredguidetorecovery.com/ . This information changes with the whims of the many resources and the site can change where the book cannot.

As it is self published and self marketed by the author, Sean Scott, the book can also be customized for a specific community with local QR's and local resources.  The app could be easily revised later but the hard copy could be obsolete pretty quickly.   This is would make an excellent mitigation/preparation class and supported with the author's "Free Tools" from the website. 

The Red Guide is more focused with larger disasters more than a local house fire but the subjects are relevant to both.  Half of the book is dedicated to handling contractors and insurance issues.  Much is a guide through the tangle of the FEMA web materials which the author does well.  The author does an excellent job of dealing with  disaster scams and pets. Chapter 13, Trauma Intervention and Grief Counseling, is well done, especially with children's issues but does not address the role of faith in recovery. 

The Red Guide is not quite a text book but more than just a field guide.  It is well organized, clearly written but not something you look through on the fire ground. The forward is a more thorough overview than most books like this and each chapter begins with learning goals in bullet point-this makes it easier to navigate. 

Any responder or survivor who reads this will be better equipped for the disaster at hand. I recommend it as an addition to all stress/emotional first aid resources.  Once the situation is calmed, this guide gives you a confident next step. 

Connecting the Dots: Fred Craddock Shares his Journey into the Ministry

I am a preacher and live in a world where I share my calling with a lot of wonderful people who don't really understand what that calling is.  The biggest reason for the lack of understanding is that the call of God to preach defies words.  Fred Craddock share the intimate journey from being a little Tennessee boy to one of the greatest and best known preachers of our age.

Craddock's book "Preaching" was required reading in seminary and rightfully so.  It is an in depth look at the process of discerning and creating the oral event that we call a sermon.  "Reflections" goes behind the scenes of the sermon and looks for those "dots" or "final proofs" that affirm this calling is of God and not just a personal decision.  I won't spoil his discovery but will offer this tease.  Quoting Franz Werfel, " (to ) the one who wills to believe, final proof is not necessary.  To the one who will not believe, final proof is never enough." 

This is not a book of chicken-soupy anecdotes but a journey of discovery of how Fred Craddock the preacher came to be.  It is also a witness for us all to the power of an honest memoir for self-discovery.  If you are a preacher is can help you put words to your journey.  If you are not, it may help you understand the strange motivation of those  preachers who are under your care.

A great read from a great writer.