Weekend in misery...uh...Missouri

Last weekend we took a trip up north to the Michaelsen Hometstead to partake in a longtime Michaelsen tradition - applesauce making. I was really looking forward to the trip. I have such fond childhood memories of tasty, fresh, warm applesauce on cool fall days. I just forgot all the work that it takes to make the darn stuff. For those of you who have never witnessed the process of turning an apple into sauce, how about a little picture essay:

Hand model, Kenta, properly demonstrates how to remove a sticker from an apple.

After sticker removal, apples are tossed into the kiddie pool. Approxomately 1500 lbs. of apples passed through this cleansing phase.

Soren shows of his mad apple chopping skills. Please note that the unique chopping set-up was a brainchild of Soren's - apparently flipping a pot over and cutting apples on it is a more quick and efficient way to cut apples.....? Honestly, I don't understand some of the things that my dad and brothers invent, but they do work. And, yes, that is the same huge blue plastic bowl that was filled to the brim with potato salad at three of my sisters' wedding receptions.

After being sliced, the apples are poured into one of three large silver pots...

....where they cook until squishy. Those of us that were working in the garage where they were cooking baked, too. But we did not become squishy.

Next, the squshy, cooked apples, seeds, skins, cores, and all, are poured into the white bowl of this nifty contraption, which, surprisingly, my dad did not invent. You can see the sauce coming out into the large tupperware on the left. What happens to the seeds and cores?

They are deposited into yet another tupperware. After that....

...they end up in the nasty compost pile in the garden. This is the only step of the process in which I never participated, for obvious reasons. Back to the applesauce...


Here, Soren demonstrates a clean and effective way to fill bottles with applesauce. What you can not see in the picture, however, is the small metal cookie sheet on which Soren methodically organized all necessary applesaucing tools (spatulas, spoons, measuring cups, etc.). Typical dental student.


Soren's lovely assitant/wife, Natalie, properly screws on a lid. It looks fairly simple, but these jars were full of very hot applesauce and the metal lids had been in boiling hot water.



Next, the jars are placed in a hot water bath in a large metal cooker, where they boil for twenty mintutes to seal the lids. Along with the three pots of apples that were cooking, we had three of these cookers going. The garage was so hot.


After twenty minutes, the jars are carfully removed from the cooker...


...and placed on the garage floor to cool. After a sufficient cooling period...


...the jars are placed in boxes for storage.

My dad estimates that we canned about 560 quarts of apples over a two-day period. I worked all day Friday (probably about twelve hours) and started working about 7:00 a.m. on Saturday so I could take a break to watch the OU/Texas game. Needless to say, I was back in the garage making applesauce before it was over. It was too painful for me to watch. My heart is still mending.

Even though my feet and back were killing me by Saturday night, I was happy that we made the trip to Missouri. It's fun to visit my parents and help them with their projects. It's not always fun while we are working, but afterwards, it's nice to look back at what we accomplished together. And I gotta give a shout out to my sister-in-law, Natalie. She was such a good sport and was out there working probably longer than any of us.

So, the weekend wasn't a completely misreable experience (even though our bodies were aching and OU lost). I think this little gem of a billboard put everything back into perspective for us as we drove home early Sunday morning:

Click on the picture, if you want a good laugh. Honest to goodness, these signs are scattered along the Kansas turnpike. I love living in the Bible belt. Capturing this picture made the entire trip worth the effort.