Apple Blessings

When I was a little girl, one of our neighbors had a small apple orchard. When they got tired of freezing, canning, and picking apples, they called us. We were welcome to take as many apples as we could pick and carry home. We filled laundry baskets, buckets, and Mom's large Tupperware bowl.

Once we home, the work began. We peeled, sliced, blanched, boiled, canned, froze, and dehydrated apples. We made hundreds of quarts of apple pie filling and apple butter from those apples. Sometimes, we even made apple sauce.

While it was a great deal of work, processing and preserving apples was, and still is, worth it. While the snow blew outside in January, my family had homemade apple pie and toast slathered with rich, delicious apple butter.

We also used our apple goodies as Christmas gifts. The elderly gentleman down the street received one of our pies every year. Friends, family, and coworkers received apple butter and apple jelly. It became such a tradition that people were disappointed if we didn't give them a homemade treat.

As an adult, I have been blessed with pears from Mom's tree and cherries from my trees, but apples have not been plentiful. I've planted apple trees on my own property, but they've all perished. My soil is apparently best for cherry trees and blackberries. Therefore, I have always bought grocery store apples for my Christmas goodies. Home-grown fruit just makes everything taste better, and I've missed it.

One of my coworkers surprised us with two buckets of apples for the office this morning. I was quite excited and ate one with my lunch. Adding to my elation, he walked into my office this afternoon and offered to bring two buckets tomorrow, just for me. He told me I could make apple butter with them if I wanted. Hint, hint.

I thanked him and said that I would be delighted to have the apples and would, indeed, make apple butter with them. I'm also going to contact Mom and see if she still has that old apple pie filling recipe we used when I was a kid. It makes the best apple pie and cobbler I've ever eaten.

A gift of food has always been special to me. When someone takes the time, energy, and money to turn raw ingredients into a yummy confection or savory dish, I can feel the love. I hope those who receive such gifts from me can feel my love shining through.

Thank you for reading Ozarks Maven! If you’ve enjoyed my little seeds of wisdom and joy, please join me again next week for more Ozarks Maven.

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