Of Fog and Wild apples

The morning started out with thick fog and a brilliant sunrise on the ridge.
I don't know if the extra color is because of the smoke from the wildfires out west or not. But the fog was thick and intriguing.

If I stood on our ridge and looked east just before the sun broke through, I could see where the other ridges peeked up out of the fog. I can tell where the Kickapoo River is in this shot. But only because I am familiar with the lay of the land.

September is a good month for sunrise photography and dewy wet surprises.

My idea yesterday was to pick some more of the wild apples from the pasture and make some apple juice. The trees are abundant with fruit this year and it would be a shame not to take advantage of it.

So far I've made 10 pints of pink apple jelly and 2 quarts, one pint of applesauce. So I thought I'd try making some apple juice. I've done it before and recall how pleasant it was to open up a quart and make some 'fresh' apple juice in the winter to drink.

I dragged a ladder out to the pasture and after so many trips up and down the ladder picking and gently putting the apples into the bucket, I decided that perhaps next time I'd take a canvas shoulder bag to pick into. It would save a lot of trips.

I got nearly a 5 gallon bucket full before I stopped.

I washed them and chopped the apples in half then put in just enough water to cook them for about 20 minutes at a slow simmer.

[Note...WOW, does that ever smell great!]

Strain the cooked apples next. Sometimes I use a cloth to get the purest of juice and squeeze it.
This time I just used the strainer and what didn't drip out with the pulp I transferred to another container to run through the food mill later.
This will become either applesauce or applebutter.

Somehow this would not have been a pleasant task in the old kitchen that had no counter space.

This harvest season is proving to be rather productive.

And of course it makes for a pretty nice Still Life display too.
Dried food and canned food along with tomatoes and zinnias.