Lids A-Poppin' and Drying Herbs

I processed the 2 pecks (small bushel baskets) of Cortland apples this afternoon. They've been sitting for over a week since I bought them. No sugar was needed as this added ripening time makes the applesauce naturally sweet. The apples were nice and big so there was far less peeling and coring than if they were smaller.

My efforts yielded 8 jars of applesauce plus a little bit which will just go in the freezer. 7 of the jars fit in the water bath and the 8th one will also go in the freezer. All the lids popped - no duds.

While the applesauce was in the water bath, I did another rapid test. Negative again. YAY!

I will test myself again tomorrow morning - 6th day after exposure to my asymptomatic friend - and if negative again, I'll attend the reunion brunch after all.

Skip spent the afternoon preparing our garden for the winter - digging up and potting the geraniums to bring in for the winter, ripping out the annuals, cutting down the perennials and putting all the plant material in the compost box.

While he was doing this I remembered I wanted to pick and dry the rosemary from the garden. 

I selected several branches, washed them, patted them dry and put them on parchment paper on a cookie tray and dried them in the oven at 175°F for an hour.

After that, the bits were nice and crispy and came off the stems fairly easily. I crushed them up a bit and put them in a labelled jar.

The woody stems are in the fireplace. It will smell great when we start our first cozy fire later this fall.