On Saturday, Melanie and I went to Topsfield Fair with my sister Evelyn, her husband Peter, and their two girls, Kateri and Chiara. The Fair is billed as the oldest continuously operating agricultural fair in the US at 180 years old.
It was a lot of fun with all the customary and fun activities from barns full of animals and 4H gardening and farming awards to the midway rides to musical acts to all the food. In fact, Melanie will tell you that for the first half hour I walked around pointing out all the different kinds of food I wanted. The freshly squeezed hot apple cider and apple crisp a la mode were especially good. Kateri and Chiara had a blast too, although they were exhausted by the end of the day. Kateri was so tired she fell asleep sitting on my shoulders, slumped completely over and snoring in my ear.
Afterward, Melanie came back to my place and we made homemade applesauce using the apples we picked last week, along with the fresh cider and local honey we bought at the same place. And, boy, was it good. We then canned a bunch of quarts so we can enjoy it for a long time (although I wonder if it will last that long.) I missed canning tomatoes and berries (for jam) so I’m having to find some later harvested fruits to can.
But Melanie’s applesauce recipe sure is good. Mmmm. I wish you all could try it.
Image Credit
- katerisleep.jpg: Own photo
