Apples!

This past weekend we went apple picking! It's been a hard year for our local farmers. You can hear it everywhere at the Farmer's Market. That the orchards were having problems also was no surprise. Our usual orchard had a bee shortage leading directly to an apple shortage this year. We went to another orchard and they were having a worm issue. Lots of apples but you had to be picky about the ones you brought home. This picture is later in the day after visiting a craft fair. The bug had fun making binoculars and a hat. Mr. Gnome and I had fun getting some holiday gifts out of the way and getting a few specials for ourselves. Oh this fair's mascot: a gnome!
Anyway; so back to the apples. We totally managed to find enough apples.
There has been, is and will be stuffed squash with apples. And other things of course. This one also has sage and vegan sausage and went into the freezer to be enjoyed later. There are two acorn squash in the oven as I type with apples, dried fruit, beans and thyme.
I made 9 pints of apple butter and 6 pints of apple sauce. This is the apple sauce. I'd taken pictures of both, but really they look a lot a like. The apple sauce is plain nothing added and being stored in the freezer. I'll probably make some yummy dessert variety as well. There is also dried apples, and lots of snacking on apples.