FMIPW: Small Step #2

Today, I hung out in the kitchen, making miracles out of produce. It started out like this:



With ten pounds of apples, four pounds of strawberries and a pineapple. There were a few changes along the way:





And I ended up with this:


7 half-pints of pear-applesauce. 5 half-pints and 3 pints of pineapple-applesauce.


9 pints of strawberry jam:


But, see? That's not all. That's the stuff for the next few months. I know the $15 on jars, $17 on produce, 4 hours in the kitchen and lovely scalding of my forearm don't exactly make it a bargain for 9 pints of applesauce and 9 pints of jelly. The real long-term investments are in the recyclable parts. 2 dozen reusable jars that may next hold something that grew in our own garden or blackberries we picked at a local farm or pears from Emily and Brendan's trees. Then there's this:


What at one time would have been trash in this house is now added to the compost pile where it will decompose and then be added to next year's garden to add nutrients to the things that may end up in those jars the fourth time they go around.

For the distant, future, I have this:


See? It's the top of my pineapple:


In about three weeks, with frequent water changes, it will have a full set of roots to be transplanted into a pot. A bit after that, I will have a lovely tree started that I will put into my yard to grow and provide beauty, shade, and (2-3 years from now, if all goes well) another pineapple.

I love the circle.