Fall harvest

Every time I have brought Ivy to and from school this week, I've been eyeing this large pear tree that had dropped tons of pears. It is right in the front yard, close to the sidwalk. The pears were just sitting on the ground, rotting, with more on the branches.

I couldn't stand the thought of the pears going to waste. So on our way home today, I walked up to the house and knocked on the door. I had almost given up hope when the door opened. A young woman and her big black poodle opened the door. I asked if it would be ok if we picked the pears, and said yes, go ahead!

We loaded up my front and back bike baskets until they were nearly overflowing. I was definitely wobbling on the way home! I set to work washing and sorting the pears. I did one big batch of pearsauce today with all of the ripe pears. It made an estimated 8-10 quarts. I didn't bother canning it. One big container went in the fridge and the other in teh freezer. We also had a quart jar of "pear cider" left after cooking the pears.

I also had ingredients (almost all from the overripe/discounted bin) for a delicious, colorful dinner: roasted purple broccoli, then tilapia with caramelized bell peppers and onions.

All of the kids went to help out at Ivy's soccer practice, then we watched two episodes of Shadow and Bone. Inga has been thinking of being a ninja for Halloween. I suggested that we create an Inej costume, since she's basically a Ninja in a parallel universe. If there's time, we'll hit the thrift stores tomorrow for raw materials.