The story of our apple picking field trip and the easiest Instant Pot applesauce recipe that’s perfect for canning.
Instant Pot Applesauce
With the end of summer fading into the last warm sunset and blooming with the comfort of fall, the craving to romanticize our lives is strong. At this time of the year there seems to be some transition of our thoughts. What was once bright and airy and always exciting, becomes a quiet room filled with the aroma of amber and bergamot. The bucket list grows. The suntan fades. We set ourselves up with expectations for memories while meeting our best moments unintentionally. This autumn began just the same. The apple picking field trip was jotted down for a Saturday. Possibly the most cliche way to begin the season.
I expected my son to brim with excitement upon first glance at the apple orchard but instead he was cranky and unimpressed. The most perfect fall photo opp was off to a lazy start. That’s what happens when you plan an outing down to the emotions with a hard headed three year old. Things go unplanned. If motherhood has taught me anything, it’s to adapt. At this time it seemed we wouldn’t be leaving with buckets full of perfect apples and a photo album worth of candids. Take a breath. One perspective change and a cool down chat with my son gave us the opportunity to make something else out of our misadventure.
Public places put a particular kind of pressure on parents. Keep the mess behind a curtain and the children quiet. Do whatever it takes to keep the peace. When your toddler makes a scene, just fix it and do it quickly. But don’t cater to their emotions because you’ll turn them into spoiled brats. So what? What the hell do you do? You take a five second reset and remind yourself that by this time next year you’ll be trying to retrain the bad habits you taught your child by not practicing persistence in your parenting. And then you’ll remind yourself that these nearby strangers either 1. don’t care about you enough to notice 2. have been there too and understand your stress or 3. can get over their frustrations that life. is. not. perfect.
We did leave with thirteen pounds of freshly picked Galas and Honeycrisps, plenty of genuinely happy family photos, and that golden feeling you get after making a connection with a stranger.
Ember + Pine 