Want Not Waste Not

Yesterday was a typical situation for us homestead folk.  I had about 5 bushel of rotten apples that others would serve the local deer.  I look at the dirty brown apples and say, “lets make applesauce!!!!”  Everyone else says, including my loving husband, “Are you sure they are safe for us?”  I smile and say, “absolutely!”

What I do is get myself a tub of fresh water and put those dirty apples in there.  After I wash the mud off, I stick my finger into the softer areas and scoop the rotten areas out.  Then I rinse out again.  I cut the apple in half and cut out the worms and bad spot and I am left with quite a bit of perfectly nice apple flesh.  I had a lovely lady over yesterday who so kindly helped me with this process and even she was amazed at how much apple sauce we could make with “useless” looking apples.  We cut up apples for about 4 hours and then cooked them all.  I love having many stock pots, big stainless bowls and roasting pans.  We cooked everything in intervals and then ran it all through our victorio strainer.  Oh, how lovely.  This year I sweetened with xylitol and cinnamon.  It was heavenly!  We ended up canning 50 quarts worth of applesauce the our family will be able to enjoy all winter long.  My husband was helping crank out sauce last evening.  He is so kind and nice to me, he even took all the big dishes, which were too many to count, and washed them all in the basement utility sink.  It was a long day, but so much fun.  I enjoyed spending time with the kids, my husband, and my new friend Heather Rae.  She enjoyed learning how implement the age old saying, “Want not, waste not!”

If you think about it, we are all like those rotten apples.  God cleans out our rotten spots and makes use of us.  He makes us the Apple of His eye and into something pure.  I praise God that He can make use of me, as rotten as I may have appeared and been in my life.  It is good to know that he can see our value, just like we can find the value of those apples.  We can make use of them.  And He can make use of us for His glory alone.