Crabby Apples

I grow Crabapple trees for the flowers. Birds love the fruit.

I started blogging a couple years ago, at a time in my life when things were literally falling apart at the seams. Starting that blog I had 2 paths to take ~ I could bitch non-stop about real and perceived miseries. Or, I could talk happy whenever I wrote about life's little incidents. I chose the latter.

Life is a continuous [and sometimes painful] learning curve though I discovered something on the opposite side of this coin. You really can fake your way to happiness. I did.

My cardinal rule was to only blog when I could find a highlight to the day. Pretty soon I started seeing that most of my days were filled with highlights, even when I didn't want to acknowledge the happy things happening around me.

Lately, I haven't been bloggin 'cause I couldn't find anything positive to say. Mostly I was just ignoring all the good mixed in with the bad. And, that got me thinking about how much I love this cardinal rule. Because I could have dragged this emotional funk on forever. Only I didn't. 'Cause I was really missing my blog.

Crabby Apple Canning Recipe
2 pounds crab apples that you absolutely grew yourself.
2 cups apple vinegar
1.5 cups water
1⁄3 cup sugar
2-3 tsp. cloves
However many cinnamon sticks you think might work best.

• Boil vinegar, water, and sugar.
• Immerse the apples into this boiling mess for just a couple of minutes.
• Place the little crabby apples into pint size jars, pour the hot syrup over the apples and put the lids on.
• Boil in a water canner type thing for about 30-minutes.
• Or just eat them right now. They already taste pretty good. :)

Hot Tip!
Poke the apples with a toothpick before cooking so they don't explode all over your kitchen.
I'm a little amazed that my 4-year-old crab trees are ripe for the picking! Kwanzan and Prairie Fire Crabbapple Trees are two goodies for high altitude gardens.