Merits of making applesauce

My friend Mollie and I like making each other laugh, making things, and talking about work and romance. Both of us like giving and receiving home-made gifts. So I says to myself, let's do all that and include my resolution.
I bought a bushel of apples from the Valley Green Feast section of the Pedal People food catalog and a canning kit from Fagor which we're selling at my work partly for a fundraiser with CISA. Two nights ago we got out the ol' Foley Food Mill and started chopping. A couple hours later we had a few gallons of applesauce and canned them with visions of nice gifts to friends. Applesauce is in a few recipes I want to make and don't feel like going to the store for that one ingredient I don't have. It's also better, in my humble estimation, homemade and saves all that shipping across who knows where when we have excellent apples right around here.
Here's what we did:
To make the sauce
All you need aside from the apples and pot is a mill or press.
Chop up the apples, being careful to avoid bruised or rotted pieces, in half, half again (for 4 quarters), and then cut that quarter into thirds. Put these into a big pot with a quart or so of water to prevent scorching. If you like flavored sauce like cinnamon, etc, put it in while stirring. Stir frequently until it gets, well, saucy, frankly, and put it through a mill or press. Sauce is done.
To can the sauce
You'll need more equipment for this: jars, bands, and lids, a big canning pot with the rack to keep the cans upright and off the bottom of the pot, tongs to install and remove jars and a funnel to pour the sauce into the jars.
Boil the water, sanitize the jars, lids and bands by carefully putting them in the boiling water. They don't need long in there, just a minute or so. Pour sauce into sanitized jars, wipe the top of the jar to get a clean seal, lid and band them, and submerse into racked canning pot for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove when done and leave for 24 hours before storing. Check to see that the lids sealed, you know like jars at the store when the top of the lid is concave? Those that seal are ready to store. Those that don't seal just eat them soon!