Apple Cider

It was a beautiful sunny day. This afternoon the teens at church were scheduled to make apple cider. I decided to hang around and watch. The apples were rather ugly but they made some good apple cider proving "you can't judge a book by it's cover." (Or something like that...)

First we gathered the apples. We picked what we could reach on the trees and then one of the guys got up there and gave the tree a good shaking. The apples rained down and then we picked up some more. We filled bins which were then hauled away to the cider press.

The apples were dumped out, washed, and sorted. We picked out leaves, grass, and little slugs. Any dirt was wiped off and the "bad apples" were tossed aside.

For the first half of the adventure there were a bunch of kids helping, but as the afternoon wore on they began to disappear. Even the Nepali teen group who came out to see how cider is made had ventured off. I think they were getting a tour of the grounds. So some of the adults pitched in and "kept the presses running."

Everyone was given a chance to taste the cider. I had a couple of cups myself. I don't know how many gallon jugs they filled in the few hours we were there, but it must have been at least a couple dozen.

It was a nice day. I didn't get my grocery shopping done, but I did get a chance to soak up some autumn sunshine. I hope next Saturday is just as nice.

*Pictures courtesy of Mikaela.