Apple Cider Making With Penny

 

 

This month's adventure with Penny has been making apple cider in our yard.  Who would think that this warm and balmy weather could really be December?  We still have pumpkins sitting about adding their bright cheery orange color to our farm.  Isn't this a fun warty one?

Here I am, cutting up apples by the milkhouse.  My brother rigged up this countertop to hold a stainless steel sink that has a food disposal attached to its drain, just for cider making.

 

 

Penny enjoys watching to be sure that I am cutting the apples properly, and am watching out for bad spots.

 

 

We load the sink with the chopped apples, ready to send down into the chopper with this wooden plunger.

 

 

Here's another view so you can see the food disposal underneath waiting for a stainless steel bucket to catch the mush.

 

 

Ahh, mushy, mushy, very juicy!

 

 

Then into the milkhouse we go to fill the press.

 

 

Inside the wooden ring we lay the cloth and pour in the apple mush.

 

 

Penny gently folds over the cloth, so it can close up the pulp, then we set a wooden disk over it.  Next we add another layer of cloth, fill it with apple mush, and then add another wooden disk.  We build several layers, not too thick with mush, so we can squeeze them very dry with the jack.

 

 

The reward of our labor is the steady stream of cider filling the bucket below.

YUM, YUM!!

 

 

Ooo, smooth and sweet.  And pure apple!

 

 

More crates of apples from our trees wait their turn to be celebrated into cider.

 

 

Happy, happy harvest time!