Trying new things

      Last week I told you I was going to try making cider with the apples from our tree. Well, today was the day. It was hot earlier in the week and the flies were making the most of it so I didn't want to deal with them. Yesterday was freezing with high winds, rain, and bits of the s-word falling from the sky. Today was lovely. A little cool, but nice and the wind has died down considerably. It seemed like the perfect day to be outside and try something new. This is the first bag I brought in to clean. Don't they look nice? Now you can understand some of why I am so tempted by them.




This is Keith's cat Willow. She was sitting on the counter when I brought the apples in. She's not allowed to be there so she hid. Isn't she clever?










Anyway, back to cider making. My high-tech setup is not exactly the traditional method. Michelle told me she and her family did it this way but they ground the apples into a new set of knee high stockings.
I thought about going to the dollar store and picking up a pair but I have lots of muslin floating around from my quilting habit so I thought I'd use that. It worked fine back when I had my goats and made cheese. I lined a strainer with it and that is sitting in a bigger bowl. Not that you can see it in the photo.



I had plenty of supervision as you can see. Pitch decided he'd lounge in the sun and make sure I got it right. She is out of the frame but the dog is running around in the yard putting her two cents in as well. She almost got her foolish self in trouble but I'll tell you about that in a minute.







These are the apples as they came through the grinder. Lots more juice than I thought they'd have. The bowl filled up quickly and so did the strainer. I ended up setting the strainer and it's bowl on the floor to catch the juice that ran out the back of the grinder. It isn't exactly designed for fruits and vegetables so there is nothing to keep the juice from running out around the handle. I got the first bowl emptied and was working on the second when trouble showed up in the form of yellow jacket wasps. I was hoping it was too cold and breezy for them but I was wrong. I didn't really mind the first one. The second one at the party was a little more aggressive. But when we got up to five buzzing around I decided to call it quits. Besides, the strainer was really full so I decided to do some more tomorrow morning when it is cool again.
 I told you the dog almost got herself in trouble, well it was the yellow jackets. She has gotten quite adept at catching flies. I don't know why. She's a Dalmatian, why does she do anything? Well she was doing her best to catch the wasps so that was another reason to call it a day.


I squeezed as much juice out by hand as I could. I want to use my cheese press on the next batch but it is currently on top of the cupboard and it is HEAVY! I could imagine giving myself a concussion trying to get it down so it will have to wait until Keith gets home. But I still got a decent amount of cider considering I didn't even do a full grocery bag of apples.

I hung the pomace (ground up apples) up over the bowl so they could drip. I think there's still quite a bit of cider in there and I can't see letting it go to waste. I'll let you know next week how much I end up with. Thanks for coming along on my adventure. -D









 Question for the week: What are you giving out to trick or treaters for Halloween? I think I'm doing tootsie pops. Do any of you have things on hand for kids who can't have candy? I look forward to hearing from you soon.