We had a lovely break from our rainy weather last Saturday, which made our annual apple picking and pressing day a wonderful, fun event. I’m sure it would’ve been fun in the clouds and rain but, oh, did that sun feel great. We have not seen nearly enough of it this summer and fall.
Most of the trees in our area are loaded this year which caused us to picked a record amount of apples- we just didn’t know when to stop!
My sister and I cracked each other up when we saw our apple pickin’ outfits for the morning. No planning, I swear – what are the chances we’d match from our heads to our toes?
We were allowed to pick at a house in our neighborhood that had about 50 apple trees.
Most of them were big, beautiful apples in colors of red, yellow, and green.
You can see our problem, can’t you? Who would be able to stop picking these? We just kept filling our buckets…
But then we had to sort and wash them all.
It’s a sophisticated set-up we’ve got goin’ on, huh?
And of course they needed to be smashed- but we sorted out the biggest and best ones for eating and apple pie!
And then pressed into juice.
What happens to all the pressed apple peelings? They get dumped in the back, of course. Which apparently creates the look of pride on these faces- even the dog. *smile*
We canned all the juice on the next day, because none of us have room in our freezers for…are you ready…?
178 quarts of juice- up from 133 last year!!
It’s a new record for us and because of all the different varieties we found, the juice is exceptionally good, too.
Isn’t it great to have fun, enjoy nature, spend time with people you love and produce something? And I’m going to be remembering “Apple Day” every time we open a jar this winter…ahhh.
-Jami
I believe a cottage can be anywhere or anything (condo, ranch, farmhouse) as long as you have a "cottage mentality" which puts people above things, celebrates imperfections, embraces simplicity, and finds joy in everyday life. Thanks for joining me!
What a wonderful thing to do.
I enjoyed reading about your experience.
Vinnie- My stepdad made both the grinder and the press, though I’ve seen versions you can buy that have a grinder on one end and the press on the other- you just move the bucket from one to the other.
Alas, the Gleaners came right after us and pretty much cleaned them out! But look around, the trees are loaded most everywhere!
Wow, a lot of work, but so fun!
The matching outfit is funny. My sister and I do that a lot. We’ll show up at something separately wearing the same shirt.
What do you use for grinding and pressing the apples? Do you already have a tutorial for that up? Where do you get the grinder and the press? And does your neighbor still have apples to spare? I live in Oregon too!
Oh – and I made apple honey the other day. Yummy. Made just like Pear Honey (http://www.pickyourown.org/pearhoney.htm)
Wow what a bunch of nice pictures, the one of your sister and you is really cute. We are going to Hood River area next weekend for apples. Looking forward to the drive.
Another question from me! Can you use wormy apples for cider???
Vinnie’s- Well, we do, but maybe some don’t?
It’s all strained out anyway…