The kids were on fall break last week so we headed to my Mom's house in Northern IN. My Dad planted a few apple trees years ago and we are now able to reap the reward of his hard work. My Mom doesn't like to harvest the apples until there has been a frost, since this sweetens the flavor of the apples, but I wanted my kids to have the experience of seeing how apple cider is made since this is definitely a lost art. So despite chilly temperatures, I hauled the kids outside and made them get to work picking apples.
Chloe
AJ (who is now refusing to have his picture taken)
Essie trying to navigate the apple trees that need to be trimmed SO badly.
True selfie with no make-up or contacts
Can you find Essie in this tree?
There she is-all the way at the top!
You'll notice the steers just hang out, hoping some apples will fall their way.
Chloe wanted to take a picture of me so here I am, freezing and dressed in my father's clothes.
AJ taking a bag of apples to the car to head off to get them pressed into cider.
We headed down the road a few miles to an Amish friend of my parents who has an apple press.
My Mom loading some apples into the chopper.
Up the conveyor belt into the chopper
Amish guy laying cheesecloth into pressing frames.
Then he transferred chopped apples from chopper into the frames.
A coupe of frames of chopped apples under the press.
The cider is then transferred to the small tank and larger tank pictured below so you can fill one gallon, or a few gallons at a time.
The reward for our hard work-pure cider! YUM!
