Making cider

windfall apples are for our pigs, the good ones off the trees are for us, to bake or make sauce with and we purchased a gently used cider press!

we had a full weekend!  Started with a visit to General Nicholas Herkimer's home from the 18th century, kept up so beautifully.  This man was playing the hurdy gurdy.  Then we saw a reenactment of the Battle of Oriskany, volunteers in the 1777 clothing fired real muskets...it was loud and smokey.

There was a garlic festival not far away.  All kinds of garlic items, garlic cheese and pizza with garlic for sale.  One vendor was selling these beautiful bouquets of sunflowers.

I've wanted to do this challenge and 3 yrs ago, I did commit to wearing a denim dress for a length of time, it may have been just a week though, not 100 days.  Below, is a photo from the Wool& catalog that arrived a few days ago.

Four 5-gallon buckets yielded about 3 gallons of cider.  We chopped the apples first, then put them in the press.  It is really perfectly sweet with a little tart, and just scrumptious.  I baked a batch of donuts and sprinkled cinnamon and sugar on top, to have with the cider.

And of course, we went to church.  We are homeschooling this morning.  We start lessons with prayer and light a beeswax candle and incense, then choose a verse as copywork.  It's kind of like a warm-up.  Even I start with writing in my journal.