Well, folks.
It came, it went. It was a whirlwind of pressing, canning, laughing, talking, joking, eating, drinking, and all the other things that go along with CiderFest. We outdid last year’s count, with a grand total of 129 gallons (6 fermenting for hard cider, the rest canned) divvied out between almost 20 households.
Started off at 9 AM.
Feast your eyes on that pile of apples.
Estimate about a ton and a half.
The flow was a good deal better this year than last. We had bigger cutting station, on a temporary table (workbench boards screwed to the top of the cut horses).
Then the four presses arranged in the big doorway, with a wash station nearby for the dirty apples. The little press was working exclusively on the apples that had been thawed and frozen.
After a few more folks arrived we got the big press humming, churning through barrels of apple.
Ashley is never hard to find. Just listen for laughter.
The canning crew has to make sure to get a brunch in early, when the pumps are just starting up. Once the pumps start pumping out the cider, the kitchen is hopping like crickets on a griddle for the rest of the day.
We made a few changes to the canning flow as well. For one thing, we anticipated having hundreds and hundreds of jars so we pre-emptively staked out a spot on the floor and put a sheet of plywood down. For another, we had the sign-in roster set up right from the beginning, and Kathleen and Lisa started early on divvying up the jars so it was not mass chaos when it came time for folks to take their cider home.
But by far the biggest change was re-allocating the canners to prioritize half-gallons right from the start, making sure that the two big pots were humming along the whole day. Storing cider in half-gallons is more efficient, because the water bath time is the same, but you get twice as much cider put away.
Of course, not everyone needs half gallons. For our family of six, a half-gallon is about a meal. For a family of four they might be better off with a quart.
Do not suggest pints to Kathleen, or she will slay you with one glance of her eyes.
It is a busy day, no doubt about it. We started pressing at 9:00 and didn’t finish up until 4:00.
Sometimes it goes more slowly than it would if we were professionals.
The smallest helpers insist on helping.
Winnie was determined to make a whole big bowl of cider “all by herself.”
Never mind that she couldn’t turn the screw even once.
If you enlist help, it still counts.
And that is Winnie’s cider going through the cheesecloth.
Even the very smallest helpers are welcome, even if only as counterweight for extra momentum.
By late afternoon the pressing was winding down. We were racing to see who could finish their last buckets first.
Pigs, chickens, sheep, and calf all made out like bandits with apple pomace for everyone, and the Olsens took a trailer of 500Lbs or so of the stuff for their cows. The pressing is done…
But that doesn’t mean the day is over.
There are still jars filled and waiting to be water-bathed.
But by 6 PM all the canning was complete, and it was time for a feast (that’s a leg of lamb prosciutto) with beans, soup, shepherd’s pie, and some homebrewed blackberry mead.
And after the feast then the washing up of the dishes, towels, floors and (to a lesser extent) children, and taking them home dropping them (still asleep) into their pajamas, and sticking them in bed. The grownups were not slow in following, let me tell you.
So that’s CiderFest. If you made it out, thank-you for your help, it was great to see you, and we hope you love your cider. If you didn’t make it out this year, hopefully we will see you there next year.
Or sooner. No need to wait for CiderFest. Don’t be strangers!
