They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit.
Re-checked the Cider on Saturday, day 13 since casting the yeast. I would read that as 1.002. Which means that fermentation is occurring, but I am not sure if it is the right sort. The cider has an unpleasant, sour, musty aroma, and there was hardly any bubbling in the airlock. Didn't have a thermometer… Continue reading Hard Cider 2026: Update
Last year after cider fest we had some issues with our (attempted) hard cider turning green. One possible cause of this, according to our cider book is that the malic acid in the fresh juice can leach iron out of the cast iron crushing components which can turn green if oxidized. So this year when… Continue reading Hard Cider 2026: Primary fermentation
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… Continue reading CiderFest 2026
(20 The girls have been listening to Les Misérables. ) We have a few. Clearing off tables. Even the rickety one.  Lunch break! A few more apples, and everything is rearranged, ready to chop them up and press them. One press inside, two presses outside, room for another press, then the straining station on… Continue reading One Day More…
We have stockpiled an apple or two in the last few weeks. Might need to do something with them in the next couple of days.
We bottled up the elderberry cordial and elixir that has been aging in the refrigerator for a few weeks to months. Some lessons learned from this go-round. It is harsher and less smooth than last year. Next year I need to pay closer attention to the alcohol percentage. We were mixing everclear and 40% vodka… Continue reading Elderberry Cordial and Elixir
First and second major canning of tomatoes, Kathleen has been canning diced and whole tomatoes, as well as tomato juice. Daddy and Seppi have been drying tomatoes. Seppi likes to add leaves from his pet basil plant to the tray when we start it. (His pet basil plant's name is "Basil.") It's amazing how five… Continue reading Tomatoes, Pears and Wine
Another bumper harvest of Elderberries last Friday morning (Aug 28). It took about 90 minutes to strip them all from the stems, yielding about 9 Lbs of berries. We steam juiced these on Saturday. There was enough berry to make two batches of elderberry "Port" wine. The steam juicer is a very handy way to… Continue reading Elderberry “Port” and Elderberry Wine
This is our first batch of home-brewed blackberry wine and mead. Bottled, labeled, ready to go down into the "wine cellar" for aging. By wine cellar, we mean the space under the air conditioning duct in the garage, at least until we get a space set up in the basement in the farm. Some of… Continue reading First Batch!
Today we Took the second batch of blackberry wine and mead from primary to secondary fermentation. Both had a richer and more mellow flavor than our first batch. And took the first batch from secondary fermentation to bottling. It was drier, and the mead was a bit bland. And we had a homeschool science class.… Continue reading Blackberry Wine and Mead: A.k.a. homeschool science.
