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.
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.
Cider Fest is now two weeks out, or at least it was when these apples were collected. By the time you read this it will be barely one week out. It's time to collect the apples. For us, since we don't have a large, mature orchard, this means going on Facebook and asking around to… Continue reading More Apple Picking
We are going to skip over a week or so of time between blogs. Don't worry. You aren't missing anything except a drill weekend, a whole lot of business and not enough family time. But by Friday (the 25th) we had gotten past a chunk of that and were ready for a family day. Note… Continue reading Busy Family Day
Dun Dun Duunnnnn!!!! You have to clean up from it. That's what we have been up to, mostly, since last Saturday. Or, actually, Saturday before that. Time flies! All the tubs and bins and pots and pans had to be washed and dried. Anything small enough went through the dishwasher, but some of it had… Continue reading The Dark Side of Cider Fest…
Well folks, as expected, last Saturday was Crazy! We had more than twenty families come over, from Church, homeschool, work, 4H and neighbors. We processed more than a ton of apples into who knows how much cider! We canned 100+ gallons the day of, and parceled out another 20-ish gallons for people to can at… Continue reading Cider Fest 2025!
The last weekend before Cider Fest, Mommy and Daddy and Winnie drove down to Chehalis to buy a new cider press. It was in very decent shape for being over a hundred years old, and it was a fun outing. Unfortunately, when trying to replace the guide on the spout end of the tray, it… Continue reading Refurbishing the Cider Press.
Cider fest is tomorrow! It's coming fast. Daddy had the day off work, so he was able to help Mommy out at CC (our homeschool co-op) in the first half of the morning. In the second half he got all the rest of the firewood split and stacked out of the way. The new 8… Continue reading Final Preparation for Cider Fest
