Apple Picking and Cider Making

One of the most pleasant surprises about Nebraska has been the apple picking!  We have a friend from church that lives on an apple orchard!  She also happens to be our neighbour.

Driving through the neighbourhood, you would never know that this amazing little orchard was hidden among the houses.  It is a little slice of heaven right down the road.

Every year, our dear friend opens up her orchard for families to come and pick apples and make fresh pressed cider. She doesn’t charge a thing, she just asks that you bring your own jugs and carry out the trash.

We started out loading the buckets onto the gator (this little green tractor) and driving up the hill to the orchard. Emma got the coveted shotgun seat.  Isaac’s face is priceless.

Then we walked up to the orchard and started picking.

Once the apples were picked, we walked back down to the house and started to make the cider.  First we washed the apples and cut out all the yucky spots.  There are quite a few yucky spots since the orchard is completely organic and doesn’t use any chemicals.

Then the boys worked on pressing the apples.  First, they put the apples into this nifty little grinder.

It grinds the apples into little pieces and they fall into this wooden bucket.

Once the bucket was full, they covered it with the mesh liner and added the wooden lid.

Then the boys used their muscles to press all those apple pieces into cider.

And what comes out is pure liquid gold!!

I have never tasted cider that is so fresh and so appley 🙂

We were there until well after dark and came home with 4 gallons of fresh apple cider!

We also brought home a bucket of perfect apples for eating.

Making cider has been one of our favourite family activities of all time.  As we were making the cider, I felt like we had a little window into the past. 

Thanks, Pat, for sharing your little slice of heaven with us every fall!