Apples! Fall of 2015
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2015 was a record year for apples. The orchard behind Lee & Tammy's was overloaded with apples. Some of the tree branches were even breaking off!
We all made applesauce and pie filling and apple crisp and this barely made a dent in the amount of apples. It was decided to purchase a cider press and turn the remainder into cider. On Sat Oct 17, Kurt & his kids, Karen and Mom helped pick the remaining apples. We didn't count the number of boxes we filled but we pretty much filled two pickup trucks with boxes. Initially we did not purchase the apple grinder accessory for our apple press. Kurt devised a method of stomping the apples in a 5 gallon bucket with a sawed off section of tree limb. This actually worked pretty good although it made for some sore shoulders after a while. We finally purchased the apple grinder accessory and were impressed with how good a job it did with shredding the apples - it was faster too and a lot less painful for the shoulders. We pressed our apples on multiple days right up to the Christmas season. Hence the pictures show the transition from outside & short sleeves to inside the barn wearing sweat jackets. Again, I neglected to keep count of the total number of gallons of cider we made. We all took some, gave some to friends and relatives and put quite a few jugs in the freezer. I'm sure you are all wondering how it tasted. It was amazingly good. It was strong and sweet and caused us to question the stuff we've purchased in past years as being watered down. The apples we used were mostly Stayman Winesap or Cortland with some Northern Spies that we pressed earlier due to their softness and tendency to spoil quicker. |
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