Fall is in the Air!

About the time of year I get over being depressed (and am finally out of denial) that summer is, in fact, over for another year, I remember that Autumn is really quite nice too. As long as it doesn't rain. Or snow. Both of which, have already happened in Utah. Booo.

Perfect solution? Road trip to Colfax, that blissfully peaceful and calm part of the world where all is well and troubles melt like lemon drops. Does it rain and snow there too? Of course. But that's beside the point.

So, Otto and I braved our first cross country road trip with the baby and spent a delightful weekend with my family. We packed a crazy amount of activities into one short weekend, including a 30th wedding anniversary celebration (pictures to come) and a trip to the Emergency Room. (Awesome). Also included in this fabulous weekend, I learned a new skill making food from scratch, which always makes me incredibly happy. Partly because of the homemade part, but mostly because of the food part.

We spent Saturday morning as a family learning to make our own apple cider. Here's a step by step of how we did it. If you're not interested in that, skip to the end and look at more cute pictures of my baby. If you're not interested in that, stop reading my blog.

Step 1:

Friday afternoon, we drove to St John (don't worry if you've never heard of it, neither have most people who live within 30 miles) to pick up apples from some good family friends. Their family does this most years... they drive to the orchards and buy the apples for about 16 cents/lb and then sell them at about 18 cents/lb to anyone who wants them. A lot of times they have cider making parties with dozens of friends, sometimes that last several days in a row, and if nothing else, they can make their own cider/applesauce/canned apples to their heart's content. I can't wait until I have a place big enough to be able to do that someday! Cider making parties! How fun!

Otto kept commenting on how much fun it was, just shoving apples into boxes. Nothing like a little fresh country air to make for a good day.

Step 2:

Getting all set up. This machine does both the grinding and the pressing. Otto and I were so excited about our new hobby that we decided to go out and buy one the next day. Then we remembered:
#1- We (still) have no money
#2- We live in an apartment (and will for approximately 30 more years)
 Oh well. We will buy one in 30 years then!

Step 3:

We poured the apples into large buckets full of water and just a few drops of bleach to clean them really well. One of us dumped the apples in, another of us fished them out and put them on the table for the next step. Otto may or may not have thought it was funny to chuck them into the water and spill bleach water all over me.

Step 4:

Next, we sorted through the apples, cutting out any spots where the skin was broken and bacteria could have entered. Doesn't this look appetizing? Thank you Laura, for being such a fabulous hand model.

The sorting process...

... with much help from cute little munchkins (for about 5 minutes until they lost interest and found the trampoline) was followed by...

Step 5:

Attempting to place the apples into the grinder without chopping your fingers off. Luckily, we were successful.

While one was feeding in apples, another was at the wheel grinding.

After the grinding step, the apples end up looking like this:

Step 6:
Wrap the cloth over the apples, and secure the lid, then use the wood piece (or metal baseball bat ha!) to turn the press and press the apples.

 The result is.....

And then, all that's left is to...

Then...

And Voila!!!!!
We're happy....

.... and so are the cows

So, I know what you're thinking. How did I have time to help when I was so busy taking pictures???

Well. For your information, I helped with every step. In fact, I even took one end of the baseball bat and walked around in circles with Otto at one point, after he may or may not have dropped it on my dad's head. And even with all of this strenuous physical activity, I still had plenty of time for this:

Finally, here is my favorite photo of the day: (it helps when you have such photogenic subjects to shoot)

 

Fall is in the air! And doesn't it feel great??