It's APPLE Season!

This is my favorite quote of the month. Spoken with an abundance of enthusiasm by a (now) 6-year-old on our way to the apple orchard. I feel as though the ebb and flow of seasonal eating is becoming apparent and innate at the same time. "It's APPLE Season!!!" Yea!

These honeycrips were 1/2 priced from last year because of the (harmless) scabs that were caused by some hail during the growing season.


Apple eating is most definitely part of the fun.

It was a windy, chilly day, though.

It never takes more than a few minutes to fill the bags with the super abundance of enormous apples.

This year's trip was unique in that it involved a trailer-tractor ride to the section of the orchard we were to pick from. That was a big highlight for the boys.


.....


The following weekend we attended an apple-cider-making party at the local, organic farm where we buy our milk, eggs, beef, and (soon!) pork.

A view.

The pigs and free-range chickens really enjoyed the by-product of the cider: ground up apples!

The cider press.

This was a very big deal that they all got to take their turns.

The apples get tossed in to the top black bin where the hand crank turns blades that chop them up and then they fall into the wooden barrel.

When that's full, a circular board is placed on the apples and pressed down by winding the metal thing.

All the juice seeps out from between the wooden slats and runs into the overflow bucket on the ground.

After that, it is strained and bottled! The cider can then be refrigerated for immediate use, frozen or canned for later use, or it could also be fermented.

We were also treated to a wagon ride tour of the farm with hot, mulled/spice wine for the grownups. And there was plenty of outdoors fun for the kids and good visiting for everybody else.

All of this excitement was culminated in a wonderful meal that was prepared fresh from seasonal food from the farm. Ahhh, it doesn't get much better!