Monday was our Big Apple Day (it had nothing to do with New York City). It was chilly and overcast and windy, but Miriam, Kurt, Julie, and I went out and picked apples most of the day. It’s harder work than you’d imagine – a lot of stretching, bending, climbing, and lugging buckets and boxes of apples. They are heavy. A five gallon bucket of apples weighs about 25 pounds. We finished picking around 4:00, ate a quick dinner, and loaded all the apples into the Shillig’s truck. Then Stacey, Kurt, Julie, and I headed to the cider mill. Lain’s Cider Mill is in Canesteo, New York, fifty minutes north of here. We love going to Lain’s. They’ve been pressing cider for 58 years. This was the eighth time we’ve taken our apples there. Because it was a chilly, drizzly Monday, we were their only customer when we got there. We loaded the apples onto the conveyor which took them through a washer, then the grinder. The apple mash dropped onto the press table to be packed, wrapped, and pressed. We ended up with four layers of mash, about 700 pounds of it, that they pressed into 63 gallons of cider. While they were pressing and bottling, we enjoyed some of their apple cider donuts. We got to taste the cider straight off the press. This is the first time we’ve had such a blend of different varieties. Usually our cider is almost 100% King of Tompkins County apples. This time it was a blend of King, Roxbury Russet, Golden Russet, Frostbite, Ashmead’s Kernel, Jonagold, Honeycrisp, and Sweet Sixteen. And it is delicious – not too sweet, not too tart, with a complex flavor. It’s the best cider we’ve ever pressed. Now, while it’s so fresh, I can’t get enough of it. As is her custom, Stacey gave a lot of it away to friends and neighbors. The Shilligs took some and we took some to the Thayns when we went down to visit this weekend. And even after all of that, we’ve got enough cider in the freezer to last us until next fall – I hope.
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| Kurt picking apples. |
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| Loaded up and ready to head to the cider mill. |
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| At Lain's Cider Mill. |
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| Apples for sale at Lain's. |
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| Our apples on the conveyor. |
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| Mash loading onto the press table. |
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| Spreading and wrapping the mash. |
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| Pressing. |
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| Bottling. |
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| Enjoying a cider donut. |
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| Sixty-three gallons ready to take home. |
When we got back from the cider mill, we went down to the barn to clip chicken wings. We always do that after they’ve gone to roost. Stacey and Miriam caught them and I did the clipping. Chickens at night are strangely stupid. People think chickens are stupid anyway, but they really aren’t. They are as smart as chickens need to be. But at night they get dopey. We can usually just pick them up off their roosts without any trouble. But these young chickens whose wings we were clipping, did not cooperate. We had to chase most of them around the barn and when we caught them, they made a huge fuss. But we got the job done and now their wandering days are over – at least until next year when they molt and get new feathers and we have to repeat the process.
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| Chickens in the dark. |
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| A wing about to be clipped. |
Making a lot of fuss.
It got cold Monday night and Tuesday morning we woke up to frost. After so many weeks of mild fall weather, I can’t complain. Six years ago at this time, we had snow on the ground. The frost didn’t do much damage. Most of the garden still looks good if a little feeble. I can hardly believe I’m writing this, but I’m ready for the big frost to come and kill things off so I can clean out the garden and get it ready for the winter. Tuesday after school I mowed the lawn for what I hope will be the last time this year.
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| Frost on the lawn. |
On Wednesday we moved the peacocks from their pen out in orchard to their pen in the barn. They weren’t happy about being caught and moved, but they need protection from the cold weather that’s coming. They will spend the winter there.
Thursday afternoon we drove down to spend a few days with the Thayns. Rachel was in charge of a Family History class at her ward that evening and Stacey and Miriam went down to help her and Hannah and I went along. We spent Thursday evening, Friday, and most of Saturday with them. We didn’t do much of anything while we were there, just hung out together, ate some good food, and played some games. The weather was wet most of the time. Stacey went to Hazel’s soccer game on Saturday. We did some yard work during a relatively dry moment. We left after dinner yesterday and got home at 8:00. The Thayns are planning to come up here this coming weekend.
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| Dinner at the Thayn's house. |
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| Games at the Thayn's. |
It was supposed to get cold at night while we were gone, but I could see, when we got home, that we still have not had a hard, killing frost. At this point, I can’t wait any longer. I will start cleaning out garden beds this week while the weather is tolerable. I don’t trust the weather. I suspect that when the hard frost comes at last, snow will immediately follow and I won’t be able to do any work outdoors. At least not comfortably. So in the week ahead it looks like I’ll be busy – when I’m not in school. And when it’s not raining, which the forecast says will happen on Monday and Tuesday. I’ll do what I can when I can. I’m ready to put the garden of 2021 to bed for the winter.
So, we are home from church. It is a rather gray day and many of the trees are bare now, but there was still some nice color in places on the drive to and from Wellsville. On our way home we saw a bald eagle perched in a tree. I can smell lunch cooking. Stacey is making cabbage fried with bacon and served over rice. It smells delicious. After lunch and chores, I hope to take a nap. The day seems made for it. Good Sabbath.
