Tuesday, November 9, 2010

cider pressing

We just made apple cider with work group for the second time. We had picked Alice's apples and stored them in her barn. This time I brought my camera and took pictures of the different steps. First we ground the apples in a hand crank apple crusher. That was hard work. The block of wood was to coax stubborn apples into the hopper. Next we transferred the crushed apples into the press with a wooden paddle, put the round wooden lid on, cranked the handle of the press and out came the cider. We poured the cider into a giant glass container in which it will ferment and become alcohol! We made 50 litres of cider. Wow, I love it.

Friday, November 5, 2010

halloween


Well, Halloween has come and gone and we really lived it up this year. We went to three costume parties in all. These photos are from a big party for kids in Milford that had amazing pirate themed decorations. Hazel went as an evil princess all in pink (of course - how evil) and insisted on wearing her new running shoes . The other girl in purple was also a princess and I think maybe not an evil one. She seemed quite taken with Hazel's look though. Rowan was a pirate and claimed that pirates wear red pants - which makes sense to me. He was astonished to find the party all decked out in pirate gear and asked, 'How did they know I was coming as a pirate?' Life is so magical sometimes. He looked very sweet bobbing for apples and managed to bite one by the stem. Is that cheating?
I have a few work group photos. The scarlet runner beans we
found during a garden clean up at Mary Lou's. They're such an amazing colour I had to take a photo. The leaves turning red on the edges were growing along the walk. And lunch - always a highlight of work group. The table setting was lovely as usual.
Also, we're getting ready to do the One of a Kind Show again this year. It's our first time doing the whole eleven days and we hope we're up for it. Here's our listing on their website. We've been making things non-stop and trying to stay healthy. If you're going to be in Toronto Nov. 24 -Dec.5 come and visit us at booth E-24. We'll be giving out samples of herbal tea or mulled cider.

My uncle and aunt have a lovely blog about their music and market tours in France. This one about a visit to the Sault Plateau to see fields of lavender is breathtaking. You can almost smell the lavender.