Thursday, September 25, 2008

The Big Squeeze 3

There are a might few of ye that know ye stuff aboot that apple pressin' thar. Oh, sorry, I'm watching a little Scottish film while I'm writing and I read a might lot of James Herriot today.

Ahem, anyway. Yes, The Big Squeeze was an apple cider pressing party. The hosts have been throwing this party for 34 years. That's a lot of pressing cider.


This is the pulp of the apples. One of the neighbors stopped by and scooped it into feed bags to use for bating the deer. I wanted to take it home to compost and feed to Daisy and Tulip, but I wasn't quick enough.
The washed apples are poured out onto this wire mesh to be checked for worms or seriously yucky spots. These folks get to sit around and visit while they peel apples.
This is the press. The fellow with the white shirt is Steve, he's the host. He and his wife bought the press in 1972 at an auction for $50. The farmer selling it thought it was a wine press, but they knew better. Even though $50 was not chump change in 1972, I think the little guy has paid for himself by now, I meant the press, not Steve.

While the adults had fun with the apple press the kids found a multitude of things to do.

And very pretty mommies pushed very cute toddlers on swings.

And more people picked more apples.
One extremely overcome lady walked around and took photos of everything, gathering material for her blog. Uh?

After the apples were picked they were dumped in this old tub. I KNOW!! How freakin' cute is that?! Would someone please put an old bath tub in my yard so I can give things a bath...outside. Can you imagine how much I would use this? Hello? Clay? I really need this to make our farm complete. And a cow. And meat chickens. And a couple turkeys. And bee hives. And a bigger garden. And, and, and, Hon, I'm talking to you. Hello?
Oh, sorry. Back to The Big Squeeze. Everybody got a chance to taste the apples.

And to make a vintage T-shirt. This sultry one was from 2005. I was tempted to get this one, but I didn't.
I didn't get this one either.
Because, this one was too cute to pass up. Goodness.
Here's the guys working hard, pressing on. Pressing on, hahahaha.
We came home with two jugs of the most delicious cider and we gulped it down. Yum, yum. What a fun day. I hope I can crash it again next year.....and I seriously want an old apple press now, then my farm would be complete? Clay? We need an apple press, that's the last thing, I promise. Clay? Clay? CLAY!

21 comments:

Rhea said...

Very cool, April! Thanks for sharing. What a fun event to go to and be part of...and yes, that press has definitely paid for itself over and over again by now. Very cool.

Your sister killed a snake on her blog today and the crazies are coming out of the woodwork.

Quick, you need to kill a chicken to take the heat off of her...

Lori R said...

Looks like a lot of fun! Just wondering...how many apples do you have to press to get a jug of juice? Cuz we have orange trees and I just about have a conniption fit if hubby strips them to make juice and doesn't leave any for us to eat for the rest of the winter!

April said...

Lori,
I'm just guessing, but I'd say 40-60 medium sized apples made a gallon. But, there were thousands and thousands of apples.

Rhea,
Rechelle is on her own, I'm hiding over here on my snake-free blog.

Sally-Ann said...

The Big Squeeze looks like a lot of fun. I was raised in Tasmania, Australia. It was/is known as the Apple Isle. Unfortunately, the apples caught some disease quite a while ago and there aren't as many apple orchards on the Apple Isle as there once was.
There is my little bit of trivia for the day!
http://wombatsinthebelfry.blogspot.com

Far Side of Fifty said...

I bet no chickens or snakes were killed while you sipped the cider! Great blog I really enjoyed it. Now I have to go to your sisters blog and have my husband scroll me past the snake pictures..so I can see what kind of Snakey people are coming out of the woodwork.

Phelan said...

HEY! Meet me in Caldwell Kansas on Sunday. I found you a pregnant Dexter. She is gorgeous! ah, well email me and I will tell you all about her if you are interested.

Molly said...

You always have the most interesting blog...I love coming to check in.

Jenni said...

I've gotten to help press cider using a much larger press. It took up a whole shed. I can't remember the details of how it worked, but suddenly I want dh to build me one, even if we can't plant apple trees here because of all the cedars.

Rechelle said...

What's the rind of yellow goo around the cider cukket... I mean bucket?

Trisha said...

Too cool! Just how many people are there at this thing that they can afford to make t-shirts and so many different designs?

I love, love, love fresh apple cider!

hayseed said...

Hi April, I enjoy reading your blog, and thanks for today's post, because now I totally need an outdoor tub AND an apple press!

Unknown said...

Totally cool...I would have been so thrilled to be there!! Hey Clay...get your wife an apple press so we can start having this yearly celebration down on your farm!!!

Anonymous said...

That looks so good. It makes me think I should work on be a bit more domestic. Last time I had cider, Wal-Fart made it.

Anonymous said...

Hey now. Don't I win something for guessing your squeeze question?? Huh? Other blogs, you know- blogs with dubyas in them CDW and PW give PRIZES to people donchaknow! I was first with the right answer after all.

And where were the fresh hot donuts at that squeeze party? When we have a cider party, first it always rains. And second, we always have a table set up with an old corroded electric skillet full of hot oil frying donuts. Next to that is an empty plate with greasy napkins on it where hot donuts used to be. They just barely touch the plate and are gone. We make hundreds. Or thousands.

Anonymous said...

oops. The previous post is me! Forgot to change the name!

Stephanie in Idaho said...

hilarious - and I will tell Rechelle you said you weren't getting involved with the whole 'crazies coming out of the woodwork'. tee hee

Just kidding. I am headed to your sisters blog to read the crazy comments.

Loved the whole cider pressing... I want to do that. We have tons of apples here in Idaho - I gotta do that! Find me a press, dh!

Anonymous said...

Very cool! Great family fun. I love apples, just not cider, but I bet I might like fresh squeezed cider.

Mylinda said...

That is soo cool! Can I go next year, too? Can I? Huh?

Lorie said...

So fun! And Fresh Pressed Cider! YUM!

It makes me ALMOST wish I didn't live in AZ!

Tami W. said...

I want an outdoor bathtub!

Ever since netflix got me hooked on McLeods Daughters I've wanted one.

Too Cool!

Alicia said...

How fun! That's it, I'm coming to live with you. Your farmy life is more fun than my un-farmy one. I'm not too big on doing dishes, but I will help you fix the chicken butts!