We went to Miriam's this morning at 10:15 and went through the process of making apple cider! I did not get pictures of people picking the apples, as it was raining and I didn't want to get my camera out. But I can tell you, we were soaked and muddy!

First is the picking. Then comes cutting all the apples in half and cutting out the bad spots. And, as usual, when you get this many people together, it's always a good time of chatting and making memories...making the work a lot more fun! Our operation was set up in Buck and Miriam's garage, as it was raining most of the time.

After the apples are cut in half, they are dumped into the grinder, which grinds them up into much smaller pieces.

Once the apples are ground up, they are put into the cider press. Somebody turns the bar around and around, making the wooden plate press the juice out of the apples. Then the juice is emptied from the tubs into coolers, from which other containers can be filled. Many of the containers will be frozen for future use! Hot apple cider on crisp fall days, or snowy winter days...Mm-m-m! It even tastes good icy cold!

The remains of the pressed apples are dumped into the wheel-barrow for compost.

We ate a good lunch, too, and all the kids had time to play on the trampoline, the swing, and in the trees.

Well, that's the end of our apple cider day! But now we get to enjoy the fruit of our labor...

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering,

gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: 

against such there is no law.

Galatians 5: 22-23