Welcome Autumn!

The world is full of color,

'Tis Autumn once again;

And leaves of gold and crimson

Are lying in the lane.

There are brown and yellow acorns,

Berries and scarlet haws.

Amber gorse and heather,

Purple across the moors.

Green apples in the orchard

Flushed by a glowing sun.

Mellow pears and brambles

Where colored pheasants run.

Autumn has peeked her pretty head from under the warmth of Summer. It was a cool and blustery Autumn day here yesterday. Very cool, in fact! The cool day inspired me to break out the slow cooker and have dinner steam away all day, creating warm and delicious aromas of root vegetables and rich broth that made me wish we had the wood stove on! Outside chores were done, the chicken coop was tended to and our yard is now a bit more bare as large plants have been cut back and our outside seating is being collected before it migrates to it's winter storage. The garden still has plenty to harvest; kales, pumpkins, and squashes, and the orchard still has much to give over the next few weeks (even though it was dutifully picked through the day before, you'll see why in a moment!).

With the chill of yesterday I was also inspired to mull my first bit of  homemade cider. Every year as a way to celebrate the Equinox and the Autumn Harvest, the community we live in gathers together to pick apples and press cider. It's a very full day beginning just after breakfast and lasting until supper time. 

Apples were picked all day Friday and first thing Saturday morning. The apple washing began after breakfast and lasted until the final pressing (over 7 hours of apple washing!!!) The first cider pressing began around noon, this is what you're seeing above. 

As you can see (and some you can't even see) there were a TON of apples collected. We had 5-7 folks washing, 2-3 folks working the chopper, 2-3 folks working the press, and 1-2 bottling the fresh apple cider. For weeks, everyone (11 households worth) collected bottles to use for storage.

This was taken after the first 8 gallons of juice were pressed. We bottled just about 75 gallons of juice and ran out of containers for the last 25 gallons. We ended up using 5 gallon coolers for immediate consumption within our main house. Each family went home with about 7 gallons of juice which will ripen and sweeten over the winter time in our freezers! 

It's not easy to turn the crank of a full cider press, it takes a LOT of strength. Everyone present each had their turn at pressing cider from the apples. I was impressed by how few turns I could actually complete (I think, maybe seven) while Casen gave the crank over 100 turns and the gentleman he is standing next to worked the press all day!

We never cease to be amazed of all the glorious gifts we are given. To spend a day so rich and lively with some really wonderful people, creating memories, making cider, working hard, sweating lots, and laughing together. Living in an intentional community certainly is work, learning, loving and growing from each other. It's days like this that remind me completely of why we're here at all. 

We wish you all beautifully colored days and nights that are warmed and delighted by the smells of wood stoves and mulled cider. Happy Autumn!