This time of year at our house is all about brilliant orange and yellow squash from the gardens, raking leaf piles for the little ones to lose themselves in, cool evening bonfires, and crisp, juicy apples from the family orchards.

Feast your eyes on this visual recap of our recent apple cider pressing, and then visit your local apple orchard to get some for yourself!

Freshly picked from the family's organic orchard
"...Give me spots on my apples, but leave me the birds and the bees.
Please!" - Joni Mitchell

 We send the apples through a garbage disposal fashioned just for this purpose 
(Maybe it's cheating a bit not to grind by hand, but it's much easier on the
 muscles and the end result is just as good)

Crushed apples go first into a cheesecloth bag and then into our 40+ year-old
wooden cider press

And out comes the good stuff

Heating to prepare for canning

Then into quart jars for canning

Home-pressed apple cider in abundance

Fresh...and refreshing!