Apple Cider

If you have an apple tree you will be familiar with the problem of having too many apples. In my cellar I have plenty of jars of whole crab apples, crab apple jelly, applesauce, apple butter, apples with raspberries..... No need to make more.  

But we wanted to do something with this year’s apples. So, with the help of our neighbor who has an apple press, we had the pleasure of making pure apple cider (i.e. apple juice, not the alcoholic cider). We picked 4-5 gallon pails of apples, leaving the ones out of reach for the birds.

What an incredible, machine the apple press is! I’ve made juice by cooking apples down and squeezing through a jelly bag, but this was so easy, and made more enjoyable because it was done with the help of our friend and celebrated by a few drinks of apple juice and rum, a mighty tasty newly discovered beverage. 

Since the apples were small there was no need to cut them up. They did not need to be cored or stemmed. Just popped them into the grinder and then into the press. 

I could hardly believe how much juice we got! Our yield was one full pail of juice to the 4 pails of apples! And the juice (even without the rum) is delicious. I canned the juice (water bath - 20 minutes) as there was too much to consume fresh. 

Wow, thanks neighbor!

Earth’s Lament

Amidst all the climate hullabaloo flying around during this election time, 

Amidst all the promises waiting to be broken, 

Amidst all the apocalyptic prophisizing contrasted by all the denying,

Amidst all the bright answers,

Amidst all the individual and corporate greed, 

Amidst all the hope and all the despair and everything in between - 

Here’s an old poem of mine. If I looked back in my blog I’d likely find it there. I wrote it while looking out at a Parking Lot Sea, while waiting for my husband to reappear from shopping for something or other. It has been somewhat modified from the original...

Earth’s Lament

I am the earth and I need to breathe,

Feel the wind through my grasses and the leaves of my trees,

Wake fresh in the morning with dew on my chest,

Wrinkle, roll and stretch from the east to the west, 

Bathe in the rain and bask in the sun,

Shine in the moonlight when my workday is done.

I am the earth and I must see the sky,

Deprive me of this, I’ll get sick, I could die!

You paint me in black with asphalt on roads,

Reshape my body for diamonds and gold,

Draw fluid up from the depths of my bowels,

Dump sewage in water making it foul,

You harvest my lungs, pollute all my veins,

Smoke fills my air, acidifies my rain.

You’ve put me in danger, I cannot forgive,

For I am the earth and I want to live!

I am the earth, please let me breathe,

Feel the wind through my grasses and the leaves of my trees,

Wake fresh in the morning with dew on my chest,

Wrinkle, roll and stretch from the east to the west, 

Bathe in the rain and bask in the sun,

Shine in the moonlight when my workday is done.

I am the earth, you live in my home,

Treat me with kindness, I won’t die alone.