Saturday, October 12, 2013

The Annual Family Apple Squeezing Fest

It's that time of the year again.  Time for the annual family cider bee at my brother's house in Chehalis, WA.

Every year now for quite a while, my brother Hank has gone to eastern Washington to get a big tote full of apples to be pressed into cider.

We gather, rain or shine, to attend to this ritual.  We've been fortunate weather wise, with only one rainy fest day.  We were treated kindly again today as the rain dried up in time for the working and playing and eating and talking.

With my mother's passing just after this event two years ago, we still feel her presence and miss seeing her sitting there in her chair surrounded by activity.  My sisters and I are the grannies now, and we do our best to meet her high standard of grandmotherliness.
                                              (October 2011)

Here's the scene in pictures, with few words.

 Sister Laurie, grand niece Mia, cousin Kris. ↑
 Cider maker in chief Hank ↑




                              No bad apples in this bin.↑











 Cousin Dan, Tom, Brother-in-law Mike, sister Ilene, sister Laurie.


             Watch out for this bunch!

Thanks to Hank and Cindy for hosting and supplying the apples.  Thanks to everyone who brought abundant food and supplied lively conversation.  Thanks to the kids for being delightful.  And thank you to Niece Katie for some of these photos which I stole from Facebook!

It's truly a family project!

11 comments:

  1. I see why you make this a family affair. there are many processes involved. It'a very interesting post for somebody who's never lived where they grow apples. And I can smell the cider just by looking at your photos.

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  2. That looks like so much fun! What a sweet family tradition.

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  3. This looks like such a ton of marvelous, delicious fun!

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  4. I enjoyed your photos very much. I actually have 5 bottles of sparkling apple cider in the fridge waiting for my Thanksgiving party.

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  5. Great pictures! Sounds like a wonderful family tradition.

    But what amazed me, Linda, was that picture of your mom. It may have just been *that* pic, but your mom looked so much like my mom who also passed away 2 years ago... (I had to keep going back to look at it).

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  6. What a wonderful family ritual. I hadn't thought about fresh cider for years. We used to make it when I was a child, out of windfalls, and the taste says fall to me in ways that few other things do. Thank you for the reminder.

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  7. Looks like great fun! How wonderful that the tradition continues:)

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  8. Such fun! I was charged with delivery of Vermont apples and freshly pressed cider by the South Carolina/Georgia branch of the family. I guess I take apples for granted the way they do peaches.

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  9. How cool is that? Your family has wonderful traditions! Will you adopt me?

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  10. Two of my granddaughters live outside Chehalis YeeHaw! Family traditions like this are so important, especially for our young ones.

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