Apple juicing

Sunday - the tenth of the tenth of the tenth - was Apple Day. At least it was here in Wales. The Llandrindod Transition Town group decided to hold an Apple Day event at Ashfield. There is a high degree of 'working-together-ness' here in Llandod between like-minded groups. It makes things possible instead of Very Hard Work.

First pick your apples....

...smash them to bits with a large wooden stick in a bucket (or you can chop them and put them through a 'scratter' if you happen to have one)... here's Ian doing some whilst networking at the same time...

...then put the pulp into an apple press. A proper one can cost in the hundreds...

...so most people make their own - with a car jack or giant screw fixed inside a wooden or steel framework and something to collect the juice as it's squeezed out. Ours was a wonderful contraption involving a stainless steel pan with holes drilled in it, a plastic tray, two wooden chopping boards, a few nuts and bolts to hold it together.....

...and a dustpan to act as a spout! The juice comes trickling out as the jack or screw gradually turn to compress the pulp.

Feed the remaining squeezed-out pulp to the pigs...

... add a teaspoon of ascorbic acid per bucket of juice, and pour into bottles. When you get home, pasteurise the juice by placing the bottles, caps off, into a large pan, and simmer at 70 degrees for 20 minutes. Replace the caps and leave to cool. This process kills off any yeasts that would cause the juice to ferment, so it should still be good in a years time!

We really enjoyed the Apple Day. It's the first time I've seen Ashfield buzzing with people - volunteers, trustees, visitors, local people - working together and enjoying the sense of making something without spending an arm and a leg.

The warmth of the day, the children watching the apple lady make apple spaghetti, and the sound of the blues guitar in the background - settled like magic in my heart. I have finally understood what Ashfield and community gardening is all about, and I don't want to leave it.

Cheers!

Small delights

Cyclamen bravely growing in the rubble of our garden.

A big green dragonfly that visited our little pond - is it laying eggs?
A tree covered in tiny crab-apples. We are gradually discovering what all the different trees are as they have come into fruit this summer. I think these are crab apples - they are a deep dusky red but are still rock hard.
Todays bottle-find uncovered whilst transplanting cyclamen. We now have about 11 or so little bottles of different shapes and sizes on a shelf in the shed. These include 2 victorian beer bottles with marbles in the neck, found under the old barn floor (previously a sitting room before we took the floor out) - I can just imagine a farm worker of 120 years ago relaxing in the corner of the haybarn to enjoy his beer after a hot day in the hayfields.
Bright yellow pumpkins quietly growing on some wasteground where we had removed some large bushes but not been able to dig out the roots. Although the seeds were sown very late, they have produced several large pumpkins and spread out beautifully over the lawn making great ground cover and keeping the weeds down.