I have almost sifted all of my finished compost. I did another wheel barrow load yesterday. I have another wheel barrow load at least left. Then, I can turn my compost pile! I probably need to do that soon so that it can start working again before it gets too cold. I'll probably put some comfrey near the bottom and throughout the pile to keep it going strong. Maybe this winter I will spread it out of the garden, I'll see how it is.
Work on the apple grinder is coming along. I am hoping Wednesday I can pick up material, sheer nylon cloth, and hook up my motor and maybe disposal. I am hoping by Friday to have my grinder working. But, I'll probably use my friends press for grapes since I don't have time to make the press in time. My press if much more efficient especially for apples, and the way I'm doing it, but I think his will work. My press is not going to be as easy to transport. But it will do a good job when it is done. I wish we had cooler weather right now to keep the apples longer. Next year I wouldn't mind getting an extra 10 bushels to make into cider. That would be my senior year of high school. Of course, if I go to Johnson and Wales, than the next two Autumns I might be here and be able to get apples and press them. When I move out I will probably leave the grinder and press here until I get a house. Then we can make it an annual thing for me to get together with my other siblings in the area and my parents and make cider for everyone! Ahh...dreaming....
Well, I think I'd better go. I have some chemistry to do before this afternoon. So, I will leave you now.
English Vintner
That is not me in the picture, though you might think I'm a red apple. No, its not me in the compost sifter picture either. That is the famous Herrick Kimball. That compost sifter generated mine. Mine looks a lot like it, except the way I sift is by holding those skids and moving them back and forth along the long way of the wheel barrow.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering about that apple!
ReplyDeleteI think you should turn the annual cider-making into a family festival similar to Thanksgiving. You could even try to make only home grown foods...but then you would have to plant some apple trees now! :)
: ) I would like to plant some apple trees. But, I will probably focus more on other fruits that produce well earlier, like grapes, and bush fruit.
ReplyDeleteI would like to make it an annual thing. I'll probably end up building a few grinders and presses for family members and in laws.
You should get together with Herrick Kimball and set up a kind of ready to order package so people who want to can get a press-kit. You might be able to make so money. and then you could have a good reason to meet him.
ReplyDelete: ) I don't know if I can use the disposal. I took the motor off it (used a hammer to get the bottom part off) and then I took it to my sink to clean it. It probably had 1/2 cup of gravel! And, somehow a cleaning scrub had gotten down below the grinding chamber and had gotten stuck. No wonder her disposal didn't work! Plus, I don't know if it is stainless steel and it looks like it is rusting...? I don't know how food safe that is. Plus either a hole had rusted through the bottom of her disposal, or else a rock had been ground around on it for enough time to make one. So, I would have to repair that hole.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I might be able to find a use for it. There is quite a bit of copper in the motor, I could probably get a few bucks selling it Herrick recommends in the book, if you are a thrifty person you can do it.
So, at this point, I'm thinking of trying to maybe get one at Restore or something. I wish someone had one that was in perfect condition, brand new, except for the motor....
Oh well. But, I do have the frame of it coming along. I have the legs done, and the frames done. So, I'm hoping to buy some fabric today for it. And maybe my dad can hook up my motor that I bought off ebay.
So, that is where things lie at this point.