Catchin' up

The last couple of weeks have been a burstin' with activity here, and no computer (again) to write about it all. Hopefully I'll remember the most of it. The last time I wrote, we were making hard cider over at Sam and Jenny's place. We picked up a few bushels of apples at Apple Valley Orchards outside of Cleveland, TN. Since we didn't mind blemishes for cider making, we bought seconds, at $9 a bushel. We ended up using maybe $15 worth, another $5 for sugar, and a bit more for the yeast, caps, and sanitizing. Here's a look at our jug--

Over the next week, the jug was a lava lamp of activity. Not much reason for TV watching when you've got cider brewing! A week later, we came back for bottling. Becca's here squeezing out the cider from the bottom sediment.

We turned out a pleasant, refreshing alcoholic beverage for not much money and plenty of enjoyment in the making--not to mention the drinking of it. We bottled up about 60 bottles, and look forward to many nights of sippin' pleasure.

In the meanwhile, Jenny also surprised us with a box of cabbage in the kitchen for making sauerkraut. I can't believe we didn't take any pictures, maybe when we make our first batch of brats and kraut for dinner...