Squeezin' .............

This is one of my favorite things to do as a small farmer. I love sharing the history of farm life to young children that may never have the chance to run through their grandparents' farm. And cider pressing is one way I can do that.

Yesterday, Heritage Christian School brought their pre-school and first grade classes out to make cider and spend a few moments on the farm. If you have never seen 2-year-olds trying to grind the apples ...... it was worth the price of admission!

First of all -- like a good cheerleader (mind you, I never was a cheerleader!!) you have to get the crowd psyched for an event like this. So we go through the instructions on how we make cider.

"We mash 'em! We smash 'em! We squeeze 'em! We squash 'em!".

Seriously ....... How can kids make cider like that????


"We mash 'em! We smash 'em! We squeeze 'em! We squash 'em!".


That's better.


So we grind and grind. And squeeze and squeeze. And that beautiful dark amber liquid emerges. And as it drips into a pan, the children beam with pride, knowing that they had made the sweet delicious beverage.



Fortunately, this was a private school group so the students could enjoy the fruits of their labor. Public schools have banned unpasteurized cider for their students. When we do a public school -- we have to bring commercial bottled apple juice for them to taste.

Of course, then I get all the cider!!!! Which works fine with me!!!

After dining on snickerdoodles and cider (Really, is there a better combination that that??) ..... the kids are ready for a chicken lesson!!!

This is what always amazes me. Where did people get the idea that chickens will bite??? They don't have teeth! And my girls have been handled .... a lot. So on a whole -- they are pretty durn docile. So we held big chickens ........ like Mama, my Golden Laced Wyandotte. And we held little chickens ........ like Josephine and Napoleon, my silver silkie bantams.

But the real treat this year was holding one-week old chicks.



The students took small bouquets of flowers home to their mothers with the instructions to tell their mother's about their day.

There were lots of memories made yesterday. Most of them are etched in my mind but hopefully, there will be some in a little 5 year old boy's memory.

Yea .... it was a good day.