Blog Elements

Half Sized Blog Element (Single Author Style)

Half Sized Blog Element (Multi Author Style)

Making Apple Cider

October 9, 2015/in Activities, Valley Family Fun /by ValleyFamilyFun

Making Apple Cider! It is one of our most favourite days of year! The day we get to go the farm and help make apple cider from scratch! David is the chair of the Environmental and Sustainability program at Acadia. One of his colleagues has a farm up on the South Mountain in the […]

Halloween Tree

October 9, 2015/in Craft /by ValleyFamilyFun

Creating a Halloween Tree There was a tired mommy who lived in a crowded shoe She had so many Halloween crafts She didn’t know what to do! I know! Let’s make a Halloween Tree! When the kids were little, we used to do a lot of Halloween crafts. This was for something to do, or […]

Making Apple Cider

October 9, 2015/in Activities, Valley Family Fun /by ValleyFamilyFun

Halloween Tree

October 9, 2015/in Craft /by ValleyFamilyFun

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

Making Apple Cider

October 9, 2015/in Activities, Valley Family Fun /by ValleyFamilyFun

Making Apple Cider!

It is one of our most favourite days of year! The day we get to go the farm and help make apple cider from scratch!

David is the chair of the Environmental and Sustainability program at Acadia. One of his colleagues has a farm up on the South Mountain in the Annapolis Valley. Every year, we gather at the farm with the Acadia students from the program to make apple cider the old-fashioned way!

We have been going every year for the past 4 years, and it is the highlight of our fall! The boys love it, and know exactly what to do for each step of the process!

Here’s how we do it.

We start with a trailer full of organic apples. Theses apples are bought specifically for making cider, so it doesn’t matter how pretty or perfect they look on the outside.

The apples are dumped into a canoe, where we wash them off with a hose.

Then, the apples are sliced in two. This makes them easier to go through the grinder in the next step.

My favourite step is the grinder. The sliced apples are then dumped into the grinder (built into an old chair) so that they are completed shredded. Be careful not to put too many in at once as it will jam, and definitely keep your fingers away!

This is a video of this step.

Once the bucket is filled, you take the shredded apples over to the press.

Fill the press with the shredded apples.

Then, blocks are placed on top like a puzzle to weigh down the apples.

The juice starts to pour out the bottom into a bucket.

An iron bar is placed in the top to help winch it and press the apples further.

Once it cannot be pressed any further, the press is opened. This is called the “apple cake stage.” Everyone tries to get the pressed apples – in one piece – to the wheelbarrow without it breaking! No one is ever successful, but it is fun to try.

Once the wheelbarrow is full, it is taken to the field and fed to the cows. The boys love this part as well.

Then, the bucket of juice is then strained once more before filling the bottles.

Once this hard work and team work is all finished, you can finally sit back and enjoy a glass of apple cider – in its purest form, knowing exactly where it came from and how it was made.

Until next year!

Halloween Tree

October 9, 2015/in Craft /by ValleyFamilyFun

Creating a Halloween Tree

There was a tired mommy who lived in a crowded shoe
She had so many Halloween crafts
She didn’t know what to do!

I know! Let’s make a Halloween Tree!

When the kids were little, we used to do a lot of Halloween crafts. This was for something to do, or to practice fine motor skills or just to make some cool decorations.

Then, the crafts started to compile, and I didn’t know what to do with them. This is when we created the Halloween Tree.

The Halloween tree has now become a part of our yearly tradition.

I went to the backyard and found a big branch – the more offshoots the better! We put the branch in a big vase, put strings on our crafts and started hanging them on the tree!

I make sure I write the child’s name and date on the crafts – especially the ones make with hand and footprints – so we can see how much they have grown year to year.

We don’t make as many crafts at home now that the boys are both in school, but we have fun decorating the Halloween tree each year!

The ideas for most of the Halloween crafts came from my Pinterest board on Halloween. As I am not crafty, none of them are particularly hard!

We also make a tree for Easter and Thanksgiving!

Happy decorating!

What are some of your favourite crafts for Halloween?

(Visited 422 times, 1 visits today)

Blog Elements

Half Sized Blog Element (Single Author Style)

Half Sized Blog Element (Multi Author Style)

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

Making Apple Cider!

Creating a Halloween Tree

Categories