Time to get serious

Once in my life I made pumpkin pie from a pumpkin. I never saw the need to do it again because Libby's makes it simple dimple. All I have to remember to do is make half the recipe on the label.

Pumpkin pie and mince are done and ready for desert on Thursday!

I let a cookie cutter help me with the mince pie decorative top.

Getting the cloth pressed off now is as good as tomorrow when we'll set up the tables.

And thanks to our neighbor Jane, I was surprised with a delivery of the best cranberry chutney ever. She's sweet enough to make plenty to share, but keeps the recipe secret.

Morning Glory

Warning: I may duplicate this shot on different mornings if the sun hits the maple just right.

Morning fog interupted by splashes of color

Well, if I waited till 5Pm or even the hour preceding 5PM there are lots of great fall foliage shots I would miss. Good thing I've bent my own rules about the blog photo rules before this!




I will do my best to get this tree again if the sun obliges by shining on it some morning before it sheds all its leaves.
I still think the fog and cover offers its own beauty.

Adventures in Apple Wine

The apple wine is successfully transferred from the primary container to the carbide (secondary container) for another two weeks until the yeast has almost completed fermenting the sugar into alcohol and it is safe to bottle. Stay tuned.

A lonely leaf

Either this leaf got the autumn memo too soon or

the rest of the tree wasn't quite ready to 'leaf' yet.

Autumn Colors

"Come said the wind to
the leaves one day,
Come o're the meadows
and we will play.

Put on your dresses
scarlet and gold,
For summer is gone
and the days grow cold."
- A Children's Song of the 1880's

Another reflective post

The opportunity presented itself and it seemed more appropriate today even though I used a similar technique yesterday. Today, I spent the day reading about transformative educational theory and the need for teachers and learners to be reflective about their knowledge and as I passed through Colonial Park on my way home, its scenery illustrated my day's reading. I couldn't resist passing it by. Hope you enjoy.

How to make Apple Wine Part I

Step 1 - Be like Johnny Appleseed and plant an apple orchard. Wait a few years.

OK, we really don't have that sort of time to invest at this point, so it's a good thing that step was taken care of a few years ago. But to begin the adventures in wine making that I unintentionally embarked upon yesterday, what we do need at this point is lots of apples which were delivered to Doc's late this week.

He has a double cider press, so apples can be ground up into one bucket,
slid through to the masher where the press can go to work to extract the juice.

His grandkids were chomping at the bit to get started and make a dent in the apple bin.

Ground apples come through to the first bucket

When the first bucket is filled,
it is pushed through and the press
begins to make mash as the juice comes through.

Filling up the bucket with apple juice

In order to get through all the apples a little more help is necessary

No matter how many kids show up, grinding is still hard work.
Loading up the grinder
Doc inspecting the works

Now that we know we've made a dent in the apple bin,
we'll turn our attention to the apple juice.

The juice is strained a few times to rid itself of any small bits of mash

Strained juice is funneled into containers for transport.

Dad filling up the primary container with the just pressed apple juice.

Floating the hydrometer to determine its density -
or specific gravity - which is the preferred term of oenologists.

We added sugar, fruit pectin and yeast nutrient to the apple juice so it can rest and sit while it comes to room temperature before we add the yeast, maybe sometime tomorrow.

And that is how you actually begin to get your hands dirty (well, actually sticky) in the process of making apple wine. Tune in soon for the next installment.

Because you can never have enough hobbies.....

So tomorrow my dad and his buddies have their annual apple cider making party - only dad has other plans for his cider. Last year he considered making apple wine with his share of the crushed apples, only he didn't make his decision quite in time. When he visited a local supplier for home brewing he discovered he needed to rethink his strategy. I'd like to say he plotted and planned and researched the whole endeavor in the 'off season' but that would be stretching the truth to the extreme. I must admit, though, earlier in the week, he started gathering up plastic jugs for the annual event and then last night announced that he was still mulling over the possibilities of wine. (Can you identify the two puns in the previous sentence?) This morning, when he mentioned it again, Mom and I realized he was serious. So we found the number to Princeton Homebrew (located in Trenton) and he called to find out their hours so he could go get the yeast, pectin and other pertinent chemicals necessary for wine making. As you can see above, he - or more accurately stated - we returned home with slightly more than just the chemicals.

When Dad mentioned he was headed to the home brewer supplier, I made a fateful last minute decision to join him for the ride. I think Dad was a little relieved I decided to go because as the owner started discussing specific gravity and fermentation processes Dad's eyes glazed over and he started relying on the fact that he conveniently did not wear his hearing aids and therefore could rely on his daughter who once spent ten years teaching chemistry and biology to really know what needs to happen. Beyond the 2 new 6 gallon containers you see on the counter in the first photo, we have a hydrometer to measure the density of our product, a surface stick thermometer for the plastic tub, tubing and siphon to transfer the liquid from the primary container to the secondary container at the proper time as well as a bottle filler when the final step occurs and the necessary yeast and chemicals we went to go get in the first place. We didn't need to get bottles, caps or a bottle capper - they are already stored in the cellar from days long gone by when we used to make root beer. Actually, therefore, in the end, starting this hobby isn't all that bad, because its not like we really had to buy EVERYTHING in order to get started!

So, without even intentionally looking for blog material, I think a few entries have been handed to me in the next several weeks as Dad and I foray into being amateur oenologists.

Meanwhile, back at Spookbrook....

Things are taking a turn at Spookybrook Landscapers....

Frankenstein, the Mummy, the Werewolf and Godzilla
all have interchangeable parts

Brings a whole new meaning to Monster Mash....
or Monster Mash-up as the case may be.

Really - this is the best stuff on earth

To say I like apple cider is an understatement. I simply love the stuff. And, as with other things, I have a discriminating taste and won't drink just any old cider on the market. I'm pretty devoted to Melick's Town Farm Cider and have been for more than 15 years. Melick's orchards are adjacent to Oldwick United Methodist Church, the congregation I attended before I went to seminary in '98. This stuff is wonderful. It's made without preservatives and is cold pasteurized. It's delicious and the only way cider can be better is to have it as it comes off the press....which you can do over at Melick's Farm Stand in Oldwick on the other end of Hunterdon County from where I live now.

Over the last decade, other people have discovered how good this stuff is. In response, Melick's stepped up production and started distributing their fabulous cider to grocery stores in western Central Jersey. That's a nice thing because Oldwick UMC merged with another congregation and I don't go to church in that area or even drive that way except on special occasions these days. And this stuff is so superior to other ciders that I would drive out of my way to have some - but I am glad I don't have to go further than the local grocery store and now there is the convenient little pint container if you can't manage to wait till you get home to have some of this wonderful stuff so you can chug it down on your drive home....whetting your appetite for more when you get there. It's just that good!
And for all those years I lived out of NJ? My mom would do me the great favor of buying the cider and freezing it till I could get home to enjoy it. We still do that with a few gallons so there will be some available in the middle of the winter. Yeah, I know I've said it before, but really - it is just that good.

Cooler Nights Ahead

The potted plants are still going nicely and its time to start to transition them inside before the inevitable frost arrives but not move them too fast and shock them with the indoors....so the covered porch is a great in-between place where they can enjoy the still warm afternoon sunlight of October days.

Pumpkin harvest

The crop down the road is getting ready for harvest

In the lower left corner you can see the wire from the electric
fence that protects the field from unwelcome pumpkin pickers.

Pumpkins this big fetch high prices. But who considers them more valuable - ornamental designers or bakers with plans to make lots and lots of pies?