Our annual #LifecyclesProject #CommunitySharing Day is right around the corner on September 27th 🍏🍎🍐🍇

It will be hosted once again at #WellandCommunityOrchard from 11-3pm.
You're welcome to bike, or to try your luck at getting one of the parking spots. If you do not have mobility concerns or require transport of things such as strollers & walkers, consider avoiding trying to park right at the orchard. There's some street parking near the orchard as well, we just ask that you be concious of the neighbours. This year we will have a free shuttle bus from our warehouse at 808A Viewfield Rd out to Welland Orchard to alleviate the limited parking. It will make the following trips:

Leaves Lifecycles office:
-11am
-12pm
-1pm
-2pm

Leaves Welland
-11:30am
-12:30pm
-1:30pm
-3pm

Come out for a family friendly day of celebrating the harvest! We'll be giving away plenty of fruit, pressing fresh apple cider, our heritage apple tasting table will be back & we will have a #seedbomb making table as well as a #ScavengerHunt for the kids.

I hope to see you there!
Please bring a small bag if you'd like to take home some free fruits that we'll be giving to folks who want some 😊

#YYJ #CommunityEvent #CommunityBuilding #FamilyFriendly #FreeEvent #CommunityConnecting #FreeFrugalFun #Nonprofit #VancouverIsland #VanIsle #FoodSecurity #Orchard #Harvest #Celebration #CiderPress #TastingTable #HeirloomApples #FreeFruit #FreeTastings #FreeSamples #AllAges #AccessiblePark #ViewRoyal #Saanich #VictoriaBC #FreeShuttle #Fruits #FreeFood

We used the manual #ApplePresser today to make fresh #juices 🙂

#LifecyclesProject #WellandCommunityOrchard #FoodSecurity #Fruits #Apples #Pulp #MakingJuice #Juicing #CommunityOrchard #ViewRoyal #Saanich #VictoriaBC #YYJ #VancouverIsland #VanIsle #PacificNorthwest #Cascadia #PNW #CiderPress #Juicing

Had the cider press in the shop for some work. The wood on the edges of the supporting beam was compressed so it was loose in the dado which was the main support. Filled in the compressed area with a black locust shim, and made some black locust blocks to replace the metal ells that had been holding it.

Oh, the back of the juice catcher came unglued too, so that was re-glued.

Also had the idea to put a boot on the greasy screw. No more zebra stripes on my arm.

#cider #CiderPress #woodworking

The Spiced (Cider) Must Flow

A fresh-squeezed glass of orange juice with breakfast seems like a trope that's straight from a late 1980s sitcom. Making orange juice is easy; press until the liquid comes out. Apple juice (and, by extension, apple cider) is the same principle but requires much more force to squeeze out the juice. So what if you, like [Peter], have 900 lbs (408.2 kg for those metrically minded) of apples that you want to make cider out of? The obvious solution is to create a somewhat automated homemade cider press with lasers.

An earlier effort to make 25 gallons of cider took several full days of struggle for four people, so [Peter] knew he had to plan better next year. [Peter's wife] milled and glued red oak into a large, sturdy frame that could press down with proper force and not break. [Peter] reached out to the local metal shop to fabricate a stainless steel tray with a custom drain. The cider basket itself and the pressboard were maple with waterproofing oil.

However, just because you can press apples, doesn't mean you're ready to make cider. They still need to be washed, cut, and ground into a pulp. A ramp was fashioned that it could be set in a truck bed with sprayers to wash the apples as they rolled by. A laser circuit with an LM393 opamp and a photoresistor allowed the sprayers to only activate when there was actually an apple to spray. Apple grinders are tricky as they need to survive the drop of several one-pound balls while staying at a reasonable speed. The grinder dispenses the pulp into a mesh nylon bag in a 5-gallon bucket, ready to be pressed. For the curious reader, 900lbs of apples yielded 60 gallons of delicious cider.

If you're looking for a smaller scale press, here's a cider press that's a little simpler to make.

#cookinghacks #holidayhacks #cider #ciderpress #grinder