As everyone who reads this blog knows, I have a fascination with old things: how people lived in the past. So here is my latest project – making cider.

The Shakers were famed for their cider. Just about everyone drank cider – and it was mostly the hard variety.

so here is the saga of my attempt to make cider.

we have four apple trees and a peach tree on the property.

we bought a cider maker and put in the apples.

Two hours later we had about a cup of juice and all the apples were covered with a fine silvery powder from the grinding mechanism. I tasted the cider, and it was good, but we discarded it. Now we are going to try the food processor.

Let me tell you, some of these techniques are far harder than they look.