1st Annual Apple Smash yields 47 gallons of cider

October 18, 2009

The word for this weekend is most certainly "extraction" - that is, getting the juice from what mother nature has given us. Gently pressing, or violently smashing, it's all good. On Saturday, I helped the Specters press their grapes in Dave's refurbished grape press. On Sunday, we did our "1st Annual Apple Smash" using the cider press my dad refurbished but never got to use. Many years later, it finally did it's maiden smash. Two truckloads of green, red and yellow apples, a dedicated cart, wash, cut and smash crew, and we have 47 gallons of liquid gold. Everyone took home more then enough, and I have enough left to make 20 gallons of apple wine... and 5 gallons of Apple Jack.

Thanks to Dave and Sara Specter, Mark and Tracy Webster, Libby, the kids and my wonderful wife Susan. Special thanks to the Kinkers for providing the beautiful venue, the means, and some mysteriously good coconut curry soup.

With a week of gloomy, dank, cold rainy weather a week before, and a frost the night before, it turned out to be a BEAUTIFUL day and a perfect end to a summer with a very strange crop cycle. I look forward to doing it again next year!

Tags: nature , wine , family , friends

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Nick's Birthday Canoe Trip

August 01, 2009

We took a trip down the Whitewater River via Morgans in Brookville for Nick's 5th birthday. The weather was beautiful and we saw a bunch of wildlife including many turtles and a beaver as big as a pig. The river was busy as many other unthusiasts siezed the day.

Afterwards, we headed over to uncle Michael's to grill out and eat cake. Took some good pics to document the experience.

Tags: canoe , brookville , family , trips

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It's officially summer when you make ice cream

June 20, 2009

On Sunday, we'll celebrate Hannah birthday a little early before we go on vacation. Strawberry ice cream was our test run Friday night. We'll do it again on Sunday with all the other kids and chocolate and butter pecan is on the menu.

We used this same ice cream maker when I was a kid. Yeah you have to hand crank it, but that's the point. The kids tend to tire out a little early, but when I take over to finish it off, I think back when my dad did this same thing with us. Our electric maker just collects dust. They make things so shitty now days. Plastic and thin metal for the canister. This ice cream maker has a solid, heavy metal canister with a lid. The point is so the ice and slat can cool it so cold, that the ice cream actually sets up. It gets harder to crank and you know, it's almost time. We added in the fresh cut strawberries and cranked it somemore.

Finally, on a sultry, sweaty hot night, the whole family about busted in to song as each of us felt the essence of summer.

Thinkin' this thing is going to come out a lot this year!

Tags: family , friends

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Morgan's Ft. Ancient Canoe and Cabin Trip

May 13, 2009

We shook it up a little this year for Susan's birthday. She usually likes to canoe and camp on her birthday and we usually go to the Brookville location. This year, we tried the Ft. Ancient location since it has been so long since we visited there. We also wanted to pay our visit to the June Morgan River Sanctuary.

It was good to see all my cousins and my uncle Bob who I usually only see during the holidays or other significant gatherings. We stayed in the cabins at Riverside Campground and the place looked beautiful. Upon arrival Lori was weeding the flower beds and Dirk was making picnic tables. It's clear the Morgans go out of their way to provide a fun-filled experience with the grounds pleasing to the eye and hospitality equal to down south.

We were driven up the river to put in at the Livery. Cousin Randy opened the door of the van and greeted us while Gary gave us a tour of the livery and the upstairs museum. I'm so glad my family are the chief proprietors around these parts. They have collected knowledge of the area and responsibly documented it as well as organized fossils, points, stones and other artifacts for display and education. The Morgans truly are the keepers of this land and river.

The canoe trip was as scenic as ever. We stopped at Junes Sanctuary and talked about her pioneering the efforts to clean up this once polluted river. The weather was beautiful and we soaked in the scenery and even caught some turtles basking in the sun on a log (see pictures).

After the trip, I ran into my uncle Bob at Riverside campground and got to catch up and update him on my dad. Then, Dirk showed us a tree that was leaning over a little too far so he jumped on the tractor and pulled it straight. Sunday morning, I watched (with some guilt) Dirk pounding rocks and dirt around the planter to stabilize the tree that we straightened the day before.

Later in the evening on Saturday, Dirk and Lori gave us a tour of their home and we finally got our glimpse of the famed turtle rock as well as the other awesome artifacts in Dirk's personal collection. Later, they set up a corn-hole tournament at the campground that thoroughly entertained us and our guests. It's been a long time since I've been able to slow down and forget about work and responsibility and I want to thank my family for welcoming us and our visiting friends from Louisville and helping us forget about things for a while. For those of us over-worked and under-paid, it really goes a long way and means a lot. After our friends Andy and Debbie were stuck on I-71 for an hour and a half on their commute up on Saturday morning, it really meant a lot to them as well.

These pictures should capture the trip just fine. Enjoy, and we really want to go back soon!

Thanks and much love, Jason and Susan

Tags: family , canoe , ft. ancient , nature

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Wine Cellar Event Sat. Feb. 21

February 20, 2009

On Saturday, we ate, drink and were merry with good friends. Over the last 2 years, I have really been digging the red wines. To me, reds *are* more complex animals and hard to figure out both in the tasting and making. But I drink what I like and it spans from sweet to dry. I look at the craft in the style of wine in reds more so than whites. It seems there’s more tinkering done in the cellar with red wines… and rightly so.

These are NOT all the wines that were available. They were this years, “featured selections.” My idea is to feature a diverse group of wines from sweet to dry and cheap to expensive, both red and white. People liked some, but not all. Seems my homemade peach wasn't so hot. In fact, it tasted soapy :( - But, I plan to play with it some more. You watch, I may just bring it around. My Plum wine however, was something to gett jiggy to.

Here was the official line up, but it didn't include many wines that were brought... and additional wines that were pulled from the cellar.

Reds

2007 Menage A Trios (a blend) - Folie A Deux
2007 Chianti – Ruffino
2005 Syrah Petite - Stags Leap
2005 Syrah - Columbia Winery
2004 Syrah - Red Bicyclette

Whites

2007 Voignier - Stags Leap
2007 Moscato - Sutter Home
2007 Gewurtztraminer - Chateau St. Michelle
2006 Savignon Blanc - Bogle
2007 Chardonnay - Bogle

Sparking

2005 Champagne - Valley Vineyards

My Homemade

2007 - Concord
2008 - Peach
2008 - Plum
2008 - Strawberry
2007 - Niagra Ice Wine (juice from a kit… real deal stuff)

Thankfully, my wife shares the passion enough to where we’ve sinfully set up a budget for wine-buying. The goal was to put some good stuff in the cellar, but it’s so hard to keep our hands off it! So the cycle repeats. We find ourselves being wine junkies to the extent of grabbing a quick bottle of the shelf to try something new. It’s cool when you find a good $5-10 bottle that you really like. The point of my featured selections is not to wow or woo. It’s to expose everyone to a variety of wines… and particularly, ones I’ve been drinking lately. Around here, we “drink what we like.” If you like it, and it happens to be priced right, remember who introduced you to it :)

Wine is fun and finding people who appreciate it the same is a blast. Thanks to all those who contributed something to the wine and food. What a great experience. So, see you at the next taste. Check out the pics from this years event.

 

Tags: cellar , family , food , friends , wine

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