Unfortunately, the orchard where we have been getting large quantities of delicious apples each year had no apples this season. The consensus was to cancel our annual Harvest Festival we couldn’t find a large quantity of free apples. A local resident whose family has long maintained an orchard nearby offered up approximately 8 bushels of Northern Spy, Rhode Island Greens and Cortland apples, so we organized a pressing for our volunteers. A first was using a hit and miss gas engine with a flat belt to run the Hocking Valley Mill that has long served the museum. It worked perfectly, as the Mill was always fitted with a flat belt pulley that was ignored in lieu of hand cranking. We discovered that powder post beetle holes in the legs of the portable legs had been long been active when two of the four legs completely fell apart at their ends. See the Yankee ingenuity that went into a temporary fix to use the mill. We will need to replace all the legs before next apple season, and we can always use help with that if you think you have the skills to contribute to that (207-205-4849). Photos of Cider Making October 25, 2024:
The old Hocking Valley Senior Portable Mill we used on October 25, 2024 to make a dozen or so gallons of cider at 19th Century Curran Village.Our Mill is a little worse for wear due to a powder post beetle infestation in the legs. We have a number of other mills including our commercial 1870s grinder and press but this was the easiest to use given the small quantity of apples we had to work with.The apples we pressed included Northern Spy, Rode Island Greens, and Cortlands.Calvin McGraw maintained our power source for the grinder; here he is with a circa 1919 Fairbanks Morse 1 1/2 horsepower gas engine. The engine was donated by Isaac Hughes of Fayetteville, NY in 2017.The engine took a little finagling as fuel hadn’t been drained from the last time we used it. Ethanol gas takes its’ toll on these small engines. Additionally we needed to put antifreeze in the water hopper. Engine heads can crack if water freezes, and there are lots of nooks and crannies in the cylinder water jacket even if you drain it after use.The worst of the damage was to this back leg that we strapped and clamped to use.Thanks to Keith Bowden of Kings’ Mountain who donated apples for our cider making. Alden Miller assists.Our small crew of cider enthusiasts included volunteers Zach Platt, Nate Coe, Cal McGraw, Alden Miller, and Pat and Sister Val.Zachary Platt looks over as Keith and Alden put the apples to the grinder.
