Falling leaves, cozy scarves, the warm smell of nutmeg and cinnamon. But Fall just wouldn't be complete without Fresh Apple Cider or Apfelmost or Süssmost as it's called in this part of the world.

Of course, apples don’t just press themselves. Real cider making is time consuming and makes for a pretty good exercise! I had been wanting to do it the old fashioned way, so when Thomas called us on Friday night to ask if we would have a couple of hours next morning to help him make Apple Cider, since he has hurt his back, I was thrilled!

It's a cool foggy morning as we make our way to Thomas's hobby farm. Thomas hands us baskets as he greets us. We walk to his apple trees and start collecting apples and sorting into 3 baskets: for Juicing; Animal-feed and the real rotten ones for compost. As we bring filled baskets back, Thomas empties them into big bins and gives them a good wash with a pressure hose. While Theres (Thomas's wife) and I go back into his farm to collect walnuts, Lukas assembles the heavy slicing machine and gets it roaring. Soon we have huge bins of finely sliced apple. It's smelling divine already...  Lukas and Thomas transfer these a batch at a time into the press.

Thomas has an old-fashioned wooden barrel press, lined with a burlap sack. Once the press is loaded, it's my turn to do some hard work. I walk around in circles, pushing - applying pressure slowly, building it up over a few minutes. It's quite easy initially to extract the juice. It just flows out.. but after a while i have to really put in all my effort to turn the press. Nevertheless, it's always a good time to Smile especially if someone is taking your picture..

Finally i can turn it no more.. This is a good time to stand back and admire the fruits of my labor - unprocessed, unfiltered, unpasteurised, caramel coloured liquid nectar. Thomas hands me a glass full --- ummmmmm... Smells marvellous and tastes delectable. I'm an instant fan.

But wait, there's more. What you've made dirty needs to be cleaned up. I realise the many joys of a high-pressure hose. Thomas tells us that the leftover apple pulp will be fed to horses, livestock, or composted. 

Theres brings over some freshly baked apple muffins, herb tea and coffee.... I shamelessly dig into one after another.. Thankfully no one is taking pictures