Milking a Goat!
Kurtis locked up in an old jail.On September 12, we went to a little town about 30 minutes away called Berne, Indiana. Berne, being named after the city of Berne in Switzerland. It was settled by Swiss and Mennonite people. We happened to go to Berne on the day of the Swiss Heritage Festival which is held at a 22-acre pioneer village. There are several historic buildings that have been moved to the village, including a large barn, a cider press, and a doctor's office. There were all sorts of activities going on. We did some tin-punching, watched a civil war tiff reenactment, saw weaving and tasted freshly churned butter. It really was a lot of fun. The highlight was seeing the cider press in action. The village only presses cider once a year (and we were there that day!)
How it works: They had about 18 cartons of apples. They fired up the press. First they chop the apples, then they put all the chopped apples into a fence-like box. The pulp is layered with apples and straw (to keep the apples in). The lady there said they were really good apples this year because the juices started flowing before the press even came down. Once the apples and hay were layered about 3/4 of the way, they stacked boards on the mixture and let down a 30" x 30" by 32' log board. It is massive and thought to have come from a 200-year old tree. The press operated for about 100 years. It fell into disrepair, and was brought back to life about 12 years ago. The apple juice smelt sooo yummy!
Video about Cider Press on YouTube.
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