It's Cidering Time

     Laraway eclipsed the 100 gallon mark.  We've produced 216 half gallons of fresh, sweet, unpasteurized cider...so far.  Our cider press, carefully tended by Laraway Behavior Coordinator Cal Stanton, is put into service at our farm location.  The project is an annual ritual at Laraway School.
     "All the apples were collected within five miles of Laraway," Stanton said.  "Local residents graciously allowed us to gather apples from their properties."
      Kids learn to glean, clean and press the apples.  They also participate in delivering jugs of the homemade cider to community neighbors who donated the apples. 
     The cidering process offers a full experience---start to finish---in a relatively short period of time.  Kids loving making, tasting and sharing their "product."
     Pressing apples into cider is so much more than getting kids outside on a beautiful fall day.  Cidering allows the children and youth we serve to get in touch with a rural Vermont tradition that harkens back to a simpler time.