#lattinscidermill

[raincitydoulas-blog]

#washingtonstate the beauty is unreal. #nature #whitepicketfence #lattinscidermill #applecider #donuts #homemadegoodies

[arbitrary-adventures]

My Autumn Tradition

One of my very favorite things about Autumn is the fresh apple cider.  I don't mean the abundance of hard ciders that seem to be showing up everywhere, although those are enjoyable.  I mean the sweet/tart cloudy apple cider that you only get by using a press to grind and press those cool weather gems until every last drop of goodness is drained from them. 

Growing up, my family lived on a small rural lot of land.  When we moved into the house, there were already quite a few apple trees, along with other orchard trees on the property.  My parents had dreams of growing their own fruits and vegetables and quickly dug out a huge garden bed and planted even more orchard trees.   Then I remember my dad ordering a cider press out of an Amish catalog.  At the time I had no idea why he needed to have it.  But then it happened, the boxes of cedar wood and steel showed up and he and I put that little cider press together.  The next fall we went out, collected apples from different trees to get just the right mix, and we made homemade cider.  It was the best thing I had EVER tasted.  After that, it was my new favorite thing.  Every year I would wait for the first frost, which was nature's alarm clock telling us it was time!  

After I moved away, I did really get much opportunity to have apple cider much.  It wasn't really available where I was.  Then my husband and I moved to Michigan.  I learned that huge cider mills were an Autumn mainstay for the East coast, along with fresh cake donuts.  I fell in love with the whole experience of cider mills all over again.  And introduced them to everyone that came to visit while they were open.  

Last year we moved to the Pacific Northwest and were surprised to find that cider mills were not more popular here.  What with Washington Apples and all, you'd think there would be one in every town.  But alas, they are not.  Not to be deterred, I did my research and found one that had great reviews and seemed to be most like the cider mills of the East.  It was over and hour drive for us, but we decided to give it a go.  Off to Olympia we went to visit Lattin's Cider Mill, and boy was it worth it.  The cider was amazing.  We had the warm spiced cider while we were there, and picked up a 1/2 gallon jug of regular apple cider to bring home.  They had other flavors of cider, but I'm really more of a purist and like my cider a bit more traditional.  They also make fresh apple fritters right behind the registers.  They were AMAZING!!  Not even an overstatement, seriously... if you can make your way there, TRY ONE!  

In addition to the traditional cider mill treats, they also had a really cool pick your own pumpkin patch with all sorts of sizes and types of pumpkins.  They also had a whole bunch of farm animals that you could feed or just have a peek at.  Really great for families who want to take their kids to do something fun and interesting.  The whole place was really clean feeling and animals all looked really healthy and active.  

So in closing, I guess I want to give a high recommendation for anyone in the Pacific Northwest to make their way to Lattin's Cider Mill.  If you don't live close enough to visit, see if you can find a local mill near you and give it a shot.  Usually they are locally owned and operated, so you'd be supporting a local family.  And if you ever get a chance to make your own using a little Amish cider press, then absolutely take that opportunity.  However you can, make fresh cider a new Fall tradition!