A chilly autumnal day (this word autumnal needs to be said out loud, I think it has the most beautiful sound). Today we begin to make the pear cider.
The pears have been sitting in the shed quietly ripening and now they are looking juicy and sweet. Except for that greenish one, I am going to eat that one. I love crisp pears!
First they are crushed in this massive crusher that John made out of an old beer keg. Basically it just rips and mashes everything up. You can see the spiky bits. It is powered by the little John Deere. 
It does not have its lid on yet but you can see the concept this way. 
Pears get thrown into the crusher and are smashed up at an alarming speed. I forgot to take a shot of the chickens who have surrounded us and are risking life and limb darting in and gobbling up anything that hits the ground. There is no two second rule with chooks. Nothing stays on the ground that long!
Here is the lid coming Off. Just try to look as though you are interested! I know this is not for everyone. Sustainable is eclectic remember. Sometimes we have to do boring stuff too!
The crushed pears sit in their vessels for at least two hours and preferably over night.
Then we press the crushed pears in our trusty press. You have seen this in action before. It is a genuine antique and Johns thinks it was designed as a sausage press. But those attachments are long since gone. You will see that he was able to re-attach the handle that I broke off when we were pressing the grapes. Phew.
He is always a little worried when tightening it down, that something will break. But it looks pretty strong.
The juice is heated to kill any wild yeasts. (Anything wild sounds good to me but John says No.) Then the juice sits in its sterile bucket to settle. Tonight he will take all the readings and then we will syphon off the juice, leaving the sediment and begin with the fermentation process. 
See? That was not so bad! I will let you know how it goes!
The left over pulp is mixed with beet shreds and eggs, garlic and cider vinegar,yum (that is your recipe for today) then fed to the stock. Daisy will take down fences for this feed.
Here is one lot of chickens who have had enough pear and are off home to the barn.
c
The Kitchen's Garden 
84 responses to “Making pear cider on the Sustainable Farm – Nothing is Wasted.”
I bet it’s going to be fantastic when it’s ready for drinking! Those chicks are growing fast 🙂
They are growing fast cindy, they are even getting feathers and watching all 16 rush to and fro after their mother is endlessly entertaining.. c
This is so very interesting! I learn so many new things by reading my friends’ blogs! How long does the fermentation process last? My sister raises chickens and I was surprised they eat anything! You can certainly tell I wasn’t raised on a farm!
Hi Phyllis, yes they will eat absolutely anything, another reason why nothing is wasted on the farm! Well with cider Johns tries to keep me from drinking it for at least 6 months! I suffer for the cause! c
John’s ingenuity and skills are a decided plus here! Great work on the handle rescue, among other things. I *love* the shot of the beautiful cogs of the press. And don’t get me started on pear cider: mmmmmmmmm!!! I don’t doubt it’ll be a triumph.
Houdini’s brood is looking very perky, all of them. Clearly you know how to keep a big hen-houseful happy! The chicks are quickly turning into half-growns right before our eyes. Adorable.
You know I was taking the shot of the cogs and was reminded of your header as i was shooting, I like that one too. c
You guys are absolutely ingenious! I’ll bet it tastes great when done!
John is pretty clever like that, i am happy to do the grunt work when it comes to making cider and wine.. c
I know I could never do what you do, but you make it sound so interesting and fun!! I’d never thought pear cider!!
Pear cider is great, I much prefer it to apple.. c
I love a tart apple cider. The pear cider here in the UK is too sweet for my taste. The apple cider that bubbled away in my utility room, prior to it turning into vinegar, was all natural yeast. It bubbled and fizzled, and it really had quite a kick to it. I’d love to try making cider the way it progressed during the first stage of vinegar making but now all my windfalls are gone and I’m not buying apples just to make cider. My apples in storage are too valuable to me for that.
I’m also wondering why I didn’t use my food processor to chop up all the apples rather than cutting them up by hand. Next time!
well you can give cider a go next year and I will make the vinegar, I am really looking forward to making the vinegar.. does that make me weird? c
I was all about the cider until that last picture lol
Muuuuuuuuuuuuum wait for me
I know, aren;t they so cute and they do that all day, sometimes i have to herd them away from danger areas and I am thinking to myself ‘what am i doing?’ i need to go out now and herd them back into the barn for the night.. c
I love seeing how you press your pears. How wonderful to get to drink the juice so fresh and make it yourself!
it is great, and it is very tasty too, though john wants it all for his hard cider!! c
A larder full of pears, an empty beer keg, and a John Deere tractor. I see them and think, “Time to ride the tractor to get more beer. And where did those pears come from?” Your John sees these items and thinks ‘Pear cider!” This guy is the “MacGyver of the Prairies!” When you make your delivery this Spring, throw in a bottle of pear cider, will ya? Keep the chicks, though. Max is no TonTon.
I will tell john you said that, he will love it. You are sure you don’t want a few fresh (like still kicking) chickens as well?
Do you remember that program on TV The Hillbillys, (was that its name?) well, When I come riding down your street in my old green clanky badly sprung truck, with your cheese and your cider, and bottles of vidal clinking, and live chickens squawking in their boxes, feathers flying and crates of eggs and bushels of fresh tomatoes for your sauce and jars of honey. Daisy trotting along side testing all the fences, and Mia the little sheep in the back because I cannot leave her home by herself and she has never met a parrot before. TonTon sat up beside me like the Queen !.. I am coming as Ma Clambert! ha ha ha With a Ma Clambert screech. Your neighborhood will be scandalised!!! (C laughing out loud!).. it will be perfect.. c
That’s a very impressive pear/fruit crusher, not to mention great pix 😉
Thank you Mad, we need to do a few more pears to make it really work but it will grow slowly! c
I expect you will bring a bottle or three home next time you come….can you do that??? Pear cider is something I have got into instead of beer…much nicer
I agree, it has quite the zing! Wouldn’t it be great to sit around and drink some of my own cider. Time to start a travel piggy bank Deb! You would love it out here.. c
I heard a story on NPR about two fellas that made cider using an old washer. Your set-up reminds me of that story. To be honest, I’d never heard of pear cider before. I’d love to try it sometime.
That is excellent and exactly right, if I could get my hands on one of those old wish wish washing machines I would be home and hosed!!! So useful for all kinds of stuff.. c
Hi Cecilia. How facinating! Love John’s crushing machine – Inspiring! I am terrified of anything whizzing round at the back of tractors though! Looking forward to hearing how your cider turns out. Bet it will be delicious.
Regards Florence x
I am also very wary about the turning at high speed rip things apart stuff Florence. That is why I THROW my pears into the barrel. I am not getting my fingers anywhere close to that! Lovely to see you.. c
Send me a box of those pears or a bottle of that cider. The pear photo is gorgeous. The hen and chicks image, hilarious. More wonderful, detailed writing that takes me, the reader, there. You are such a good storyteller. No, excellent storyteller.
Thank you Audrey, we are still working on planting more pear trees out here so that we can do a bigger volume of cider and still have enough left over to store in the basement for winter.. Pears are probably my favourite fruit! c