Humbug Creek Farm Presses 2nd Apple Cider with 3ndless 3arth 3covillage and the Calaveras Homeschoolers Co-Op!

Steve Wilensky sharing his safety talk with the children before the pressing begins.

We love to share the fruits and gems of this community with children. Our deepest appreciation goes out to Steve and Pat of Humbug Creek Farms for extending their heirloom orchards out to the public for the rare experience of tasting fresh pressed apple cider.

The trees are loaded on the ground and on the branches and we are all drawn to inspect them, taste them, and collect them in our bags and totes for the press. Children climbed the trees and picked the perfectly ripened apples proudly.

As the bin filled up with several varieties of apples and some pears, we each seriously took on specific roles and jobs washing the apples, loading them into the wire brush washer station, sending them up on the hydraulic conveyor belt, scraping the pumice into the press, pressing the on and off buttons, and letting the cider move through the UV filter before it filled the last tote we would all taste from in the afternoon.

There is an old ways magick about this farm. Frolicking through the 30 year old trees and grapevines, actively listening to the land with sustained presence, and talking with parents about creating more experiences like this for our children and the future generations just feels ancient in a traditional sense.

The inner child is literally fed being here. That wildness that can’t be tamed gets to be explored when we are immersed with plants, animals, and people that spark a curiosity only quenched by laughter, play, and the elements within and around us. Our imaginations are peaked and our voices are heard fully. We speak with conviction yet gently not needing to prove this or that…merely expanding upon the story of the forest that protects the farm and anyone who enters.