So… the plan was that our daughter-in-law Leah was going to show up yesterday afternoon with a truckload of apples so we could make cider. She would go over in the morning and pick the apples and then bring them over to our place. And we’d make cider. Lots of apples, lots of cider. That was the plan.

First drawback was the fact that it rained the night before and made where she drove to get the apples so slick she got stuck in the mud. Even with four-wheel drive, she was barely able to get out. The second drawback was that there just weren’t very many apples. So instead of seeing a few hundred pounds of apples in the back of her truck when she got over here just before noon, I saw maybe fifteen pounds. Maybe. Not enough to bother with.

“Well,” I suggested, “I need to do a little more work on this fence repair job I’m working on. How about you come back over at 2:30 and we’ll go over and try our luck at this other little orchard.” I added a cautionary note, “We may not get very many. My friend Greg and I were over there two weeks ago and most of the apples were too far gone. But there were still several late apples on the trees. Maybe we can get enough to make a little cider.”

And so, Leah and her mother Judy went back home in St. Joseph. I ate lunch and then worked on the fence project. They came back and we headed over to the orchard. My, what a pleasant surprise awaited us there!

The owner had mowed the entire orchard, leaving the grass low and making it easy to find and pick up the apples. When Greg and I were there, only one in twenty apples was fit to use. But now the old groundfall apples from two weeks ago had all turned a dark brown, making it easy to spot freshly fallen apples. The little storm that came through the night before had blown down a bunch of new, fresh apples.

In just forty-five minutes, the three of us had picked up over three hundred pounds of apples. Big apples, juicy apples, sweet apples, tasty apples. Leah also found a garter snake but decided to leave it in the orchard. I might put some sort of mushy apples in the mill, and there might be a bug or two that doesn’t get extracted until the cider goes through the strainer, but we are pretty much vegetarian when it comes to cider ingredients. We even wash the apples!

As we worked, Leah, Judy and I all commented on how perfect the weather was. “Not too hot and not too cold,” Judy quipped, as she dipped some more apples into the rinse water. “Yes, it’s perfect,” Leah and I agreed. Mid-seventies, no wind, bright sun. My, what a pleasant afternoon for making cider!

It was nearly dark by the time we finished milling the payload, but the payoff was definitely worth it. A day that had started out as a disappointment flirting with disaster had ended up with a very satisfying conclusion. Nearly fifteen gallons of satisfaction, as a matter of fact. If you’ve ever tasted fresh, sweet, golden, right out of the press apple cider, you know what I mean.

Sometimes the day the Lord has made is so much better than the one we were planning on, you just feel plum loved. And maybe a little spoiled… nah, just loved.