I am super excited to be writing my On The Road feature for the month of August! This time, I was able to visit a site and event that I have attended many times throughout my life, The Mid Michigan Old Gas Tractor Association Show. This has been going on since 1975. I’ve been attending for so long that I can recall, as a small child, my Great Grandfather giving me a few dollars to go buy him a beer and a Vernor’s for myself and no one thinking anything is amiss. Not exactly how it is these days! The event has grown over the years to encompass many different aspects of agricultural life. There are sawmills, a steam run barn, TONS of tractors, a tractor pull, and more.
In 2016, James Hill spearheaded an effort to save an old wooden beam apple press. This Boomer and Boschert press from around 1873-1889 has a wooden beam instead of a metal one. It is a sight to behold! That is why I wanted to visit. This press is awesome for us cider mill nerds out there.
First, let’s talk about some history of the press. It was made by Boomer and Boschert out of Syracuse, New York. This press was dated to the 1873-1889 time period because of the wooden main beam. In 1890 the company switched to a metal beam. It’s a very similar setup as you would see at Yate’s Cider Mill in Lake Orion, Michigan. This particular press came from the town of Laingsburg, Michigan. It had been in continuous operation since being installed and was known in later years as the Atwood Cidertorium and was run by Freddie Atwood. After Freddie, Jerry Austin took over the operation. He had worked there in his youth and was able to continue with the press..
James Hill led the charge to get these two presses purchased and moved. The purchase happened in 2016. They needed a spot to put it, so a new barn was erected at the M.M.O.G.T.A. grounds in Oakley, Michigan. It was taken directly from the Atwood Cidertorium to their new barn where one of the units was resurrected into a workable piece of machinery again. The rack and cloth press has its turntable that allows you to put the working table under the grinder to get the pomace on one side and then spin it into place under the screw press. Opened up all the way, it is four foot 11 inches! With four foot square racks, it can press up to an incredible 50 bushels at a time! The team has it hooked up to an 18 horsepower Fairbanks Morse hit and miss engine. It has a seven inch bore and a nine inch stroke.
The Cider Barn team don’t just press apples. It’s more than that. It’s an educational experience. Tim is the official “talker” during their pressing sessions. He tells them the history of the press, what is happening, which varietals are being used, and answers any questions people might have. The rest of the crew moves with machine line precision as the belts and pulleys spin overhead. Since the show is in mid August, it’s a bit tougher to get high end cider apples but the blend ended up pretty good for what was available at that time of year. They used a blend of Summer Mac, Zestar, Paula Red, and Ginger Gold. I really enjoyed my cider slushie as well as my cup of cider. It had the sweetness you expect, but a tartness that was refreshing and many people were calling it a drying sensation. There was some tannins, but nothing off the chart.
James and I were able to talk about what might come down the road. They would like to add fresh doughnuts. A move like that would need to be approved by the club and an addition would have to be put on the barn. There currently isn’t enough room for the equipment needed in the barn. I tried to pitch using the press to make a blend and have a fermentation competition, but we were unsure if enough people would be interested. Sometimes, it’s fun to daydream about what could be possible!
I’ve been wanting to write about this press for a number of years as I have known about it since the barn was going up to house it. The press itself is a rarity, as not many wooden beam presses survived to our modern era. This piece of living history shows what many small Michigan communities already had; a spot to take their apples to be pressed or get some fresh juice from the orchard. It’s truly one of a kind!
