WEBVTT 1 00:00:04.160 --> 00:00:20.640 Us studios to to have some cloat. Every October, when 2 00:00:20.679 --> 00:00:24.079 the air turns sharp and the maples along the Moreno 3 00:00:24.199 --> 00:00:28.440 family's fence line blaze with color, the old cider press 4 00:00:28.519 --> 00:00:31.960 comes out of the barn. It has been there since 5 00:00:32.119 --> 00:00:36.280 Able Moreno's great grandfather built it from oak and iron, 6 00:00:36.759 --> 00:00:39.920 and it has pressed apples every autumn for longer than 7 00:00:39.960 --> 00:00:44.600 anyone in town can remember. The press is a simple thing, really, 8 00:00:45.280 --> 00:00:49.719 a wooden frame, a heavy screw, a wide, shallow trough. 9 00:00:50.840 --> 00:00:53.759 It looks like it belongs in a museum, and maybe 10 00:00:53.799 --> 00:00:56.960 it does. But the Moranos have never been the kind 11 00:00:57.000 --> 00:01:01.200 of family to put useful things behind glass. They believe 12 00:01:01.240 --> 00:01:06.000 in using what works, and this press, despite its age 13 00:01:06.040 --> 00:01:11.120 and its creaks and its slightly lop sided handle, works beautifully. 14 00:01:12.439 --> 00:01:15.599 Abel is the one who brings it out. He is 15 00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:19.959 fifty two, with his father's broad shoulders and his mother's 16 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:23.840 patient eyes. He rolls the press from the barn to 17 00:01:23.879 --> 00:01:28.079 the front yard on a hand truck, moving slowly, not 18 00:01:28.200 --> 00:01:31.400 because the press is heavy, but because he likes the 19 00:01:31.519 --> 00:01:35.120 ritual of it. He likes the way the morning sounds 20 00:01:35.159 --> 00:01:38.159 when the first frost is still melting on the grass. 21 00:01:39.079 --> 00:01:43.239 He likes the smell of the barn, hay and old wood, 22 00:01:43.480 --> 00:01:47.760 and the whisper of a thousand autumns. He sets the 23 00:01:47.799 --> 00:01:50.719 press in the center of the yard, next to a 24 00:01:50.760 --> 00:01:55.359 long table covered with burlap. On the table are baskets 25 00:01:55.400 --> 00:01:59.760 of apples, some from the Moreno orchard and some brought 26 00:01:59.799 --> 00:02:05.079 by neighbors. There are courtlands and maccowns, and a few 27 00:02:05.120 --> 00:02:09.039 old varieties whose names have been lost, but whose taste 28 00:02:09.120 --> 00:02:14.080 is sharp and sweet and exactly right for cider. By 29 00:02:14.120 --> 00:02:18.560 mid morning, people begin to arrive. The Moreno Cider Day 30 00:02:18.879 --> 00:02:22.319 is not an event that is formally announced. No one 31 00:02:22.319 --> 00:02:27.240 sends invitations or post signs. People simply know the way. 32 00:02:27.280 --> 00:02:29.919 They know when the first snow is coming, or when 33 00:02:29.960 --> 00:02:32.840 the peaches at the farm stand are ripe. They bring 34 00:02:32.879 --> 00:02:36.639 their own apples and their own jugs, and sometimes their 35 00:02:36.680 --> 00:02:39.800 own children, who are set loose in the orchard to 36 00:02:39.919 --> 00:02:43.199 chase each other through the rows of trees. The first 37 00:02:43.199 --> 00:02:46.879 to arrive is always mister Huang, who lives two houses 38 00:02:46.960 --> 00:02:50.800 down and has been coming since before Abel was born. 39 00:02:51.039 --> 00:02:53.879 He brings a crate of small tart apples from his 40 00:02:54.000 --> 00:02:58.240 own backyard tree, a variety he planted decades ago from 41 00:02:58.280 --> 00:03:00.520 a seed he carried in his pocket it from a 42 00:03:00.599 --> 00:03:04.719 market in Taipei. He does not say much. He sets 43 00:03:04.759 --> 00:03:08.439 down his crate, nods at Abel, and takes his place 44 00:03:08.479 --> 00:03:12.520 at the press. Next come the Garcias, a family of 45 00:03:12.639 --> 00:03:15.879 four who moved to the street only three years ago, 46 00:03:15.919 --> 00:03:19.240 but have already been absorbed into the tradition as if 47 00:03:19.280 --> 00:03:23.199 they had always been there. The father, Luis helps Abel 48 00:03:23.280 --> 00:03:27.800 load apples into the press. The mother, Carmen, brings tomales 49 00:03:27.840 --> 00:03:32.080 wrapped in foil. The children, Sophia and Matteo, are given 50 00:03:32.120 --> 00:03:34.840 the job of turning the crank on the apple grinder, 51 00:03:35.199 --> 00:03:39.919 a task they perform with tremendous seriousness and occasional squeals 52 00:03:40.039 --> 00:03:44.759 when a particularly large apple jams the mechanism. Throughout the morning, 53 00:03:44.960 --> 00:03:50.719 more neighbors arrive, the Petersens from across the road, Missus Okeefor, 54 00:03:51.280 --> 00:03:54.680 who always brings a thermos of ginger tea and shares 55 00:03:54.719 --> 00:03:59.439 it with whoever looks cold. Old mister Callahan, who is 56 00:03:59.520 --> 00:04:03.120 ninety one and walks with a cane, but insists on 57 00:04:03.199 --> 00:04:07.439 taking a turn at the press handle, pushing down with 58 00:04:07.599 --> 00:04:12.199 both hands while his face reddens with effort and satisfaction. 59 00:04:13.639 --> 00:04:18.759 The process is slow and deliberate apples are fed into 60 00:04:18.800 --> 00:04:23.439 the grinder, a hand cranked device that reduces them to 61 00:04:23.519 --> 00:04:27.360 a rough pulp. The pulp is layered into the press 62 00:04:27.480 --> 00:04:32.480 with cloth, and then the screw is turned slowly, steadily 63 00:04:33.199 --> 00:04:37.160 until the juice begins to flow. It runs in a 64 00:04:37.199 --> 00:04:41.680 golden stream into the trough below, and from there into 65 00:04:41.720 --> 00:04:46.120 waiting jugs and pitchers and cups. The first cup is 66 00:04:46.199 --> 00:04:51.399 always tasted in silence. Abel pours and passes it to 67 00:04:51.480 --> 00:04:56.279 mister Huang, who takes a sip, closes his eyes and nods. 68 00:04:57.319 --> 00:05:03.639 That is the signal is good. The season has begun. 69 00:05:04.839 --> 00:05:10.000 After that, the cups flow freely. People stand around the 70 00:05:10.040 --> 00:05:13.839 press and drink and talk and watch the juice run. 71 00:05:14.839 --> 00:05:19.399 The conversation is unhurried, the way it always is when 72 00:05:19.439 --> 00:05:23.680 people are gathered around something real and simple and good. 73 00:05:24.920 --> 00:05:29.000 They talk about the weather, about the frost that came 74 00:05:29.120 --> 00:05:33.600 early this year, about the hawk that has been circling 75 00:05:33.639 --> 00:05:37.160 the orchard for a week. They talk about the old 76 00:05:37.279 --> 00:05:41.879 days too. Mister Callahan tells a story about the winter 77 00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:45.839 of sixty eight, when the snow was so deep that 78 00:05:45.920 --> 00:05:48.079 the press had to be dug out of the barn. 79 00:05:49.040 --> 00:05:52.839 Missus Okafort tells about the harvest festivals in her village 80 00:05:52.839 --> 00:05:56.600 in Nigeria, where the whole town would gather to pound 81 00:05:56.680 --> 00:06:01.959 yams and dance until dawn. Luis talks about the orchards 82 00:06:01.959 --> 00:06:05.639 in Mexico where his grandfather grew up, and how the 83 00:06:05.680 --> 00:06:11.079 fruit there tasted different sweeter somehow, though he cannot explain 84 00:06:11.240 --> 00:06:16.160 why the children run between the adults, their hands sticky 85 00:06:16.199 --> 00:06:22.199 with juice, their faces flushed with cold and excitement. Sophia 86 00:06:22.319 --> 00:06:26.399 has appointed herself the official taster and announces her vernict 87 00:06:26.439 --> 00:06:30.879 on each batch with the gravity of a judge. Matteo 88 00:06:31.000 --> 00:06:34.040 has discovered that if he stands very close to the press, 89 00:06:34.439 --> 00:06:37.879 the spray of juice makes freckles on his arms, and 90 00:06:37.959 --> 00:06:42.480 he shows them to everyone who will look. By early afternoon, 91 00:06:42.759 --> 00:06:45.720 the sun is high and warm, and the baskets are 92 00:06:45.759 --> 00:06:50.000 nearly empty. The last of the apples are pressed, and 93 00:06:50.079 --> 00:06:53.240 the final jug is filled and sealed with a cork 94 00:06:53.319 --> 00:06:57.319 that Abel carved himself. The press is wiped down with 95 00:06:57.399 --> 00:07:01.240 a damp cloth and Abel begins the slow process of 96 00:07:01.360 --> 00:07:04.759 rolling it back to the barn. But no one leaves. 97 00:07:05.399 --> 00:07:09.360 That is the thing about Moreno's cider day. The pressing 98 00:07:09.439 --> 00:07:12.759 is only half of it. The other half is the sitting. 99 00:07:13.399 --> 00:07:17.120 People settle into lawn chairs and blankets spread on the grass. 100 00:07:17.920 --> 00:07:22.279 Carmens to Molly's are unwrapped and shared. Someone produces a 101 00:07:22.319 --> 00:07:26.879 guitar and plays softly songs that everyone knows the words too. 102 00:07:27.600 --> 00:07:31.519 The children, finally tired, curl up on blankets with their 103 00:07:31.560 --> 00:07:35.160 heads in their mother's laps. Abel sits on the porch 104 00:07:35.160 --> 00:07:38.399 steps with a cup of cider in his hands. He 105 00:07:38.519 --> 00:07:42.759 watches the light change as the afternoon deepens, the shadows 106 00:07:42.839 --> 00:07:47.720 lengthening across the yard, the leaves drifting down in slow spirals. 107 00:07:48.439 --> 00:07:51.680 He thinks about his great grandfather, who built the press 108 00:07:51.720 --> 00:07:54.959 with no tools but a handsaw and a hammer. He 109 00:07:55.040 --> 00:07:57.879 thinks about his father, who taught him how to turn 110 00:07:57.920 --> 00:08:01.279 the screw without stripping the thread. He thinks about his 111 00:08:01.319 --> 00:08:05.000 own children, now grown and living in cities far away, 112 00:08:05.560 --> 00:08:09.519 who come home every October without being asked. He takes 113 00:08:09.519 --> 00:08:12.839 a sip of cider. It is cold and sweet and 114 00:08:12.920 --> 00:08:16.480 faintly tart, the way it always is, the way it 115 00:08:16.519 --> 00:08:19.519 has been every year of his life. The taste is 116 00:08:19.560 --> 00:08:23.639 the taste of autumn itself, of mornings like this, one 117 00:08:23.839 --> 00:08:27.560 of people gathered around something old and good and still working. 118 00:08:28.319 --> 00:08:33.039 The sun begins to set the air cools. One by one. 119 00:08:33.159 --> 00:08:36.759 The neighbors gather their jugs, and their children and their blankets. 120 00:08:37.440 --> 00:08:40.679 There are hugs and hand shakes, and promises to do 121 00:08:40.759 --> 00:08:44.120 it again next year, the same promises that have been 122 00:08:44.159 --> 00:08:47.120 made and kept every October for as long as any 123 00:08:47.159 --> 00:08:52.240 one can remember. Abel watches them go. He stands alone 124 00:08:52.279 --> 00:08:56.519 in the yard, the empty press beside him, the last 125 00:08:56.600 --> 00:09:00.759 of the cider in his cup. The orchard is quiet now, 126 00:09:01.639 --> 00:09:06.120 The trees stand in their rows, patient and bare, already 127 00:09:06.120 --> 00:09:11.200 thinking about next year's blossoms. He finishes his cider, carries 128 00:09:11.200 --> 00:09:14.960 the cup inside, and washes it in the sink. Through 129 00:09:15.000 --> 00:09:17.639 the kitchen window he can see the barn where the 130 00:09:17.639 --> 00:09:21.320 press will sleep through winter, waiting for the next October, 131 00:09:21.840 --> 00:09:26.279 the next gathering, the next golden stream of juice. He 132 00:09:26.320 --> 00:09:28.799 turns off the light and stands for a moment in 133 00:09:28.840 --> 00:09:32.360 the dark kitchen, listening to the house settle around him, 134 00:09:33.000 --> 00:09:36.919 the old wood creaking, the wind moving through the orchard. 135 00:09:37.879 --> 00:09:42.799 It sounds, he thinks, like breathing, Like the whole world 136 00:09:42.919 --> 00:09:47.120 is breathing, slow and steady, getting ready to sleep. He 137 00:09:47.240 --> 00:09:51.279 smiles and heads to bed, carrying the taste of cider 138 00:09:51.360 --> 00:09:54.480 and the warmth of the day with him, a sweetness 139 00:09:54.519 --> 00:09:56.000 that will last until morning.