Pohick Country Fair
Apple Butter Weekend: Great Fellowship and Camaraderie
Time is drawing near for the Pohick Country Fair, and with that big event at Pohick comes Apple Butter Weekend. Hopefully, calendars are already marked and everyone is really eager to get started. Apple Butter Weekend is Saturday, September 27 and Sunday, September 28; and a whole bunch of volunteers are needed to get the job done.
Work will get started on Saturday at 7:00 am, and this is when the greatest number of volunteers are needed. There are many things that need to happen to get the four 40 gallon kettles cooking. Members of the Apple Butter Gang will be there to greet people and to get volunteers started. Eighty bushels of apples will be cut into snits. The snits will be cook down to a soft “mush” in the copper kettles outside the Common Room, and then that “mush” will be processed through motorized food processors into applesauce. This will take all day Saturday. Please bring a paring knife and cutting board. All possible volunteers will be needed. The cutting process should be completed before noon, and the processing-into-apple-sauce phase and clean up should be finished by 5:00 pm. Come all weekend, come all day, or come for part of the day, and the time will be greatly appreciated. Support from the congregation is critical, and there are never enough volunteers. There is always room for more people and friends!
Sunday is devoted to cooking the applesauce “down” to Apple Butter and canning it in pint jars. It takes 12 hours of steady cooking over a good fire to reach the canning point. Here again a large number of volunteers are needed to get all the work done in a timely fashion. There is a GREAT JOB for each person. Expect to can about 1,000 pint jars of Apple Butter.
It takes about 150 pounds of sugar to make apple butter. If possible, please donate a five or 10 pound bag of sugar, and leave it in the kitchen. Brown grocery bags are also needed for Fair Day. Please leave donations in the kitchen marked with “For Apple Butter.” Finally, please do NOT bring back old jars. New jars are used each year, so please recycle any old jars.
The fellowship and camaraderie are great. Join the fun! Meet a whole lot of fine people and make a whole lot of new friends. For more details, find one of the “Apple Butter Gang” at coffee hour. Just ask around…they are not hard to find!
2008 Apple Butter Schedule
Friday, September 26 - Apple Butter Setup
Noon - 5:00 pm Setup (Kettles, firewood, Etc)
Saturday, September 27 - Apple Sauce Day
7:00 am - 10:00 am Wash, cut apples and start
cooking
8:00 am - 3:00 pm Cook apples into applesauce with
many stirrers needed!
3:00 pm - 5:00 pm Cleanup and setup for next day
Sunday, September 28 - Apple Butter Day
3:00 am - 3:00 pm Cook applesauce into Apple
Butter with many stirrers needed!
10:45 am Apple Butter Eucharist
2:00 pm - 4:00 pm Canning of the Apple Butter
- All Hands Needed!
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm Tear down and cleanup
6:00 pm - ? Apple Butter Social
Friday - Saturday, October 3 - 4 - Fair Day
11:00 pm Setup
12 midnight - 12 noon Cook two kettles of Apple
Butter
12 noon - 1:00 pm Canning of the Apple Butter
1:00 pm - 3:00 pm Cleaning of the kettles
Sunday, October 5 - Fair Tear Down Day
8:00 am - 11:00 am Tear down and store items
11:00 am - 1:00 pm Bratwurst Cookout
Come for an hour, a day, or a weekend!
Hodge Podge
The fun is about to begin at the Pohick Country Fair. Since Telegraph Self Storage has donated a unit for “treasures,” donations can be accepted immediately! Items that are clean and packaged so that all of the parts will stay together are best. Furniture, small appliances, toys, games, bicycles, lawn tools, hand tools, lamps, house wares, linens, knick knacks, children’s clothes, and adult jackets or sweaters sell very well.
Pohickians need Hodge Podge. It’s a team effort! Let’s clean house! New volunteers are needed this year. Please join the group! A sign-up sheet will be posted soon.
Entertainers Needed!
Volunteer entertainers, such as clowns, magicians, balloon art, face painting, etc. are needed for the annual Country Fair on Saturday, October 4, 2008. Please contact Ginny Biggs at biggs703@cox.net, to volunteer or to refer others with talent.
