Cornell hosted an Organic Apple Production Workshop last week in Balliston Spa, NY, which was well attended by conventional and organic apple farmers alike. There wasn't much beyond what Michael Philips covers in his The Apple Grower book, but what was of great interest was the disconnection between organic ideology and big farming.
New Yorkers, unlike New Englanders, farm with aspirations of grandeur; they want to 'make it big.' It might also be said that New Yorkers are more competitive. But philosophically, the organic principle and the Wall Street mentality are at opposite poles: one defends nature's realities, the other mans' reality. Can the two philosophies share a common goal? My feeling in lieu of talking to the many farmers last week (mostly farmers managing farms over 50 acres,) the answer is: NO.
NY farmers are living in a reality dominated by mans' needs and they put them above the needs of the land and environment. As they see it, they are responsible for hundreds of jobs and the state supports them because of the tax revenue so they have too many external pressures to prioritize eco and human health concerns. It can be said though, if organic apples are worth big money then it would all be a different story. If it's economically feasible to switch over to organic then they would. But it won't be the farmer who forces that decision.
It's up to the consumers to demand and pay for local and organic apples. And consumers need to be organized at a higher level if NY farms are going to practice organic-only orcharding. Little farms can provide organic produce to small niche markets but if big farms are to convert to organic production then the organic markets need to be scaled up and biased to reward "local" produce. We have 100 million people within a days drive of New York, and of course some of them demand "local-organic", but are the masses ready to pay for it? Long story short: Don't expect big farmers to be leading the way, it's up to consumers to convert the local farms to organic.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Friday, November 12, 2010
Cider Days 2010
Just back from Cider Days in Franklin County, MA, the Northeast's biggest (hard) cider event held annually in November. I was not feeling well so I missed the evening salon which is the main draw, but the day events made the experience well worth the travel. My only complaint is I couldn't be in two places at the same time as many valuable sessions occurred simultaneously. These were my highlights:
-Claude Jolicoer delivered a particularly inspirational talk on apple blending just as we showed up on Saturday. He is making cider of fine-wine quality, just as I would like to. He defies industry practice by incorporating old "run-down" trees. So far, my best cider has come from the fruit of these undervalued old timers!
-Also I met Michael Phillips of organic apple fame. I'll say for the first time, because I hope to join him on his farm or organic orchardist meetings in the future.
-Judi Malloney was busy all weekend (the whole weekend was dedicated in honor of her late husband) but we did see her again briefly, which was super. I contend she is the most positive human being on the planet.
-Bring-your-own cider was a crowd pleaser. Paul Correnty and Charlie Olchowski are brilliantly insightful and tasted over 20 amateur ciders including my own. The New England regional preference for dry, high-alcohol and multi-ingredient ciders really came out (I'll blog on this later as it's a huge topic.) Nothing was sub par. No one was sober when it was over.
-Finally the visit to organic Bear Swamp Orchard topped my weekend. Jen and Steve Gougeon are my new heros, creating a diversified organic homestead and growing a home farm business all in the head-winds of this economy by maintaining additional day jobs . Their companionship is important to us as we share many of the same goals, virtues and situations.
-Claude Jolicoer delivered a particularly inspirational talk on apple blending just as we showed up on Saturday. He is making cider of fine-wine quality, just as I would like to. He defies industry practice by incorporating old "run-down" trees. So far, my best cider has come from the fruit of these undervalued old timers!
-Also I met Michael Phillips of organic apple fame. I'll say for the first time, because I hope to join him on his farm or organic orchardist meetings in the future.
-Judi Malloney was busy all weekend (the whole weekend was dedicated in honor of her late husband) but we did see her again briefly, which was super. I contend she is the most positive human being on the planet.
-Bring-your-own cider was a crowd pleaser. Paul Correnty and Charlie Olchowski are brilliantly insightful and tasted over 20 amateur ciders including my own. The New England regional preference for dry, high-alcohol and multi-ingredient ciders really came out (I'll blog on this later as it's a huge topic.) Nothing was sub par. No one was sober when it was over.
-Finally the visit to organic Bear Swamp Orchard topped my weekend. Jen and Steve Gougeon are my new heros, creating a diversified organic homestead and growing a home farm business all in the head-winds of this economy by maintaining additional day jobs . Their companionship is important to us as we share many of the same goals, virtues and situations.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
5 Things Commonly Misunderstood About Cider
Forgetting sometimes that most people don't live on an apple farm, that they are not making hard cider professionally, or that their only exposure to cider is the "sweet cider" variety available only in the fall (locally fresh, that is), here is some 411:
1) What Americans call "hard cider" is historically and internationally known only as "cider." We have confused the issue by calling sweet cider, "cider", and we call real cider, "hard cider", but the truest definition of cider is simply the fermented apple juice (w/ alcohol.)
2) Cider and wine are the same thing, the base fruit is the only difference. A good cider-maker will also be a good wine-maker, and vica versa. To make a good wine, you must be skilled, knowledgeable and equipped with the right tools. Most important, you must have good grapes. Good wine-grapes make all the difference in wine making, so too: good cider-apples make all the difference in ciders.
3) There are eating apples and then there are cider-apples. 99.99% of Americans could not name a single cider-apple variety because 99.99999% of the apples grown in the U.S. are eating apples. (Even most orchardists are unaware of cider-apples!) Remember this: You can't make good wine from eating-grapes (nor would you would enjoy eating wine-grapes) and you can't make good cider from eating-apples.
4) America was a nation of cider drinkers for 300 years. Cider was drank in greater volume then beer, wine, and hard liquor combined! Ordinary Americans grew apples like the Greeks grow fig trees, one in every yard. We had American apple terroir like the French have regions of wine fame. Everyone drank cider, even children (a watered-down version,) because cider was safer to drink then most water sources.
5) 100 years ago there were over 14,000 varieties of apples grown in the U.S.; today there is less then 1/10th that. Prohibition, subsidized farming, cheep fuel and government subversion teamed up to devastate our apple culture. Prohibition sought to end home-brewing practices like moon-shining, it also made it illegal to craft one's own dinner drink. It's hard to imagine now, but it's impossible to understate the magnitude of this interruption in relation to the age-old tradition of home-brewing which was a major past-time in rural America. The tradition never recovered. Eventually cheep fuel and federally funded highways made it possible to bring subsidized farm produce from one side of the country to the other for seemingly less energy then growing it ourselves! This made prepared and pre-packaged foods like beer incredibly cheep to produce. The progression of "America's Century" essentially resulted in a monumental break in man-kinds ancient connection to our farming and food-preparing past. So too, 10's of thousands of apple varieties were lost.
1) What Americans call "hard cider" is historically and internationally known only as "cider." We have confused the issue by calling sweet cider, "cider", and we call real cider, "hard cider", but the truest definition of cider is simply the fermented apple juice (w/ alcohol.)
2) Cider and wine are the same thing, the base fruit is the only difference. A good cider-maker will also be a good wine-maker, and vica versa. To make a good wine, you must be skilled, knowledgeable and equipped with the right tools. Most important, you must have good grapes. Good wine-grapes make all the difference in wine making, so too: good cider-apples make all the difference in ciders.
3) There are eating apples and then there are cider-apples. 99.99% of Americans could not name a single cider-apple variety because 99.99999% of the apples grown in the U.S. are eating apples. (Even most orchardists are unaware of cider-apples!) Remember this: You can't make good wine from eating-grapes (nor would you would enjoy eating wine-grapes) and you can't make good cider from eating-apples.
4) America was a nation of cider drinkers for 300 years. Cider was drank in greater volume then beer, wine, and hard liquor combined! Ordinary Americans grew apples like the Greeks grow fig trees, one in every yard. We had American apple terroir like the French have regions of wine fame. Everyone drank cider, even children (a watered-down version,) because cider was safer to drink then most water sources.
5) 100 years ago there were over 14,000 varieties of apples grown in the U.S.; today there is less then 1/10th that. Prohibition, subsidized farming, cheep fuel and government subversion teamed up to devastate our apple culture. Prohibition sought to end home-brewing practices like moon-shining, it also made it illegal to craft one's own dinner drink. It's hard to imagine now, but it's impossible to understate the magnitude of this interruption in relation to the age-old tradition of home-brewing which was a major past-time in rural America. The tradition never recovered. Eventually cheep fuel and federally funded highways made it possible to bring subsidized farm produce from one side of the country to the other for seemingly less energy then growing it ourselves! This made prepared and pre-packaged foods like beer incredibly cheep to produce. The progression of "America's Century" essentially resulted in a monumental break in man-kinds ancient connection to our farming and food-preparing past. So too, 10's of thousands of apple varieties were lost.
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