Cider Pressing & U-Pick Launch
Join us for one of the sweetest days of the year! Help press fresh cider and celebrate the opening of U-Pick season in our orchard. Participants are welcome to arrive between 10 a.m. & Noon to participate in the fruit harvest & cider pressing. Participants can pay $5 per person for an optional farm tour from 1-2 p.m. You’ll explore:
Hands-on cider pressing & cider tasting
Fruit harvesting in our mature organic orchard
Community harvest celebration
Note: This workshop is run more like an event and has no cap on the number of participants. Information sharing will be minimal, particularly compared to our other farm workshops.
Sliding scale & optional add-ons:
Free participation open to all: Join in the fall harvest fun by picking apples & pears. Contribute your picked fruit to the community cider making & enjoy free cider samples. Bring your own snacks or lunch for a picnic in our home base area.
WIC & Senior Farm Direct vouchers: We anticipate being approved to accept WIC & Senior farm direct vouchers during this event. Purchase fresh fruit at the farmstand using your $4 vouchers.
$20 take home - fresh fruit & cider: Fill our custom, handmade bag with apples & pears, then contribute apples to our cider pressing & take home ~half a bag of apples and a half gallon of cider.
$5 Upcycled fruit bag: Take home our custom, handmade upcycled bag for an extra $5. Bring your own tote to take home fresh fruit if you don’t want to purchase a bag.
$5 per person farm tour from 1-2 p.m. - After we wrap up our fruit picking and cider making, participants are invited to explore more of our farm, learning about regenerative agriculture & meeting & feeding our goats and more!
Families with 3-5 family members can pay $15 to participate in the farm tour.
Note: We are working on other pricing levels for participants who only want to purchase a few apples or apple cider.
Accommodations & items to bring:
Hazards:
Blackberry & tall grass - As an organic farm & conservation easement, we do minimal mowing in our orchard and do not use herbicides on our blackberry. Participants will be most comfortable & protected wearing close toed shoes & clothes that cover your legs.
Ground squirrel holes & uneven ground - Look out for holes on the way to & from and throughout the orchard! Our orchard and farm paths are not wheelchair friendly, unless you have an adventure chair meant for uneven ground.
Wasps - Our stinging pollinator friends love sweet fruit as much as we do. Participants with allergies to wasps are encouraged to bring epi-pens or allergy meds. They will be present near the cider pressing area & in the orchards. We use organic pest control methods to reduce wasp activity.
Heavy lifting: All participants who want to sample or take home cider will be asked to harvest apples from the orchard and bring them to our home base food processing area. If you cannot or do not want to carry a full bag of apples a few hundred yards, we recommend bringing a wagon or cart if you have one. We may have a few carts available.
Noise: Our apple grinder is quite loud and will be running continuously. We also run a large fan to keep wasps away from the pressing area. We recommend bringing ear protection, especially for those sensitive to loud noise. We do have some ear protection available, but they are not the best fit for smaller heads.
Kids & families: Families are encouraged to bring a baby wearing item to carry non-walking kiddos. Strollers are not ideal on our farm. Wagons can be used but will be a bumpy ride!
