We had such a fun tour learning about hard cider making at AppleGarden Farm.
Based near Tomales, Jan and Louis purchased the property in 2007 and planted semi-dwarf apple varieties. They make ‘farmstead” cider with no added sweeteners or concentrates.
From their website: “We also wanted to have a complete hands-on operation: we would not only grow and hand-pick all the apples, we’d also take care of all the other operations that go with cider making: sort, wash, grind, and press. After picking the apples as they ripen, we store them at a controlled temperature for a couple of weeks so they completely develop all the inherent sugars. We then wash, sort, and press, putting the juice into 30 gallon drums to ferment. Using all natural yeast, we watch the fermentation closely and when it’s finished, rack into another stainless steel drum to mature. When we decide the cider is ready after a few months, bottling and labeling is done by hand so that each bottle is the perfect result of months of loving care.”
Happy hens in the organic orchard.
There are multiple varieties of apples.
Tour in the orchard.
Potluck picnic.
Beautiful apples.
Beehives.
Jan and her husband, Louis, are the farmers and cider-makers.
Bottling.
Fermenting barrels of cider.
~ Karen Hamilton-Roth