Our Bloggers | Poverty Lane Orchards & Farnum Hill Ciders

Our Bloggers

These people do the writing on the site, unless otherwise noted. In order of prolixity:

Louisa D. Spencer is Ma PovCorp, and has been trying to get Farnum Hill Ciders noticed since 2000 when we came bravely down the hill with our handsome new labels and started pouring and explaining real cider. Thousands of sips and millions of words later, the job has become both pleasanter and bigger.

Corrie W. Martin is Farnum Hill Ciders’ Director of Sales and Market Strategy as of Summer 2007. She left the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth looking for a challenge, and continues bringing Farnum Hill Ciders into Northeastern markets we only dreamed of back in the early days.

Jessica Saturley came to work the 2008 harvest, prompting vigorous efforts by PovCorp management to stop her from following her bliss any farther. So far so good. She’s in every part of the operation, and has added new fun by devising Thirsty Thursdays.

Stephen M. Wood is Pa PovCorp, a great apple grower, bug and fungus expert, cider fermenter, blender, and advocate. Since the phone is by far his favorite information technology, Steve’s blogs may be sparse.

Brenda Bailey is PovCorp Central Command. She first came here to pack McIntosh back in the 1970′s, now runs the office, the retail stand, the raspberry field, and takes more and more of our most beautiful photos.

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One Response to “Our Bloggers”

Farnum Hill Semi-Dry Cider « Old Time Cider says:

March 21, 2010 at 8:36 pm

[...] thanks to Steve and the Farnum Hill Cider Crew… especially Corrie and Brenda for all the great communication, and friendly cider [...]

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Latest Posts

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            [post_date] => 2010-09-06 19:35:05
            [post_date_gmt] => 2010-09-06 23:35:05
            [post_content] => Congratulations to our colleagues from Wandering Aengus Ciderworks!  They've helped begin a Northwest Cider Association, and also are leading the charge for real ciders next by helping put together the first Cider Summit in Seattle. So Seattle area peeps, be sure to get your fill of US, UK and Canuck ciders for a benefit tasting on Saturday, September 11.  Here's the info:
The Northwest Cider Association, SBS Imports and the  Seattle Beer Collective are pleased to announce the First Annual Cider  Summit NW Saturday, September 11, 2010 at South Lake Union Discovery  Center Park from 11a-7p presented by Whole Foods Market.  The event will  feature the area’s largest ever gathering of artisanal ciders and cider  producers.

Perhaps a hybrid of beer festival and wine tasting,  Cider Summit NW offers guests an opportunity to sample some 40 elegantly  crafted ciders from producers in Washington, Oregon, British Columbia,  England, and France.  The owners and cidermakers will be on hand to  inform and guide guests through the samplings which will be available in  3-ounce and 6-ounce portions.  Each featured cider is made from 100%  pressed apples (or pears) and is made without concentrates or other  additives.

Cider Summit NW benefits The Institute for Myeloma & Bone Cancer Research (www.imbcr.org).   IMBCR is one of the world’s leading independent research organizations  developing effective therapies to increase the quality of life and  longevity of myeloma patients.  Cider Summit NW is presented by Whole  Foods Markets with supporting sponsors Northwest Cider Association,  Vulcan Properties, and Seattle Weekly.
To get your tickets in advance, or for additional information -- like the list of producers -- check out the Cider Summit homepage.

Alas, Farnum Hill is not distributed out there, but you never know -- a few bottles have certainly made their way out over the past few months.  But you'll have to have just the right cider connections for that!  And not to worry, there's another event coming in October, and we'll be pouring alongside the rest.  So left coasters, beware -- we've got you in our sights.
            [post_title] => September 11 Cider Summit, Left Coast Style...
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            [post_content] => All Cider was Hard.

So begins Jim Collins from Yankee Magazine, who wrote about  Farnum Hill Ciders in the September/October article, First Light: A House Where Cider Rules.

He visited Poverty Lane Orchards last year to interview Steve, and I remember being impressed with -- or surprised by -- the lead time Yankee requested.  But somehow planning so far ahead seems fitting for a northern New England-focused magazine: practical and frugal at once.

The article traces cider from the early days of American history -- you may recall that Johnny Appleseed was planting cider apples, not apples for the family fruit bowl -- through Prohibition and beyond.

At Poverty Lane Orchards, where we grow English, French and American cider apples (often rare, antique or heirloom varieties) to produce Farnum Hill Ciders, Steve Wood and Louisa Spencer are taking the orchard back  in time.  Grower and cidermaker Steve Wood explains some of what they were thinking:
"It was a huge gamble, and people called us crazy," Wood  recalls, sitting down with a glass of his Extra-Dry Still Cider in the  bottling room at the end of a day. He and Louisa traveled and talked  with old-time cider makers in England and France. They read everything  they could find. They experimented with different varieties; discovered  which apples grew well in the unforgiving New Hampshire climate; blended  them for just the right proportion of sugars, acids, tannins, and  fruitiness. Through trial and error, they refined the process. Their  timing was good: They jumped into this just as the microbrew and  local-food trends were gathering steam. Theirs was real cider, nuanced  cider, with the complexity of fine wine. They created a label: Farnum  Hill Ciders. And in liquor stores and fancy markets they found a niche.

Nearly two decades later, they've converted about half  of the orchard's 80 acres to cider trees and are preparing some 20 more  for planting. At trade shows and farmers' markets, Steve and Louisa are  on a crusade to introduce a nation of consumers to a product once found  in every farmhouse basement and back room in New England.

"Some people still call us crazy," Wood says, lifting a  glass of liquid gold to his lips. The flavor and aroma are subtle,  slightly woody; the drink goes down smooth. "We can't say we've won the  gamble yet," he adds. "But an awful lot of orchards have disappeared  since we started. And we're still here."
Join us by putting some history on the table, and let us help take you to a time before refrigeration, when ALL cider was hard.
            [post_title] => In A Time Before Refrigeration.....
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            [post_content] => Another week at Poverty Lane Orchards and Farnum Hill Ciders is concluding in a flurry of work. I have just the smallest sense of what it means to move an army -- as we're deploying three people in three different locations Monday and Tuesday of next week.  We'll be working in New Jersey with Hunterdon, our somewhat-new distributor, with appointments from both on and off premises from Trenton to the Jersey Shore -- and many points in between.

Of course, when you're a small producer, you maximize resources.  So we're not only touring the Garden State, but also have three (oh yeah!) events in New York City as well.

So come check out Farnum Hill in your choice of locations, with a slightly different twist each night.  On Monday night, at Rattle N Hum bar, conveniently located in the heart of Manhattan at 14 East 33rd Street, we're pouring some single variety ciders (Kingston Black and Ashmead's Kernel) along with draft Summer Cider and XDry Ciders.  Jess and I will be there beginning around 6 PM.  Crispin Cider folks will be on hand too -- so if you're interested in cider already or just curious, we'd love to see you.

Tuesday night brings our cider maker, Steve, to the New York City Homebrewers Guild, talking about home (and larger-scale) cider making. And finally, the blitz continues Wednesday night at 7:30 for a fantastic event with Amy Thompson of Lucy's Whey at Jimmy's 43.  Their artisan cheese paired with our orchard-made ciders will be featured, with Amy and Louisa from Farnum Hill guiding the sensory experience. Jimmy's is located downstairs at 43 East 7th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenue.  You may purchase tickets to this event online at Brown Paper Tickets.

Let the cider rumpus start!
            [post_title] => New York and New Jersey, here we come!
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            [post_content] => August 6th: It's true: not enough apples for Pick-Your-Own. So we have some ideas. Here's the Fall 2010 plan for our (dear, precious) customers: 


Opening day will be the Saturday AFTER Labor Day. Farmstand Hours will change slightly.

Playing around in these fields is still a great idea. Just the apples are missing. So we thought we'd set up a circuit through some of the fields that many of you know, and some paths that you don't, yet. Along the way will be signs that explain why our orchards look the way they do, why we hang weird objects in certain trees, how one frost in May canceled 75% of the crop, and why our risky climate grows such superior apples. Plus other bits and pieces of info that you may or may not care to know. One  good feature is that you can walk and read or walk and not read. 

Or not walk. We're thinking about the weekend wagon rides, too, since so many people enjoy rolling at 2mph among the trees. Probably we'll do some wagon rides just for fun.

As soon as possible we'll list the apple varieties we will and will not be able to offer this year. Feel free to call or write during this month for our best guess about Golden Russet or Calville or any of your other favorites.

PREVIOUS POSTS
July 1: Our earlier report (below)  is proving true: the cider apples survived May frosts much better than the pick-your-own varieties. So, at the moment, we think the Fall farm stand will be open with ready-picked apples and of course Farnum Hill ciders. Pick-your-own looks iffy so far, though running around in the orchards will still be fun. In a few weeks we'll figure out what more to tell you.

June 15: New News: Wow! There's a beautiful crop of cider apples in our Plainfield orchard on Black Hill! Thank you, diverse variety mix! And, Steve estimates that one of our most important crossover varieties, Esopus Spitzenberg, looks undestroyed! Thank you, rugged landscape of microclimates!

Unfortunately, the prospects look less bright for a jolly Poverty Lane Fall pick-your-own in 2010. Ditto for most of the wholesale 'Uncommon Apples.'  However, for the place as a whole, 2010 is now officially 'different,' rather than 'disastrous.'

Lots of interesting questions: can we make 'typical' Farnum Hill Ciders this year? Very likely not, given the unusual variety mix that came through the freeze. So do we produce some atypical, bittersweet-heavy FHC's and put special '2010 Frost Year' labels on them? Over in England that kind of cider would seem familiar, but here it's yet another new old thing. Do we just sell the juice to other serious cidermakers and just run out of typical FHC for a while? How about a bit of each?

June 2: New Clues: Without fine horticultural detail, there is a late-June phenomenon called "June Drop," when our fruit trees throw off their badly-pollinated or otherwise damaged little fruits. We know there's some kind of patchy localized fruit-set (early apple formation) out there, but we don't know how many will stay on the trees when they make their 'decision' about what to grow on. More later.

May Bummer Bulletin: With all the newly-pollinated blossoms hanging out in the open air three weeks earlier than normal, the bad thing happened. Normal came back: a normal few days with normal frosty nights. And the teeny apples froze through, which usually kills them. Not to mention the cherries (be brave, summer pie people.)

So here's where the old old expression "nipped in the bud" gets back to its literal sense. The weather in February, March and April has been, if you are a fruit grower, scary warm. The buds on the trees raced ahead, cracking open, pushing up leaf and flower clusters, opening the clusters into frail little single buds with no cold protection. This is one of the possibilities that fruit growers dread in Spring. Because if regular seasonal temperatures reassert themselves, the buds freeze through at night. Ordinarily they would stay pressed together till the cold nights pass, but not this year.

At Poverty Lane Orchards/Farnum Hill Ciders (PovCo for short), with such varied crops (raspberries, pie cherries pears, plums, and a hundred kinds of apples) growing on so many different slopes, we won't know for a while what percentage of itty-bitty post-pollination fruits may grow on.  Thirty years ago was the last time H.R.H. Jack Frost de-fruited the orchards here, so maybe we're due. If so, look here for madly creative and fascinating orchard-based concepts in the near future. If not, back to normal crazy.
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            [post_date] => 2010-08-03 15:08:47
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            [post_content] => After some holiday time, traveling time and kid flapping time, I'm starting to get back into work mode.

We had a visit from charming Amanda, a Boston-area Bruins fan, wine blogger, and cider enthusiast this past Saturday. (She blogs at the Wineing Woman so check that out.) Jess and I walked her through some of the cider making process, showed her around the cider room, and poured ample samples in hopes that she'll use some of her energy to help move the Massachusetts cider cause ahead with us.

If you're already in Boston, look for relocated cider gnome Jess (pictured at work in the cider room last fall, with photo by Scott McIntyre) to be out and about working with our retailers and distributors.  I'm sure you'll see her at a sampling near you soon -- with her trusty sidekick Oona if you're lucky!  She's looking to get up to speed on the Boston drinks scene quickly, which thus far seems to involve going to lots of bars.  Market research, I'm told.

We are also looking for a few good people to help us with samplings, trade shows, beer and wine events, and the like throughout New England.  It's a perfect job for a graduate student, foodie, or someone looking to supplement another part-time job. Nights and weekends are a must, as is Farnum Hill Cider love.  The job description is right here for you to look at, and we're hoping to get folks up to speed before fall hits.

More Poverty Lane and Farnum Hill news coming soon -- including a recent visit to the orchard from Senator Jeanne Shaheen.
            [post_title] => Farnum Hill's Boston Blitz, Help Needed
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September 11 Cider Summit, Left Coast Style...

In A Time Before Refrigeration.....

New York and New Jersey, here we come!

HARVEST 2010's NEW ORCHARD WALK

Farnum Hill's Boston Blitz, Help Needed

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