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Cider Digest #1455
Subject: Cider Digest #1455, 19 July 2008
From: cider-request@talisman.com
Cider Digest #1455 19 July 2008
Forum for Discussion of Cider Issues
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Do we need our own magazine? (Alan Yelvington)
Rotting Pears and Stinking Bishop (Andrew Lea)
Re: Cider operations in Pennsylvania (Dick Dunn)
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Subject: Do we need our own magazine?
From: Alan Yelvington <alany@semparpac.org>
Date: Sun, 13 Jul 2008 09:11:02 -0400
Long ago and far away I dappled in alternative energy systems for fun
and profit. AE for home systems was rare and the realm of hippies and
geeks, and then came Home Power magazine. This was a grassroots
magazine that came out once a month on newsprint and can claim credit
for the boom in the home power revolution. www.homepower.com
So, do we have our own rag? I've spent an incredible amount of time
surfing for articles, supplies, and advice. A periodical for the
cider/perry crowd may be just the thing a lot of us are interested in.
I retire from the military next year and hope to have my own cider
orchard up in Pennsylvania. I have experience in publishing from some
time in industry, and I'm wondering how the folks on the forum feel
about having a magazine (complete with advertising) to speak to the
cause of cider and perry?
I'm thinking that the first few issues would have to be free and simply
posted as PDF on a website. Once there was adequate demand, a hardcopy
distribution could take root and bear fruit. (I couldn't resist)
Comments?
Al Yelvington
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Subject: Rotting Pears and Stinking Bishop
From: Andrew Lea <andrew_lea@compuserve.com>
Date: Wed, 16 Jul 2008 10:16:20 +0100
Here's a couple of interesting links recently appeared:
1. An article for nerdy people on why pears rot faster than apples has
just been posted at <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7501420.stm>
Seems it's all to do with gas exchange. The full scientific paper on
which it's based (not to mention the videos) can be downloaded as an
open access PDF from
<http://www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/content/abstract/147/2/518> and links
thereat.
2. Charles Martell, the Gloucestershire (UK) Apple and Pear Guru, not to
mention originator of the Stinking Bishop Cheese, has created a 'book'
on Native Apples of Gloucestershire. It's a Word Document and a 10MB
download to be found at
<http://www.orchard-group.uklinux.net/glos/apples/index.php> The reason
it's so big is it contains a lot of very useful images of the apples
described. Not all the apples are for cider, of course, but very many are!
Andrew Lea
- --
Wittenham Hill Cider Page
http://www.cider.org.uk
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Subject: Re: Cider operations in Pennsylvania
From: Dick Dunn <rcd@talisman.com>
Date: Sat, 19 Jul 2008 11:36:04 -0600
Alan Yelvington wrote:
> I will be starting my second (third?) life in NW Pennsylvania next year
> after 30 years bopping round in the Coast Guard.
[going for cider production]
Welcome to the growing, graying crowd!
...
> I want to ferment on site and distribute regionally.
>
> The surveyor is due this week, the COOP is waiting for soil samples, and
> the tractor is ready to break ground. I plan to plant this fall as a
> basic orchard, but want to get the paperwork started so I'm legal in two
> years.
While it's good to get started on the paperwork (you don't want to be
picking apples with one hand while filling out forms with the other!),
keep in mind that you're going to have annual fees as soon as you're
licensed, in addition to the up-front fees.
May we ask about the larger picture--that is, beyond the paperwork and
permitting?
Two years is awfully ambitious for production starting from an unplanted
plot! Realize that the character of fruit will change (generally for the
better) as trees mature.
Do you have a good idea of what varieties will do well in your particular
area? I'm thinking terroir/micro-climate considerations. Have you tried
making cider from local fruit? I'm not trying to be a wet blanket, just
that it took me quite a few years to find out which varieties actually work
for us, here. Sometimes a particular variety grows and flourishes but the
fruit isn't all that interesting. Other times the variety produces great
fruit but the trees are too challenged (by winter cold, excess summer heat,
whatever) to do well.
One more thought for up-front work, which applies to doing anything major
and new in a rural area: Try to get your neighbors acquainted with what
you plan. It's likely you'll have supporters, and a few objectors, right
from the start. But folks who might be ambivalent can be brought 'round
to your side much more readily if you talk to them ahead of time than if
the first they hear of your plans is a notice for a formal hearing.
- --
Dick Dunn rcd@talisman.com Hygiene, Colorado USA
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End of Cider Digest #1455
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