The still is running!! Apple cider turns hard.. to 6% alcohol.. Then into the still.. At 176 degrees F the alcohol boils/evaporates, separates from the cider and turns to steam.. The steam condenses through the coil back into liquid and runs out as 140 proof apple brandy. This ages in white oak barrels for 2 to 3 years before bottling. Now, in November- December we are distilling the cider we pressed in October. After the second time through the still, this pure clear liquid is put to rest for it’s aging time.. and will keep getting better with age.. kinda like me ‘n Terry.. Nick

Ok.. The apples are all off the trees!! Yeh! It does my heart good to drive around the orchard and see all the trees totally void of apples.. Yes many of them are on the ground. We had some big winds. But all in all we have had a great harvest. I am going into the preharvest mode with my heart full of wonderful stories and all the fantastic people that made it all happen so well, and the bank full of enough money to make it through another year.. what more can I ask.. I’m filled up.. and i thank every one who came and supported us.. and I thank all the people who worked for me.. 8 weeks of 12 to 14 hour days with out stop.. It’s now over and the trees are turning that wonderful gold.. and the craziness of harvest has quieted.. It’s so peaceful. We are filling the 400 gallon tanks with cider to ferment for the distillery. The still will be running in December.. I can not wait!! …. Nick

This is it!! The apples are perfect. The cider mill is running and making cold crisp sweet cider. The donut machines are cutting beautiful orbs of cinnamon sugar perfection.. Pies are baking, The smells alone around the orchard are to die for. Bluegrass music is cranked up on the outside system, the music is floating down into the apple trees and mixing with the sounds of children and families laughing and happily picking their own apples…. Everything about these days here in the orchard sings of harvest and fall in Vermont. It really doesn’t get any better than this.
What kind of apple do you like?.. Gala? Honey crisp? McIntosh?.. Mcoun? .. Mutzu? .. They are all here, We have over 25 varieties, that ripen throughout September and October. I can not tell you the exact dates of when they ripen, but that will be a great reason for you to come back every week or two to find out. I hope to see you here, come find me.. I’m always around somewhere, I love to say hi.. come pick!! .. Nick

The apples are huge and luscious, Rows and rows of tree just waiting for someone to come and lighten their load. The tractors are idol, they’ve finished their summer job and are now saddled with forks and trailers to bring the apples in to the storage building. Pallets of cake donut mix are on order, and the donut robots are oiled and waiting. Since we started making cider donuts however many years ago.. they have become as big a part of harvest as the apples themselves. Some people come just for the donuts.. Thousands of donuts get made every day. The machines that make donuts are at least 30 years old and have many moving parts. If one breaks down we have another in the wings to immediately jump in and keep the donuts flowing. The still has made it through it’s first firing, with only water.. It works.. It made distilled water!!! We’ve achieved our federal permits and now are focusing on the Vermont state permits.. It’s all taking a long time but we are persisting.. We are now picking Paula red apples and are looking forward to September 13th for the Small farms Food Festival. So keep that on your calendar and we’ll see you all soon… Nick

I love thunderstorms. As July and August slip by us.. These wonderful summer thunderstorms that roll through in the afternoons and evenings, an apple growers Russian roulette. The storms come over the lake, I see the thunderheads building over the adirondacks. If I look up and watch the clouds, I can tell the direction they are tracking, and whether or not we lie in their path. The quiet before the storm, the high contrast light, with ominous blue-green clouds silently slipping over the afternoon sky. The hail usually come before the main body of the storm. I hear that first “tack” as the first hailstone hits the metal roof of the packing-shed.. then another.. and then “all hail” brakes loose.. 3 seconds of hard hail can wipe out our entire crop… one full years work… here in the 11th hour.. August.. Nick

How many times in your life have you ever had a fresh sour cherry Pie? I’m not talking about the ones you get at the local bakery.. or the ones with the fillings that come in cans.. No.. I’m talking Montmorency.. This 17th century french baking cherry that holds the heavy weight champion title for all-out best pie variety. If anyone thinks they don’t like cherry pie.. they have never had a real one. Most recipes call for a little too much sugar, It’s the balance of the sweet and sour mixture that sends this pie through the roof. I also like to turn the temperature down to 275F after the first half hour of 350F, and let the pie cook longer. I like the cherries to still be in tact, but melt in my mouth.. totally fall apart when I bite into them.

Anyway… what I am getting around to.. We have these Montmorency cherries almost ready for “Pick Your Own”. Usually around the 4th of July.. and we will be open on the weekends, or during the week if you call ahead.. We’ve netted them to keep the birds off. and will pull the nets off on the days we open.. I will send out an email to all on the Orchard email list, so keep an eye out for it.. .. Nick

We have a beautiful “Set”. The trees have produced another wonderful bounty of apples. No bigger than blueberries they bristle over the trees. The honey bees worked their magic. The frost didn’t seem to hurt anything.. and we are off to another growing season full of everything thing on earth that loves to eat, sting or lay eggs in apples.
I’m in the process of building the fire box for the new still. I’m hopeful that we get through the permitting process by fall so we can get started!! I’m beside myself waiting! I want to be filling oak barrels with fine apple brandy!! Nick

Full bloom happened on Thursday and Friday May 14th and 15th.. following 2 mornings of frost. Wednesday morning around 5.30 am there was ice on my truck windshield that my wipers couldn’t wipe off. There was frost on the roof of the tractor shed. By all accounts we should have lost a major percentage of the blossoms.. but there has been no sign of wilted flowers. The sun was out all day on friday. Chaz Mraz and James and Ian, showed up in their truck with a trailer full of 25 bee hives from Champlain Valley Apiaries to place around the orchard. Each stack of bee hives was placed facing east towards the rising sun, warming the hives and inticing the bees out into this euphoric dazzle of color and smell and apple blossom pollen! Yum!!! Every tree in the orchard was alive with the buzzing of bees.. So far so good.. It feels like we have been very lucky to have escaped frost damage.. I don’t even feel comfortable saying that.. maybe there has been damage, I just can’t see it yet. waiting hopefully… Nick

The Peepers are making a lot of noise in the swamp, The tips of the apple buds are all just a little green.. The water in Lake Champlain is 68 degrees, The pruning brush is out of the orchard, and we are in apple scab season!! Before the leaves of the apple trees are out, we have to dig all the trees we want to sell, and we also need to plant all the trees we that we have to plant this spring. Over 500 trees, apples mostly, and a few sour cherries. It’s time to fertilize, spread compost, check for any over winter mouse damage, and go through all the tractors, sprayers and mowers to be sure they are ready for another seasons abuse. We have a new fungicide to try in the organic block. The MOST exciting of all is the new apple brandy copper still the is showing up from Portugal. We are planning on making apple brandy from all the dropped apples in the orchard that the FDA won’t let us make sweet cider out of. More on this later.. We will take lots of pictures upon it’s arrival… tomorrow!!! Nick

I think in Vermont it’s kind of a rite of passage into summer to get thoroughly stuck in the spring mud.. I’m still waiting, I came close driving my truck across a seemingly innocent stretch of grass when the steering changed to the feeling of driving a boat.. the truck started slowing down fast, and that settling feeling with no speed increase to correspond with the RPM increase. I looked in the rear view mirror and I could see a beautiful rooster tail of mud shooting 25 feet out behind.. I reached down and pulled the shift lever into 4 wheel drive. I floored it!! I looked over at Terry, who was riding with me.. Big grin!! We were on our way to lunch.. and NOTHING gets in the way of lunch!! As I said.. “I came close”.. We made it to lunch!! Liverwurst sandwiches at the Old Brick Store!! Nick