FINNRIVER FARM & CIDERY JOURNAL

Finnriver Celebrates 15 Years

Wed, 10 Sep 2025 16:59:00 GMT

15 Years of Cider, Community, and Connection to the Land

New! Finnriver's Organic Journey Unfolds in Cans

laura@finnriver.com (Laura Prendergast) — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 20:43:18 GMT

In the quiet hollow of the Chimacum Valley, as the first green shoots push through soil warmed by lengthening days, we at Finnriver find ourselves at a similar threshold of emergence and renewal. Like the apple trees in our orchard awakening from their winter slumber, we too are stretching toward new possibilities while remaining rooted in what matters most.

We're delighted to share that Finnriver Farm & Cidery is embracing a season of growth with the introduction of our premium organic craft ciders in a convenient can format. As the Pacific Northwest's first B Corp certified cidery, this evolution represents not just a new package, but a continuation of our commitment to crafting cider made with 100% organic ingredients.

With the arrival of April's gentle rains, our shelves will bloom with two beloved varieties in their new aluminum vessels:

Bloom (6.5% ABV) Semi-dry, fruity and bright. Crisp, organic Washington apples dance with sweet, organic blueberries, lending this sparkling cider its distinctive purple hue.

Blush (6.5% ABV) Dry, crisp and light. Tart, organic Washington apples meet organic black currants in this beautiful, pink-hued sparkling cider.

"Just as our land transforms through cycles of dormancy and fruition, Finnriver continues to evolve while honoring what's essential," reflects Amanda Oborne, our CEO. "These cans represent a natural progression in our story – making our ciders more accessible for adventures beyond the farmstead while remaining true to our principles of working with organic ingredients."

Our canned ciders will emerge from their winter development just in time for Mother's Day picnics and outings – a fitting tribute to the nurturing energy that sustains our work and our world.

We invite you to join us the evening of Friday, April 25th at Finnriver for a special Can Launch Celebration from 5-7pm ! Drop by for rolling samples or join a guided tasting & mini tour in the Cider Barn at either 5:30 PM or 6:15 PM. Enter to win giveaways and stick around for Honky Tonk Night. Let’s toast to cider made with 100% organic fruit, now available in cans!

Finnriver Celebrates 15th Anniversary with 10-Year Pommeau Release

laura@finnriver.com (Laura Prendergast) — Thu, 13 Feb 2025 17:39:08 GMT

Finnriver Farm & Cidery is proud to unveil its 10-Year Pommeau—a unique and limited release.

Sustainability at Finnriver: 2024 Year in Review

laura@finnriver.com (Laura Prendergast) — Thu, 12 Dec 2024 16:39:22 GMT

More than 16,600 pounds of material was diverted from the waste stream:

167+ pounds of natural corks were gathered for recycling through a program called ReCORK .
47+ pounds of synthetic, composite and T-corks were diverted for upcycling in crafting activities at the Cider Garden
807+ pounds of cider bottle label liners were gathered for recycling thanks to our partners in sustainability, Trysk Print Solutions in Seattle.
23,498+ pounds of mixed food waste and cider pressing waste were redirected to our compost. The compost is located onsite and then used to nourish our organic orchard.
Over 229 pounds of food rescued – Food rescue volunteers deliver to Port Townsend Food Bank. Rescued food is also shared with Finnriver crew.
868 pounds of bottle label liners were recycled
20 pounds of rubber gloves and safety gear were recycled
163+ pounds of small metals, including bottle caps, cages, bottle foil and lids were recycled.
37+ pounds of Styrofoam and polystyrene were recycled
8+ pounds of alkaline batters collected for recycling

Did you know?

Finnriver became a Certified B Corp in 2015, which verifies a business is meeting high standards of performance, accountability, and transparency on social and environmental commitments. B Corps join a "global movement for an inclusive, equitable, and regenerative economy."

This photo shows all of the materials we welcome back for reuse!

The Art of Barrel Aging

laura@finnriver.com (Laura Prendergast) — Mon, 19 Aug 2024 20:56:35 GMT

"The kind of wood matters," says Finnriver Cidermaker Chris, highlighting the importance of choosing the right barrels to complement the flavor profile of the cider.

A Toast to the Community Forest with Chimacum Ridge Toasted Fir Cider

laura@finnriver.com (Laura Prendergast) — Fri, 02 Aug 2024 00:10:54 GMT

Photo taken at sunrise from Chimacum Ridge by Kerry Tremain. This photo is on the label of Finnriver’s Chimacum Ridge Toasted Fir Cider, a celebration of the Chimacum Ridge Community Forest which rises to the south of Finnriver’s organicorchard

Finnriver Farm & Cidery Hires New Ceo

laura@finnriver.com (Laura Prendergast) — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 20:55:41 GMT

Amanda Oborne joins the B-Corp farm and cidery full-time as of April 2024

Getting to Finnriver Via Public Transit

laura@finnriver.com (Laura Prendergast) — Tue, 26 Mar 2024 20:46:38 GMT

We recommend bringing your bicycle to expand your options for getting around.

Seattle to Finnriver

Option One: Kingston Fast Ferry Monday-Friday only

Kitsap Transit Fast Ferry from Peir 50 to Kingston

Jefferson Transit Kingston Express #14 to Four Corners Park and Ride

Link to schedule: 02-Planning-a-Trip-to-SEA-9.24.2023.pdf (jeffersontransit.com)

From Four Corners, Link to schedule: PT-TO-Chim-7.10.23.pdf (jeffersontransit.com)

Option Two: Edmonds-Kingston Ferry or Kingston Fast Ferry

Jefferson Transit Kingston Express #14 to Four Corners Park and Ride

Link to schedule: 02-Planning-a-Trip-to-SEA-9.24.2023.pdf (jeffersontransit.com)

Or Kitsap Transit connection to Jefferson Transit

Link to schedule: 04-PT-to-Edmonds-WSF-3.19.2024.pdf (jeffersontransit.com)

From Four Corners, Link to schedule: PT-TO-Chim-7.10.23.pdf (jeffersontransit.com)

Option Three: Seattle & Bainbridge Island Ferry

Washington State Ferry – Bainbridge Island

Kitsap Transit #390 Link to schedule: 01-PT-to-SeaTac-3.19.24.pdf (jeffersontransit.com)

Transfer in Poulsbo to Jefferson Transit #7

Walk or bike from Port Hadlock or transfer. Link to schedule PT-TO-Chim-7.10.23.pdf (jeffersontransit.com)

Western Olympic Peninsula - Sequim, Port Angeles & Forks

Link to schedule: 09-PT-to-Forks-June-7-2023.pdf (jeffersontransit.com)

Transfer to Jefferson Transit at Four Corners Park and Ride

Link to schedule: PT-TO-Chim-7.10.23.pdf (jeffersontransit.com)

South Sound - Olympia Intercity Transit to Mason County Transit to Jefferson County Transit Chimacum

Link to schedule: 08-PT-to-Oly-Oct-16-2023.pdf (jeffersontransit.com)

Bus #1 arrives at Chimacum. Link to schedule: PT-TO-Chim-7.10.23.pdf (jeffersontransit.com)

Whidbey Island to Port Townsend and on to Chimacum

Island County Transit Zone 6 (prior reservations may be required) to Coupeville Ferry

Link to Island Transit trip planner: Island Transit > Routes and Schedules > Trip Planner

Whidbey_ IslandTransit-Jan24_Final-3.pdf (cdn-website.com)

Jefferson County Transit from downtown Port Townsend

Downtown Port Townsend to Haines Place Park and Ride Jefferson Transit: #11 Shuttle

From Haines Place Park and Ride to Chimacum PT-TO-Chim-7.10.23.pdf (jeffersontransit.com)

Please note that Jefferson Transit buses do not operate on Sundays . Jefferson Transit Route Map JTA-System-Map-5.20.19.png (314×761) (jeffersontransit.com)

The three busses that stop at the Chimacum corner intersection are: #6A @ Chimacum Light (N), #6B @ Chimacum Chevron #1 @ Chimacum Light (N) & (S)

The four busses that stop in Port Hadlock are: #6A @ Chimacum Light (N), #6B @ Chevron #1 Chimacum Light (N) or (S) & #7 Hadlock

o Jefferson Transit is Fare Free

o Kitsap Transit fare information: Sound Transit

o Island Transit is Fare Free

o Mason County Transit is Fare Free

o Intercity Transit in Thurston County is Fare Free

o Callam Transit offers all but two routes Fare Free and Veterans and 18 and under ride free on all routes (may require proof)

Links:

Jefferson Transit: Home Page

Kitsap Transit | Kitsap Transit

Community Transit | Snohomish County

Mason Transit – Providing public transit to Mason County and beyond since 1992!

| Intercity Transit

HOME (clallamtransit.com)

Sound Transit

Metro - King County, Washington

March is B-Corp Month: What does that mean?

Sat, 09 Mar 2024 00:45:35 GMT

Winter Witnessing

Wed, 06 Dec 2023 20:19:28 GMT

The shorter days of December are still full on the farm but the rising and setting of the sun is not always obvious as we move through gradations of grey. There is a bountiful wintry beauty here — deepening green in the fields, bright huddles of swans, sinewy silhouettes of leafless trees revealed — a beauty I experience in questioning contrast with its opposite and what I know of the horrors happening around the world. What it means to hear the rain fall and wonder what it must be like to hear a bomb fall? How I hold in my heart both the momentary beauty and the undergirding grief? Where my outrage or agony belongs? Where my complicity and responsibility lie? How I establish solidarity with ways of thinking, acting and being that are honorable and humane, actively compassionate, deeply reverent of life and wise for the world?

All of that I want to do, with consciousness and care! And yet often I am surprised when the day is over and the darkness drops down— with a feeling of, “Wait, where did this whole day go?” That not only did I fail to figure out how to understand or help relieve the suffering of the world, but I didn’t even start the laundry. So I see the winter as a teacher of the art of witnessing — of sensing what is revealed when the leaves and the distractions and the delusions fall away, what is exposed, what is revealed underneath, what do I need to feel, reckon with and transform through these thoughtful winter months.

A good part of my own initial inspiration around Finnriver’s founding were these questions— could we offer a place where people feel welcomed and invited into earthly wonder, where they feel connected to their own bodies as they stand on the land and drink in its beauty, where we could gather together in real time to walk, talk, listen, dance, eat, drink, breathe? And could we gather this sense of the land and its bounty into a bottle to share with others— connecting us intimately from soil to cider to our interconnected selves? And could any or all of this bring more communal and personal coherence to the experience of being human and would that be a beneficial ripple? That’s a lot to expect from an apple orchard or a glass of cider, I know.

But that’s what we continue to work on creating here…knowing that we are but a small piece in a big planetary puzzle but knowing also that it takes all the pieces to make a whole. That we are bumbly, humbly linked elbows with all the others— millions! billions!— a great human family of brave, brilliant, beautiful people everywhere who are doing essential work each day to survive, to carry on, to care for others, to grow community, to establish peace, to live with dignity, to insist on liberation, to love the pieces of it all that they do, in peace.

This season, these times, call me to recognize how each precious minute of daylight, each precious breath of this wet or windy winter air, is a potential return to my body and to my beating heart as one in a global gamelan of heartbeats all around me. I’m working for a piece of the peace here in Chimacum and swaying, praying hard that we learn to cradle instead of crush each other. Thank you to all of you activating, in all the myriad different ways, to show up for the big Love!

I hope you are all finding the way and keeping well as can be through the winter. I hope that if you make your way to Finnriver, or if a bottle of Finnriver makes it way to you, that you can steep in the moment.

With heaping care and a full heart from the farm,

Crystie

Sour Raspberry

laura@finnriver.com (Laura Prendergast) — Tue, 10 Oct 2023 21:27:43 GMT

Sour Raspberry: A Limited Edition Cider

Cider Cocktail: Sour Raspberry Smash

• 1 1/2 oz Gin

• 1/2 oz lemon juice

• 1/2 oz simple syrup

Take a 4-5 mint leaves and 2-3 raspberries and lightly muddle them in the bottom of a rocks glass. Add other ingredients and fill the glass with ice. Top with sour raspberry cider and garnish with a lemon wheel.

The Origins of Chimacum Interdependence

Fri, 30 Jun 2023 07:45:00 GMT

Katy McCoy, owner of Chimacum Corner Farmstand, reminisces about the origins of Interdependence Day.

Chimacum Corner Farmstand opened for business in November 2010. That first July, when we miraculously found ourselves still in business, it was clearly time to celebrate! We called the party “Inter-Dependence Day” in honor of our local vendors and supportive community, whom we credited for our success. It was a wonderful evening with ample grass to run on, live music, food carts, and free Elevated ice cream scooped by Julie and David McCulloch.

The second year we were still in business, so we again celebrated! That year, we added a massive watermelon seed spitting contest, and then-clerk Aba Kiser suggested we stage a talent show—such a great idea!

We ran the talent show for four precious years, each year bigger than the last. The acts were original, multi-generational, and always moving.

Sadly, as our store grew and we built a large nursery greenhouse, we lost our stage and ran out of room to host the event.

By that time, Finnriver had moved into the old dairy farm across the street and was quickly becoming a community gathering place. So in 2016, Inter-Dependence Day moved to Finnriver! Seven years later, both the celebration and the talent show live on, as does the interdependent spirit that keeps our community thriving. Thank you, Finnriver, and thank you to our thriving Chimacum community!

In the 7 years that Finnriver has been hosting interdependence day, we’ve enjoyed affirming and growing the event! Highlights have included celebrating George Huntingford senior’s 100th birthday and a hooping flash mob, as well as noteworthy Talent Show performances, like Roger Short’s poem recitation, unicycling children, and Tesla’s Star Song.

This year, even though we no longer have the space to host it, we at the Corner Farmstand are sponsoring the Talent Show at the 13th Annual Interdependence Day Celebration at Finnriver! So dust off your tap shoes, kazoos and hula hoops and get practicing!

We ourselves are planning to do the same. We can't wait to see your act!

Sign up early to secure a spot s space is limited!

We know that celebrating interdependence is not something that happens for just one day! Interdependence is about nurturing our interconnecting relationships in ongoing ways, every day.

This annual Chimacum celebration is a way to show our gratitude for these relationships, as well as for the creative talent that comes from this wonderful community.

See you onstage on July 9th!

Drinking A Field of Hay

laura@finnriver.com (Laura Prendergast) — Wed, 14 Jun 2023 16:48:24 GMT

T h e S t o r y B e h i n d t h e C i d e r

“ Field of Hay ” is one of those ciders that garners attention because of the story, and while hay and cider might not seem like the most obvious pairing at first, it is less surprising when one considers the history of cidermaking. Circa 300-400 years ago, before canvas was readily available for rack cloths, apple presses were made with filtration systems of wood and straw. Cidermakers took great care in stacking the layers of straw and wood in an artful process referred to as “building the cheese”. The apple juice was then pressed and squeezed through this intricate mesh of straw. Although the historical methodology supports the notion, it isn’t actually the sole inspiration behind this crisp and earthy cider.

At Finnriver, cider is the art we’ve chosen to build community, create small scale rural economy and work with other stewards of the land in a collaborative effort. All of our Pollinator Series ciders are meant to highlight the efforts of Finnriver land tenants who share both field space on this 50 acre farm and a common purpose to grow, educate and advocate around wise land use. Field of Hay was the last Pollinator cider to debut because it proved difficult to figure out what to make that would highlight the work of a grain grower and still be gluten free!

Keith of the Chimacum Grainery farms in a thoughtful way, like the perennial no-till wheat he has planted in collaboration with the WSU Bread Lab, which means producing wheat with extra care for the land’s microbiology. He’s also keen on cover-cropping, grazing rotations and other organic approaches that sustain soil. “So I wanted to do a dirt cider, but the marketing department took issue with that,” Head Cidermaker Andrew Byers jokes about the brainstorming process of how to represent the Grainery partnership in a cider. “Ultimately, I wanted to capture some of the best things about farming, like the smell of a freshly cut field. When you’re a farmer, there is an intimate and deep connection that smell represents, as the final step in the culmination of so much care.”

Some years, Keith grows hay and then lets the field set fallow. On one such year the solution of how to tell the story of this land partner and simultaneously harken to the history of cidermaking became evident. Keith brought over a magnificently ‘artisinal’ bale of hay—freshly cut from a nearby field— and the cider barn crew flaked and inserted it into a tank full of cider (scan the QR code for a video of this process). After a couple of days, the cidermakers agreed that it had hit its mark with the perfect out breath of hay. It was a delicious taste of the land: crisp, refreshing and earthy, like walking through a field of freshly cut hay.

This year’s hay bale comes from our neighbor across the creek, Barry Brown, whose family farmed the dairy land here for many decades. We are pleased to make this connection between valley hay, good neighbors and drinkable cider!

We hope that this bottle invites people to the table and creates conversation about sustainable farming and small scale organic economics, that it weaves the story of the community here on the land, and perhaps even transports you to a warm summer day in a freshly cut field of hay.

Loving Justice on MLK Day 2023

Tue, 17 Jan 2023 01:09:32 GMT

There are rhythms to the year on the farm— an agricultural rhythm that’s shaped by the seasons, and a cultural rhythm that’s coordinated by the calendar we follow. Today— always the third Monday in Janaury*— is the day designated by the US government to officially honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This is a complex day to navigate, for the country, and so for us at Finnriver. On the one hand, we feel a deep and earnest reverence for this holy man who not only held justice and love sacred, but also understood that they were inseparable. On the other hand, we recognize the temptation and tendency to show up on social media and shallowly meme the way through the holiday with quotes and portraits. This raises the critical question— how do we, here at our farm in Chimacum, really relate to Dr. King’s message and mission?

There is no doubt, in my own heart, that the mission of Finnriver arose out of a lifelong listening to the guidance of non-violent leaders such as Gandhi, MLK and Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thích Nhât Hahn (whom Dr. King nominated for the 1967 Nobel Peace Prize) and a longing to grow more love in the world. I know, I know…this is a naive thing to say and a potentially dangerous one, since it can lead to a sort of lovey-dovey spiritual bypassing and avoidance of necessary action and accountability. Love as a principle is easy to proclaim. As a practice, in the face of centuries of racial injustice designed to keep my white body comfortable, it is a never-ending challenge to renounce ambivalence, to reorient into non-violent resistance and to commit to action for personal and systems change and to deepening community relationships.

So at Finnriver, when we say our purpose here is to “reconnect people to the land that sustains us and grow community,” that is a shorthand, a signifier, for this much larger and more comprehensive and complicated aspiration. And what we mean when we say “grow community” has everything to do with what we mean specifically by the term “community.” This is a word that can be constrained to refer to select groups of people who band together around a certain identity or ideology or geography etc. Or, more broadly, as we seek to use it here, it can reach out to embrace what Dr. King named, in the Christmas Sermon of 1967 , as the ‘interrelated’ nature of all life:

“It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

Not long before this sermon, Dr. King had met Thích Nhât Hahn for the first time, a meeting that some have speculated lead to Dr. King speaking out against the Vietnam War. Thích Nhât Hahn described this meeting this way:

“We had a discussion about peace, freedom, and community. And we agreed that without a community, we cannot go very far.”**

Along with a celebration of Dr. King’s world-transforming wisdom, a large part of this day for me, is also grieving his assassination and the white supremacist social and psychological conditions that encouraged it and still endure in our country. How do we reshape that world to stop and prevent racialized violence and oppression? So that an inclusive, interrelated love can take root and flourish? What do we plant here, day in and day out, to heed Dr. King and "to make real the promises of democracy... to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice...”***

In his book, Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story , Dr. King outlined six principles of nonviolence, including this one:

"Nonviolence chooses love instead of hate. Nonviolence resists violence to the spirit as well as the body. Nonviolence love is active, not passive. Nonviolence love does not sink to the level of the hater. Love restores community and resists injustice. Nonviolence recognizes the fact that all life is interrelated."

At the beginning of the pandemic, as we began to feel the fractures forming in our rural community around the public health responses to the corona virus, Finnriver embraced the motto: Love is at the core. This was an irresistible apple pun but also a succinct statement of intent. Yes, we seek to operate from a fundamental commitment to Love as a guiding force in our actions here. Love of land, of the fruit of the earth, of wild and human community, of the precious opportunity to be here all together on this planet.

The essential question for us at Finnriver is how to embody that love=justice principle as a business so that we generate transformative potential on our farm, for the community and in the world. To be transparent, our capacity to evolve as individuals and as a collective gets continually buffeted by many factors— human dynamics, economic pressures, personal issues, etc. But we continue to try to create structure here that’s aligned with our social justice aspirations and values because we believe that a loving and liberatory justice is necessary for the flourishing of all of us!

Heather McGhee says it:

“For when a nation founded on the belief in racial hierarchy truly rejects that belief then and only then will we have discovered a new world. That is our destiny. To make it manifest, we must challenge ourselves to live our lives in solidarity across color, origin, and class. We must demand changes to the rules in order to disrupt the very notion that those who have more money are worth more in our democracy and our economy. Since this country’s founding, we have not allowed our diversity to be our superpower and the result is that the United States is not more than the sum of its disparate parts. But it could be. And if it were, all of us would prosper. In short, we must emerge from this crisis in our republic with a new birth of freedom. Rooted in the knowledge that we are so much more, when the we in we the people is not some of us, but all of us. We are greater than and greater for the sum of us.”

― Heather McGhee, The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together

You can read more about the Finnriver DEI action & accountability plan here , knowing that’s due for an update, planned for Spring of 2023. Commitments we make to racial justice include our Social Justice Cider project . We make a monthly contribution to the Jefferson County Anti-Racist Fund as a business member of their mutual aid fund. We are working with Usawa Consulting on on-going staff training in racial justice literacy, and we host an ongoing racial ju stice reading group (currently reading The Inner Work of Racial Justice by Rhonda V. Magee). Throughout the year, we hold events at our Cider Garden that celebrate the creative culture in agriculture and that affirm diverse and inclusive community.

On New Years each year we celebrate Fishes & Wishes, an event that involves lighting up a giant sculptural salmon and asking folks to make wishes on small stones collected from the beach (see photo above). Human hands infuse their warmth and those wishes into the rocks. We then collect the stones in a basket with a promise to toss them back into the salmon streams, so the waters and the fish can carry the wishes back to the sea…where they will be uplifted and circulated with the hydrologic cycle. It’s symbolic but also somatic— a ceremony that honors our connection to each other and the interrelated whole. I don’t know what most people wish for but I can hope that some of these wishes are for the world to wholly embrace itself.

So while I was prompted to write this post on Dr. King’s day of memorial, I know very well the effort doesn’t end at midnight and that our attention, our intention has to remain activated. Today, every day, I am wishing for loving justice. And today, every day, I am aware of the work to get there.

———

*The campaign for a federal holiday in King's honor began soon after his assassination in 1968. President Ronald Reagan signed the holiday into law in 1983, and it was first observed three years later on January 20, 1986. At first, some states resisted observing the holiday as such, giving it alternative names or combining it with other holidays. It was officially observed in all 50 states for the first time in 2000. (Wikipedia)

** Thích Nhât Hahn Foundation

*** From the "I Have a Dream" speech, delivered by Dr. King on Aug. 28, 1963, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

Investigating the History of Indigenous Apple Orchards

Sat, 26 Nov 2022 00:07:11 GMT

Content Warning: As settlers and farmers who now grow apples on Native lands, we feel compelled to understand the history of the apple in this country, with special care for and attention to the suppressed story of Indigenous orchards and their vital influence on America’s relationship with this fruit. Our eyes were opened by the book The Ghost Orchard, the Hidden History of the Apple in North America by Helen Humphreys, which reveals critical elements in the origin story of apples related to Native communities and the North American landscape. We are sharing some of what we have learned here about Indigenous orchards with a content warning and a sense of grief that the story attached involves references to the brutality and traumatic history of Native genocide.

Most of us have heard the fabled tales of Johnny Appleseed and all the wild apple seeds he planted and then sold to settlers moving westward on the colonial frontier; but far fewer know about the role that Native nations had with the spread and story of the apple.

When Europeans arrived on the East coast of what became America, they brought many things from their countries of origin, including apple seeds and apple saplings. They planted them in the lands they stole through violence from the hundreds of different Native Nations living there, and soon after apple orchards became a common sight throughout the region. But it wasn’t just white settlers who were planting them. Many tribes, like the Oneida around the Great Lakes, the Algonquians up in present day Canada, the Shawnee in Missouri and Cherokee in Arkansas also planted, cultivated and propagated these new European apples in land surrounding their villages. Under their care the fruit flourished, and Indigenous orchards grew in size and popularity. Small, bitter crabapples were the only apples native to North America and these new varieties far outstripped crabapples in size, texture and flavor. The cultivated apple became a large part of a number of tribes’ diet year round, either cooked, dried, stored, fresh or pressed. Some varieties from the Indigenous orchards even became so well known they were grown commercially and their descendants exist in our markets today.

The value these Indigenous apple orchards added to the land that the tribes were living on did not go unnoticed by the settlers or their fledgling government’s leaders. It was not too long before tribal communities with apple orchards were targeted specifically in campaigns to harass, intimidate or forcibly remove them from their land so that European settlements could build on top of them and appropriate their land’s bounty. And as colonization accelerated, these orchards became a symbol of Indigenous prosperity to be destroyed by the growing military force. According to Humphreys, "The apple thus became, in its infancy in North America, a tool for colonialism.”

In 1779, the soon-to-be first President General George Washington, sent four thousand men to battle the Six Nations of the Iroquois or Haudenosaunee Confederacy which included the Oneida, Onondaga, Mohawk, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora Nations. His goal was to determine “at a single blow, whether white men or red men should hold domination over these fertile vales and along these streams, and over these lakes and mountains.” [Source: Fredrick Cook. Journals of the Military Expedition of Major General John Sullivan Against the Six Nations of Indians in 1779] The invading soldiers marched through the area of upstate New York and around the Finger Lakes, decimating over 40 villages and cutting down or setting fire to the orchards they encountered along the way. The residents of the villages who had warning escaped, but had few safe places to turn. Some were given refuge by the British soldiers who they had fought alongside during battles of the Revolutionary War. But the British forts did not have enough room to house or food to feed so many, and hundreds of Native families died.

Even with so many powerful forces working to eliminate or assimilate them, Native nations and tribal cultures endured and continue to practice and restore traditional foodways. One such example is the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin who were forced to relocate from their traditional home in New York State and lost thousands and thousands of acres of their land. In recent decades, they have purchased 30 acres of orchards in their original homeland and planted fruits, berries and vegetables as part of their Community Integrated Food Systems project to provide traditional foods and agricultural jobs to tribal members. They also started an annual Big Apple Fest which brings the community together along with the greater public to celebrate Oneida culture, traditions, food and apples every fall.

“In school, all of us were taught the same thing - that Columbus was a great explorer who “discovered America.” As a kid, I didn’t realize he was actually lost, which eventually lead to the European’s attempt to colonize our ancestors. What they didn’t count on, is our strong warrior spirit, which sustains us to this day.” -President of the Seneca Nation Rickey L. Armstrong, 2020

Here on the Olympic Peninsula, the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe Traditional Foods & Culture Program “Emphasizes that humans are integral to, rather than separate from the natural world, that a relationship between these landscapes require human involvement with them if they are to continue to exist.” And at Naiome Krienke’s Chemakum Longhouse for the People project property in Quilcene, botanists from the Olympic Peninsula prairie restoration initiative are working to re-plant camas and other native plants.

There are many myths about the apple. Learning more about the Indigenous influence on the spread of apple varieties across the North American landscape brings complexity to the story for those who have not been exposed to it, and challenges the prevailing myths that obscure Indigenous realties and colonization's many brutalities. It also allows recognition and respect for the depth and resilience of place-based Indigenous cultures and their traditional ecological knowledge. Growing apples on the farm, making cider, inviting community together to share in the fruits of our farming and fermentation — all of that happens in the context of larger, longer layers of stories requiring acknowledgment and commitment to healing relationships.

Co-authored by local writer Kai Wallin & Finnriver founder Crystie Kisler

Finnriver Resources

Indigenous Land Acknowledgement

DEI Statement and Action and Accountability Plan

Longhouse for the People

Article Sources

Humphreys, Helen. The Ghost Orchard: The Hidden History of the Apple in North America. HarperCollins Publisher. Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2017.

Seneca Nation of Indians

Oneida Nation of Wisconsin

Oneida Big Apple Fest

Voted Best Music Venue on the Olympic Peninsula

laura@finnriver.com (Laura Prendergast) — Tue, 04 Oct 2022 03:41:03 GMT

During the pandemic we took a year off from Live Music on the Land , Finnriver's year-round weekend music series. Although we tried to create a virtual venue for musicians on our Facebook page, the chance to enjoy live music was a void we all felt. Music is good for the soul and we imagine for the land and orchard as well!

Then in the spring of 2021 we started back up with live music every weekend (Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays), featuring regional and touring musicians in many genres, balancing support for musicians and accessibility to the public by asking for $3-5 cover charge for adults. Now, half a year later, we are honored to receive recognition for Best Music Venue on the Olympic Peninsula . Thank you to everyone for showing your support of live music and regional musicians! There are many people making it all happen behind the scenes and we thought it was an apt time to shine a light on their hard work and commitment to bringing live music to this land.

None of this amazing music would be possible without Camelia Jade (CJ), shown below playing her guitar. She's a multi-instrumentalist, audio engineer and the Finnriver Music Coordinator, aka the person booking and recruiting the bands, orchestrating the calendar, running sound and lining up sound engineers. But she's humble and quick to pass the gratitude on to others,

"I'm so grateful to everyone who has helped to make the music program here so successful. Thank you to the wonderful local musicians who are here season after season, and to the regional musicians who come to visit and share their art with us. Thank you to our sound engineers Jon Isenhower, Taylor Thomas-Marsh and Austin Davis! And thank you to the patrons who show up to dance and listen!"

When CJ first began as Finnriver's music coordinator several years ago, she had to overcome a general perception people had about what kind of music to expect on a farm. It influenced the types of applications she would receive and typically resulted in a more limited bandwidth of genres.

"I've been really excited to broaden horizons and open people up to the wide range of diverse styles and cultures found in this region of the northwest. As a Latinx musician and queer person of Chilean-American descent you may have noticed the influx of new music that reflects my connection to those communities. I feel like it's my responsibility to be involved in the regional music scene and to bring a diverse range of music here. I also feel a deep respect and responsibility to local musicians of the Quimper Peninsula to ensure they have great gigs that sustain them throughout the year. You can expect to see summertime feature more regional acts, and throughout the winter it's really about diving into the hyper-local music scene--because they are the ones that keep us going through the winter."

Camelia Jade's passion for bringing in a diverse range of music shines through as she reflects on the past year of music, which has included a broad range of styles from Jazz, Reggae, Funk, Latin-American music (Salsa, Cumbia, Brazilian music, and more), Blues, Classical, Psychedelic, Indie, Soul, Bluegrass, Swing, Country, R&B, Accordions!, and all varieties of Songwriters.

When asked what makes us such a great venue (aside from the obvious beautiful views of the Chimacum valley), CJ is quick to respond, “What sets us a part is that we have highly skilled sound engineers on staff for each show and a venue and community that is dedicated to respecting and uplifting the skill and work of musicians. I have had many musicians comment on how well they were treated at Finnriver by our program, our wonderful crew and enthusiastic patrons.“

Thank you to everyone who has helped make our music program so lively and lovely. Looking to the future you can expect to continue to see a variety of marvelous music coming through. We hope to see you here!

For an up-to-date calendar of live music & events click here .

New Bottle & Box Return Program

Mon, 20 Jun 2022 18:06:18 GMT

Bring Back Your 500 ML Finnriver Bottles, Boxes & Shipping Inserts to Our Bottle & Box Return Station at the Cider Garden

With our newly launched Bottle & Box Return Program you can now return bottles, boxes and their inserts to either the Cider Garden in Chimacum or to Farmer's Markets where we have a Finnriver presence (see the Farmer's Market Calendar ). Please b reak down boxes before placing them in the return bin. Labels and tape do not need to be removed.

Finnriver operates our farm and cidery in Chimacum with the ‘triple bottom line‘ aspiration to care for people and planet, as well as to operate a viable business. Implementing this mission requires constant re-evaluation of what we do and a commitment to finding ways to do better. To create accountability for ourselves, we became a Certified B Corp in 2018, joining an international network of businesses seeking to be a ‘force for good.’ The B Corp website explains, "From mobilizing climate action with leaders across sectors, to dismantling white supremacy in our network and broader business community, to organizing against wealth and gender inequality, the B Corp movement is taking collective action on the issues that matter most to our global economic system.” Being a B Corp business means challenging ourselves to examine our ecological and social impacts and to act in ways that will help grow community with shared resilience, vitality and justice.

When it comes to environmental impacts, one of the challenges we have faced in our relatively small-scale Cidery operation is the intensive use of glass bottles in our cider production. Sourcing new glass bottles presents challenges, as we navigate international and national glass supply chains (further complicated by the pandemic). We also recognize that generating new glass is a resource depleting process and that reusing is even better than recycling as it saves the energy that comes with having to dismantle and re-manufacture products.

For these reasons, we have aspired for many years to put together a bottle reuse program and we are very excited to be launching Finnriver’s Bottle Return, Washing and Reuse program! You can now bring back your 500 ML bottles to our bottle return station, located at the back entrance to the Finnriver Cider Garden in Chimacum. The 500 ML bottles are the smaller-sized brown bottles which contain our contemporary , core , sour, and cidermaker series cider s. We typically use over 180,000 of these bottles per year; that's a lot of potential re-usability! At this point we cannot clean and reuse the larger 750 MLstandard wine bottles but we will be working on it.

To make this program happen, we’ve converted and customized a used commercial dishwasher and glass racks to suit our bottles. We have also adjusted the label materials and adhesive to make them recyclable and easily removable from the bottles without chemical solvents. The process entails recycling the paper labels that are removed from bottles and recycling any damaged bottles. The washing station is set up on the press pad adjacent to our cider barn, within reach of the cider bottling operation. Clean bottles will be manually delivered directly to the Cider Production Barn without the need for fuel intensive transport.

The project is proceeding with a commitment to water conservation practices and use of environmentally friendly products. We hope the program will also create a new employment opportunity, and perhaps a youth internship. Finnriver has created a new role to help offer leadership to this program, and we’re happy to be working with Tulip Morrow (shown at right) as our Sustainability Manager, who is also working on our biodigester, alternative transportation solutions and other energy saving initiatives.

For more information or questions, email us at info@finnriver.com . Thanks to all of you for buying a bottle in the first place and bringing it back empty when you’ve enjoyed it!

Memorial Day

Fri, 27 May 2022 21:54:30 GMT

Memorial Day weekend marks a seasonal turn in life at the farm and opens the gate for summer at the Cider Garden. For years now, we have appreciated the rising energy of this last weekend in May— how the days get even longer as the sun soars higher through our summer skies. It’s a lively, full weekend for us, with a generous flow of cider, live music, fine food, and life on the land.

However there is another deep layer of meaning to Memorial Day, and in light of the events in the world this week, I have felt compelled to explore where this ‘holiday’ originated and what it might mean for me. Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day for the tradition of decorating soldiers’ graves with flowers) is somber and sorrowful for many— a time to acknowledge and commemorate the loss of human life to War, and for families to remember their fallen beloveds. I took some time this week to dig deeper into the history of Memorial Day and learned something new to me and something that feels important to share if you have not heard this story yet.

A Time article, " The Overlooked Black History of Memorial Day ," recounts how a Pulitzer Prize winning History professor at Yale, named David Blight, was researching a book on the first Memorial Day when he came across an unsorted archive that revealed another layer to the story. On May 1, 1865 in Charleston, South Carolina, a crowd of 10,000 people, "mostly Black residents", staged a parade around the racetrack, commemorating what was likely the first public Memorial Day to honor fallen Union soldiers who had been imprisoned and died at that location at the end of the Civil War.

"Black pastors delivered sermons and led attendees in prayer and in the singing of spirituals, and there were picnics... This tribute gave birth to an American tradition,” Blight wrote in Race and Reunion: “The war was over, and Memorial Day had been founded by African Americans in a ritual of remembrance and consecration.”” (in ‘Time', BY OLIVIA B. WAXMAN, MAY 22, 2020)

You can read more on this remarkable story here:

One of the Earliest Memorial Day Ceremonies Was Held by Freed African Americans
And here:

The Overlooked Black History of Memorial Day

As we get ready for Memorial Day here on the farm, many of us are also reckoning with the heavy weight of recent and ongoing injustices, tragedies and traumas. My heart is beating with grief for this suffering and I keep reaching for relationships and actions that are, in the words of Mohawk/Kanienkeha:ka Indigenous seed steward Rowen White, "rooted in love”. She writes of the “fierce love” that "protects and nurtures". That’s the love I want to study and practice in my own life.

Headed into Memorial Day, I am considering the power of memory grounded in justice and restored with truth, to help us grieve and to help us heal, on personal and public levels. We hope this land at Finnriver can be a place where folks gather with the spirit of community and the joy of connection, and where we can make space to remember the things we must and grow all of the love we can.

Orchard Bathing

Thu, 21 Apr 2022 04:43:19 GMT

An Interview with Local Mindfulness Coach Ellen Falconer

The essence of the Finnriver mission is to ‘reconnect people to the land that sustains.’ From our founding, we’ve been intent on creating opportunities for the community to gather and enjoy the beauty and bounty of the Earth, and to deepen appreciation for the elements that we all rely on for our spiritual and physical sustenance. Being on the farm is an invitation to tune into the seasonal and daily rhythms of the land and to get grounded, literally! As part of this aspiration, we’re very pleased to be welcoming local mindfulness coach Ellen Falconer to offer monthly sessions of ‘orchard bathing.’ To learn more about forest bathing and the benefits of mindfulness practices, we interviewed Ellen here:

1. What is the origin of the “orchard (forest) bathing” practice?

According to a very sweet book that I discovered called, 'Forest Bathing - How Trees Can Help You Find Health and Happiness' by Dr. Quig Li, shinrin - yoku ('bathing in the forest atmosphere’) was developed in Japan. The Japanese are a forest civilization. Their culture, philosophy and religion are carved out of the forests that blanket the country. "Both of Japan's official religions - Shinto and Buddhism - believe the forest is the realm of the divine." The Japanese national health program for forest bathing began in 1982 in the Akasawa National Forest as an experiment to help their citizens recover from 'techno-stress', over-work, urban living and sedentary habits. Sounds familiar! By 2050, the United Nations predicts that 75% of humanity will live in urban areas.

2. How do you understand the practice of mindfulness?

To paraphrase Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD the author of "Full Catastrophe Living" and the creator of the course, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), now in its 4th decade and as relevant as ever, mindfulness is holding the intention to pay attention to this present moment, where we are actually living and breathing- what we are immersed in. Our minds wander in and out of the present moment, but our thoughts are usually predicting the future or ruminating about past life events- as much as 50% of the time. To practice mindfulness we practice paying attention to the here and now: tastes, smells, sounds, sights, breathing, touch- as well as our thoughts and our emotional state. Life can be so rich! Learning to pause, to slow down and savor moments is the practice of mindful living. This sounds simple, and yet...it takes a lot of practice to change the minds' patterning. Thankfully, there is continuing, fascinating research being done on the minds' neuroplasticity...another delightful and intriguing subject!

3. What was your own pathway into mindfulness practice?

Back in the mid-80's, in my mid-twenties I was eating at the Sunlight Cafè in the U District of Seattle and I saw a divine cabin for rent in Ballard. It was in the backyard of the Seattle Dharma Center, a Korean Zen residential community. To live in the cabin I had to participate in the 'together-action' of the center, which included cooking, gardening, hosting meditation retreats and sitting meditation every morning. The immersion into mindful living, Zen-style, has informed my perspective and direction in life, with a lot of twists, turns and adventures between then and now.

A few years into my therapeutic massage practice I decided to delve into learning about chronic pain- the power the brain has in interpreting and creating pain symptoms- real and imagined, to help my clients with their chronic pain. In 2016 I found Mindfulness Northwest, headquartered in Bellingham, where I enrolled and completed their mindfulness teacher training in 2018; closely followed by the training to teach MBSR. Along In Balance Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork I am the proprietor of Olympic Peninsula Mindfulness . I offer forest and orchard baths (!), stress reduction classes, seasonal contemplative hikes, various meditation opportunities, and fall/winter online book clubs. I have more ideas than time actually! It helps to be mindful of over-achieving!

4. What do you hope people carry with them from the “orchard bathing” experience?

As a child of the 50's and 60's, I was blessed to have the run of the neighborhoods we lived in: rural/suburban Connecticut and upstate New York. Parents back then let us kids run wild, and I found solace and adventure in all things natural. There was very little distinction- in my mind- of inside or 'out there', the separation our minds make between this and that, in or out, good or bad, etc; which is really a problem for humanity!

My hope for our orchard bathers is for us to experience the effects of slowing down; of practicing pausing to allow our senses to more fully engage. We can create, even for a little while, a safe place to soften, feel our feelings, feel connected to each other; and feel gratitude for this little slice of paradise on our planet.

Join us at Finnriver for Orchard Bathing on the dates listed on our events calendar: click here .

You can learn more about Ellen’s offerings at her website: click here .

Honoring the Story of Ann Jessop

Thu, 10 Mar 2022 21:42:57 GMT

For Women’s History Month, we are celebrating a little known yet important figure in American apple history: Ann Jessop or "Annie Appleseed"

Born in 1738 in North Carolina, Ann Jessop lived an extraordinary life for her times. Not only was she a Quaker minister who married twice, raised 14 children (11 adopted, 3 biological) and lived until age 84, Ann also traveled alone to Europe and brought back apples. Not the fruits themselves, but branches (called scions) from many different apple trees. These scions she grafted, with help from another Quaker, onto established trees back home where they flourished. Eventually she helped start many orchards and sold the seedlings as a way to support her family when she became a widow.

But that’s not all. Ann also traveled extensively as a minister, typically alone and by horseback and she brought her apple trees with her. The apple, fresh, cooked or dried, was a diet cornerstone of white settlers and many Native nations at this time. When an apple tree is planted by seed (the way John Chapman aka Johnny Appleseed planted them), the resulting fruit is typically called a “spitter” and only used for cider. But because Annie’s trees were all grafted, they were good for everything. As she had hand-tasted and selected each one back in Great Britain, choosing early, mid and late season growers as well as apples that overwinter well, her varieties were very popular and others began growing them too. Eventually every state and territory west of the Mississippi was planted with apples that originated with Ann’s English scions. This is how so many new delectable apple varieties were spread across the country even before Johnny Appleseed came on the scene.

Here at Finnriver, we love our apples so we raise our glass to Ann Jessop, for her hard work to bring delicious apples to orchards across the country. And thank you to author Helen Humphrey who wrote the book “The Ghost Orchard” which brought Ann’s remarkable story to light.

Apple varieties introduced to America by Ann Jessop:

Russet

Golden Russet- This is one of the apple varieties we grow in the Finnriver Orchard. Known as the “champagne of apples” (because of its tannic balance) this apple is featured in the Finnriver Cider, Golden Russet .

Limbertwig

Father Abraham

Red Pippin

Jannette (or Neverfail)

Striped Pippin

Red Romanite

Yellow Summer Pippin

Leathercoat

White Winter Pippin

Striped Horse

Speckled Pearmain

White Winter Pearmain

Vandiver

Pearwarden

French Pippin

Red Winter Pearmain

Article by local writer Kai Wallin

Artwork: A Golden Russet Apple from the Finnriver Orchard, Original Watercolor by Sawyer ( @seesawyerpaint )

Source: Humphreys, Helen. The Ghost Orchard. Toronto, Canada, HarperCollins, 2017.

HARVEST AS COMMUNITY - A REFLECTION ON OUR RESILIENCE

Thu, 16 Sep 2021 20:26:19 GMT

... This Fall however, with another wave of covid hitting hard, we are thinking about ‘harvest’ as more than just the collection of fruit — but how it describes the way communities of people have shown up over and again, when the season was ripe and time was of the essence, to do what was necessary for the people to carry on.

As the world turns towards Autumn across the Olympic Peninsula, the cideries are bringing in the apples!

While bins and boxes come in, we reflect on the harvest season here at Finnriver— how it’s a time to gather the fruits, grown with great human effort and the grace of the elements, and a time to celebrate this crop with family, friends and neighbors near and far.

This Fall however, with another wave of covid hitting hard, we are thinking about ‘harvest’ as more than just the collection of fruit — but how it describes the way communities of people have shown up over and again, when the season was ripe and time was of the essence, to do what was necessary for the people to carry on.

That term ‘harvest’ has multiple layers. It is the collection of food itself— the bins, barrels and bushels that come in from the fields. It is also the act of gathering in the crop— the picking, plucking, cutting and packing. And, beyond both of those, the harvest is the larger act of coming together to ensure that all will be well and nourished— it is the collective action that sustains us.

Community, not just food, is the fruit of this labor.

Here at Finnriver, we are bringing the apples in from our organic orchard and from all over the region— pressing and processing them, and putting that glorious, golden juice into tanks to ferment. And around the peninsula, our neighbors at Alpenfire, Eaglemount and Two Hooligans cideries are all going through a similar seasonal cycle.

You can imagine us moving in rhythm to the rumble of the press, with juicy hands, piles of pomace on the barn floor and in our boots. Everyone smells like apple juice, doused in a perfume of Earth’s sweetness.

After that precious juice is pressed and pumped into the tanks or barrels, the fermentations begin. Yeast does its magic and alcohol emerges from the alchemy of sugars. Between all of the Olympic Peninsula’s cideries, I’m sure you can taste at least a hundred unique ciders!

At Finnriver, we make cider to share the bounty of the harvest, to bring people together to drink in the beauty of the land, and to remind us all that we are mightily fortunate to be citizens of a planet with fruit.

The harvest reminds us we belong to the places where our food comes from. That without the crop, and without each other, we cannot endure.

This Autumn, we hope your harvest is health! And we hope to see you at the cidery before too long…

COMMUNITY MESSAGE REGARDING THE VACCINATION REQUIREMENT

Thu, 16 Sep 2021 19:18:54 GMT

Dear community,

In response to inquiries about the Finnriver Cider Garden and the county’s current requirement for proof of vaccination from folks choosing to go to indoor bars and restaurants, we just wanted to share some insight into how we are implementing it and why.

As you may know, Finnriver’s Cider Garden and yard areas are very dynamic facilities to manage and people move to and from indoor and outdoor spaces regularly. Now, with the seasonal change, we are shifting towards our indoor configurations, with several of the panels coming down in our pavilion— attempting to both create some shelter from the weather while also keeping airflow. We are also removing a lot of our outdoor furniture given the challenges of variable weather.

Beyond the seasonal shift towards indoor seating, we do not want our staff to carry the burden of having to monitor customer movements among areas, and are striving to keep the logistics manageable. After convening a thoughtful conversation with our staff about their comfort levels operating food and drink service at this time, we landed together on the current model, prioritizing the comfort and safety of our crew and customers. With all of that in mind, we have decided for now to limit entrance to the Cider Garden to vaccinated patrons only.

At this time, all sit-down dining customers coming to the Cider Garden will be asked to show ID and proof of vaccination, for the duration of this mandate.

We are fully committed to upholding this temporary public health measure for the well-being of the wider community, even though we recognize there is some concern and opposition to such requirements. We know that our protocols will continue to adjust as the Covid circumstances change and we are as eager as anyone for the time when the pandemic pressure eases and our whole community can come back together!

We will continue feeding and serving all visitors with our take-out options, including to-go bottled cider, food from the Finnriver kitchen, woodfired pizza from Dented Buoy and offerings from other pop-up vendors.

We ask for your patience while we do our best to remain safely open through these challenging times, and we thank you for continuing to show up with support and understanding. With ongoing acknowledgement of our amazing crew here at Finnriver— who have navigated a lot of challenging change and complexity with courage, kindness and compassion!

REDUCING EMISSIONS AND FERMENTING SOLUTIONS WITH CARBON RECAPTURE AT FINNRIVER FARM & CIDERY

Thu, 09 Sep 2021 20:37:38 GMT

At Finnriver, we are paying attention to changing climate and ecosystem impacts, and we're taking committed steps to adapt our farm and cidery business model and role-model solutions for resiliency and sustainability!

As you know if you look at our south-facing rooftops, we are now producing and using renewable energy with the solar power generated from our 200+ solar panels (one of the biggest renewable energy projects in our community), and we've started up a HORSE biodigester that will convert our kitchen scraps to useful methane gas. Recently we took another step towards independence from fossil fuels. To reduce the carbon footprint in our Cider barn, we installed a CiCi carbon-capture system, from the Austin, Texas-based company Earthly Labs .

What is carbon recapture?

Carbon recapture allows producers of CO2 to essentially recycle and reuse the CO2 they are making, instead of allowing it to be released into the atmosphere as a greenhouse gas, contributing to global warming.

During the natural process of fermenting cider, our cider fermentation tanks release pure CO2 as a natural byproduct. Instead of releasing that CO2 directly into the air, Finnriver will be capturing it, processing it through our new CiCi carbon-capture system, and then reusing it.

We use carbon dioxide (CO2) during our bottling process to make bubbles! Carbon dioxide goes to our brite tanks, which force carbonation into the cider when we bottle, and is also used on our bottling line to add pressure to our bottles, so there is no foam in our bottled cider.

Historically, we’ve needed to buy commercial CO2 for use with these processes, but with our new carbon recapture system, we will soon be capturing 100% of our CO2 needs. With carbon recapture, our ciders will be bottled with natural CO2 created in-house by our own fermentation process!

We put great care and intention into the sourcing and cultivation of the many elements that go into our ciders, and so we're very happy that we will be able to use this natural CO2. Natural CO2 also helps us create a healthier environment for our workers and community. CiCi should reduce Finnriver's CO2 emissions to the equivalent of planting up about 1,600 trees each year!

Finnriver’s Partnership with Earthly Labs

Earthly Labs is a Public Benefit Corps based in Austin, Texas, that is committed to creating environmental solutions for carbon emissions. Earthly Labs CEO and Founder, Amy George, wanted to bring carbon-capture technology to a new sector - the world of fermentation. Early innovation ideas for the CiCi carbon-capture system were demonstrated through NASA as they worked to find ways to keep CO2 out of the International Space Station.

Today, Earthly Labs works with dozens of breweries (and a kombucha producer!) in the US and Canada; Finnriver is one of their first cideries. Small-scale emissions sources represent about half of all emissions in the world, and Earthly Labs is interested in innovating ways to keep CO2 out of the atmosphere in these smaller industries. We are excited about our partnership with Earthly Labs, and are truly impressed with their commitment to bringing this crucial technology to small businesses like ours!

At Finnriver, we look forward to sharing more about our ongoing and upcoming projects related to climate resiliency. This Fall, our cider production space is working on implementing a glass bottle reuse program - which would allow us to keep some of our cider bottles in house and wash and reuse them. Stay posted for more from us soon.

FINNRIVER RE-RELEASES PEAR CIDER TO HONOR FARMWORKERS IN THE APPLE AND PEAR INDUSTRY

Thu, 29 Jul 2021 21:05:43 GMT

When you sit down to eat, or take a drink, how often do you ask yourself, “Who grew this?” Or “What is the quality of life of the person who picked this fruit?” “What kind of conditions do they work in? Is their workplace safe?”

Sometimes, these questions can be easily answered. At Finnriver, where we often source from our own farm and the farms of our neighbors, the answer to “Who grew this?” is often the first name of someone in the community. “Oh, Rachael made that goat cheese on her farm and dropped it off this afternoon.” Or “Brian harvested those mushrooms with his sons this weekend in the forest by his home.” In the rural economy of the Olympic Peninsula where there is a thriving market for small-scale agricultural businesses and entrepreneurs, the answer to “Who grew this food?” often seems quite simple, idyllic even. Yet, most often, to know your farmer is a privilege - it comes hand in hand with the ability to access (and afford) locally grown and produced food.

No market, however, is an island, even one with a thriving small-scale local economy. In the age of globalization, sourcing is never simple, especially when we truly consider the human cost of production. Even on small local farms, we can’t know who made all of the tools we use to till the earth, or processed the lumber that made the boxes we pack our produce in, or created the glass bottles we put our cider in. Most often, many, many hands have touched every tool, every object, every piece of food we eat, and usually, they are hands we don’t know, whose daily lives we can’t imagine - and often don’t stop to consider.

At Finnriver, we deeply value asking these questions, even if they are questions that aren’t easily answered, or when the answers lead to more questions. When you ask us, “Who grew the apples that made your cider?” we would answer that a select percentage of our cider-making apples are grown on the land at our organic orchard in Chimacum, Washington, where we also ferment our ciders, but that Finnriver relies heavily upon organic dessert apples grown, harvested and processed in Eastern Washington in the Yakima Valley.

If you were to ask us, “What is the quality of life of the person who picked this fruit?” “What kind of conditions do they work in? Is their workplace safe?” the answers to those questions become more complicated. Apple harvesting in Eastern Washington is done by hand, primarily by immigrant and H-2A visa workers (see note 1). Labor conditions for migrant farmworkers in the US, many of whom are undocumented, are notoriously fraught with problems. Immigrants, especially undocumented immigrants, are particularly vulnerable in workplaces, where “job security” often comes hand-in-hand with working in substandard or hazardous conditions for low wages. The COVID pandemic made clear the essential nature of farmworkers, who kept working and kept our country running while much else was locked down, but who are still treated as though they are expendable. In the summer of 2020, workers went on strike in Yakima Valley apple packing houses to protest the lack of personal protective equipment and safety measures in their workplaces. Not surprisingly, Latino communities were also some of the hardest hit by the pandemic, “The Latino population in Washington state is just 13 percent of the population, and this group of people accounts for more than 40 percent of COVID-19 cases. By contrast, white residents make up 68 percent of the population, but account for only 39 percent of confirmed COVID-19 cases” (see note 2). To learn more about the challenges to farmworkers in Washington State, especially throughout the COVID pandemic, please see this short 6-minute film by Crosscut, "Nosotros somos esenciales" ("We are essential") .

As a small business and a producer of cider, we don’t want to hide from these often harsh realities that underlie agricultural industries - we want to face them with curiosity, concern and compassion. We want to find ways to collaborate with non-profit organizations, activists and labor unions that are working on the ground to improve these conditions. One of the first steps we took to educate ourselves and connect with the groups doing this crucial on-the-ground work was in September 2020, where we hosted a public webinar on agricultural labor in the apple and pear industries in Washington State as a part of Washington Cider Week. Finnriver had the privilege of speaking with and learning from community leaders from Community to Community Development and Familias Unidas por la Justicia . Please click here to watch a recording of this important conversation.

"For the most part workers don't ever see where their apples go. Everything seems to go abroad, or anywhere other than the local market. So workers never get to see themselves as connected to the fruit that they are producing and laboring for. When workers can see their labor is valued and treated with care, it's beautiful." - Edgar Franks, Political and Campaign Director, Familias Unidas por la Justicia

We decided to re-release our classic Pear Cider with a new, bilingual label as Pera de Campesinos (in English, ‘Farmworker Pear’) to honor the often invisibilized and underappreciated lives and work of the farmworkers who picked, packed and processed the fruit that made this cider possible. As part of Finnriver’s Social Justice Cider Project , $2 from each bottle of Pera de Campesinos sold will go to a community organization that is already working hard in the fight for a more equitable food system that ensures that workers rights are honored. Our first two organizations are Community to Community Development in Bellingham, Washington, a women-led grassroots organization dedicated to food sovereignty and immigrant rights, and Jefferson County Immigrant Rights Advocates in Port Townsend, Washington, which supports the rights of immigrants and their families, giving priority to those who live or work on the Olympic Peninsula and immigrant detainees within Washington State. We are proud to partner with both of these organizations! Please learn more about these organizations and their amazing works at their websites: Community to Community, http://www.foodjustice.org/ and Jefferson County Immigrant Rights Advocates, https://www.jcira.org/ . Label art was created by local artist Sara Ybarra Lopez , whose work you can learn more about at https://www.carapacearts.com/ .

We also want to recognize La Familia Cider Company in Salem, Oregon, which was founded in 2017 by the Gonzalez family, first-generation Mexican immigrants. La Familia Cider Company does powerful work by donating a percentage of their profits to local nonprofits that help families with the legal immigration process, helping keep families together. We are inspired by their work and are excited to be in conversation with them about ways we can collaborate.

Our distribution and vendor partners have helped make it possible for us to share this cider and its message across the region. Cru Selections has been our distributor in Washington State since 2013. They are like-minded individuals who are excited to work with us to share this cider and contribute the conversation around labor practices and awareness. We have also partnered with PCC Community Markets , the nation’s largest community-owned food market. PCC has been a longtime Finnriver supporter and is deeply committed to fair labor practices - to learn more, click here .

We recognize that this is just the beginning. As a business, we will continue to seek out and grow our relationships with labor and activist organizations and the farmworkers themselves to make sure we are releasing a product that is rooted in a commitment to ethical labor practices and produced with love and respect on every step of its journey. We welcome you to join us in learning and helping to make positive change. We will release more updates and educational materials as we continue to learn more and do more.

The Social Justice Cider Project is an effort to shift energy towards greater equity and justice in our society by raising awareness of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) projects working for positive transformations in our region, and by sharing resources with the groups doing this vital work. Learn more here .

Notes
1. H-2A visas are temporary farm worker visas, where foreign nationals are able to come to the United States to work for a set period of time (i.e. the apple harvesting season) for a specific employer, but must return to their home country at the end of their contract.

2. Wing, J. (2020, September 24). 'Farmworkers can't pick apples Through zoom.' EXPERTS explore why Latinos hit hard BY COVID. Retrieved May 12, 2021, from https://www.knkx.org/post/farmworkers-can-t-pick-apples-through-zoom-experts-explore-why-latinos-hit-hard-covid

THE NORTHWEST SCHOOL OF WOOD BOATBUILDING AND FINNRIVER

Tue, 01 Jun 2021 21:13:42 GMT

The Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding is kicking off its 40th year anniversary with a little help from Finnriver Farm & Cidery. The organic orchard and craft cidery located in Chimacum, WA is issuing a limited edition version of its oak-aged 'Oak & Apple’ cider, featuring an image of “Bryony”, a gaff cutter built by the Boat School in 1983, on its label.

Although launched nearly 40 years ago, “Bryony” is still a strong little boat, moored near the Boat School in Mystery Bay and owned and cared for by a Boat School Alum.

The hard cider label celebrates a rich history of craft on the Olympic Peninsula which has been preserved by the Boat School for 40 years through its mission to “Teach and preserve boatbuilding and marine systems skills while developing the individual as a craftsperson”.

”The Olympic Peninsula is home to so many makers, builders, growers and people who work with their hands,” says Betsy Davis, Executive Director of the Boat School.

“Bryony” is the epitome of that sentiment.

She was designed by a local resident and built by the founder of the Boat School, Bob Prothero and some of his early students. Wrecked by a massive winter storm in 1989, she was rebuilt by the Boat School with significant help from the supporting community, making her the quintessential expression of the Finnriver / Boat School connection which stems from a shared vision of traditional craft, artisan creations and a wholesome and sustainable bond with community.

Like so many other local and regional artisans, Finnriver and the Boat School embrace and sustain a tradition of craft, which “reflects the values of so many of our neighbors on the Olympic Peninsula”, says Davis.

Head Cider Maker and production manager at Finnriver, Andrew Byers, says the proprietary blend of juice from organic, Washington, high acid, dessert apples, which is fermented and then aged in repurposed oak whiskey barrels, creates an “exposé of oak and apples.”

The Oak & Apple, semi-dry hard cider is created through a complex interaction of the creamy vanilla and caramel notes derived from the rye whiskey-soaked oak barrels balanced by the slightly tart apple juice.

The Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding is part of a much larger local community of skilled crafts persons, located in a region of dense artisan inspiration and creation. The school promotes the preservation of traditional boat building skills through hands on education and active practice of the craft.

Finnriver Farm & Cidery shares a similar philosophy with its mission to re-connect people to the land that sustains us and to grow community— through organic agriculture, land and resource conservation and restoration, renewable energy, support of local business, and preservation of craft in a vibrant and growing rural farm environment.

The cider label, which will be available for the rest of the year, is a fitting “toast” to the Boat School as it completes a major expansion including the addition of a new Marine Systems teaching facility, renovation of the Historic Galster House and repairs to the workshops located at the traditional working waterfront of Lower Hadlock.

You can find the Oak & Apple Cider online at Finnriver.com or at regional farmers markets or at the Finnriver Cider Garden, open Weds-Sunday 12-9pm for summer hours.

SUSAN FITCH AND THE COCOA FORGE

Wed, 10 Feb 2021 22:19:01 GMT

No, it’s not a murder mystery set in a roaring 20’s nightclub, or a funky folk band. Susan Fitch is the founder of The Cocoa Forge. The Cocoa Forge is an "artisan, micro-batch chocolate factory, crafting rare heirloom and fine-flavor cacao varietals into stoneground, bean-to-bar chocolate.” Susan’s studies as an herbalist eventually lead to her love and respect for Theobroma Cacao years before. However, her journey to fix up the Town Forge, which took on many forms including cold storage for a Port Townsend brewery before and during prohibition, as well as a dry cleaning and laundry service, is very recent with about five years in the making. It took about three years to renovate the old building which was in dire need of repair. Blackberries, home to a variety of creepy crawlers, were growing into the building and out through the ceiling; chunks of building crumbled away from time and salty air. Basically it required building from scratch while saving the unique historical features like the beautifully restored fire doors from 1928 and the metal framed windows from the late 1800's.

The Cocoa Forge is nestled humbly behind the Key City Theater in Port Townsend, WA. Inside however boasts the hard work and passion of a company dedicated to creating a product with humanity in mind. A conversation with Susan quickly reveals the heart behind the mission, responsibly sourced foods, and goods. We spoke briefly about the dark side of cocoa sourcing including child labor, slavery and exploitation that is present today in West Africa, by manufacturers and companies who choose profit over people. We spoke also of the rising consciousness of people who are questioning where their goods are coming from and how it is sourced and the importance of this collective awakening moving forward.

Susan gave me a tour of the facility and guided me verbally through the steps including sourcing, evaluating, sorting, roasting, cracking, winnowing, grinding, refining, conching, tempering, molding, wrapping, and packaging. Unlike mass produced products that have unnecessary additives and are often grown with chemicals, The Cocoa Forge produces chocolate in its purest form starting from the source, and with all organic ingredients.

Example:
Dark Chocolate: cacao and sugar
Dark Milk Chocolate: cacao, sugar, milk, cocoa butter
White Chocolate: natural, unprocessed, organic cacao butter, milk, sugar.

She has also tempered and molded a new vegan milk chocolate bar and used a gluten-free/vegan oak milk.

If you are looking for a local Chocolate Maker who will greet you with a welcoming smile, a sparkle in her eyes and a wealth of knowledge about the world of Cocoa, I strongly encourage you to reach out to Susan Fitch. We are so happy to have her chocolates paired with our Finnriver Cider and Brandywines in our “Cocoa Valentine” gift set.

You can learn more about Susan Fitch and The Cocoa Forge and where she sources her cocoa from at https://www.thecocoaforge.com/#/

You can also view our “Cocoa Valentine” gift set by clicking here: https://shop.finnriver.com/product/Cocoa-Valentine-Gift-Se t

WORKING WITH BEES

Fri, 01 May 2020 21:26:56 GMT

We couldn't do it without the bees!

According to the Pollinator Partnership, "Birds, bats, bees, butterflies, beetles,, and other small mammals that pollinate plants are responsible for bringing us one out of every three bites of food. Pollinators support healthy ecosystems that clean the air, stabilize soils, protect from severe weather and support other wildlife."

At Finnriver, our farm and orchard rely on the work of pollinator, whose quest for pollen and nectar helps both feed their families and fertilize the trees. In our orchard, we provide home nests for mason bees, whose particular flight patterns and belly hairs make them very effective and thorough cross-pollinators for our fruit trees. We also have a handful of honey bee hives that promote pollination and make honey for the farmers.

As organic farmers, we use an integrated pest management system to target pests and avoid or reduce the impact on pollinators and other beneficial insects, and we work to promote pollinator-friendly practices, such as planting the purple cover crop Phacelia. This wildflower produces lovely foliage topped with deep blue-violet flowers that produce heaps of nectar and attract an array of pollinators. Phacelia's common name is a translation of bienen-freund, German for "bee's friend."

How Can You Help?

You're helping pollinators by supporting small, local organic farms like Finnriver and all our neighboring farms. Grow your own pesticide-free garden with flowering plants, purchase organic foods and certified organic cotton clothing when you can, buy honey from local beekeepers, engage in citizen science and support legislation that protects pollinators.

TRUTH IN THE TREES

admin@totera.com (Frank DePalma) — Wed, 01 Apr 2020 21:34:57 GMT

We humans—

squirming around

among the blossoming flowers.

–Issa (b.1763-d.1827)

When the world starts spinning (oh...but it’s always spinning, isn’t it?) and well-laid plans go askew in a surge of unknowns, it makes sense to look around for anchors. As a cidery co-founder, it isn’t surprising that apple trees have been anchors for me during this strange, sad, uncertain Corona Spring.

The apple trees I refer to are leftovers from the Finnriver Orchard planting that were plunked into the ground out in front of our house without much forethought or follow-up care. Which is to say, we planted and then mostly forgot about them. But, because they are remarkably resilient, and have a heartwood-deep impulse to grow, these neglected trees took root and found a way to survive and flourish here.

I observed them this April as the trees transformed from bare and spindly skeletons, seemingly devoid of hope or promise (really, they looked so pathetic), into fully decked-out carnival dancers of the most flamboyant and blooming beauty. Watching them out my window, while so much of the world suffered through covid contortions and profound losses, I have pondered these questions: what makes something grow in challenging conditions? What allows it to be resilient and to survive? And to thrive? Can people be more like trees? Should we?

If only all we had to do to thrive was plant our bare feet in the earth and soak up sunshine!

In seeking answers to these questions, I have looked outside and I have looked inside. I’ve also looked in the fridge, in my friends, in books, on my phone and in my bed. It’s a tricky time to find answers since our problems are complex and life on earth is changing so rapidly, but the trees have been patient teachers.

Late poet-sculptor and wiseman of my community, Tom Jay, pointed out that the words “tree” and “true” are derived from deru-, a Proto Indo-European root meaning to “be firm, solid, steadfast,” which led to the Old English words trēow (“tree”) and trēowe (“true”).*(from Watkins, The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots)

So while I’ve been trying to reckon with global havoc and grief, and tallying the heap of challenges that face humanity, the tree limbs stretch towards the sun and reveal their truths.

The trees teach me: Something can look bleak one season and still blossom with beauty the next. Life endures layers of loss and pulses of growth. There are cycles at work. Everything is always changing. Deep roots keep you steady in the storm. Water, air, sun and soil are essential. We need pollinators, for people, ideas and flowers. Keep reaching for the light. Resilience is found in relationship with the life around you.

As I’ve looked for ways to understand resilience, I’ve also turned to human teachers. In a gracious webinar offered by movement facilitator and Somatics teacher Prentis Hemphill and colleagues, we were taught that resilience is being available to possibility. When resilient, we are capable of creating, connecting and adapting.

Watching the orchard spring into blossom during this season of quarantine has been a strange juxtaposition —the ecstatic expression of beauty and vitality in the apple trees alongside the heart-aching losses, letdowns, shutdowns, breakdowns and unknowns in the wider world. Then I consider the other things I have seen blossom this season: courage, generosity, tenderness, compassion, unexpected intimacies, an outpouring of human connection and creativity, a heightened sensitivity to gratitude, a proliferation of ideas and adaptations, a passionate call to justice, equity and health for all— all signs of resilience.

Many of us are more aware of our breathing than ever and realize how blessed we are when oxygen is carried in and out of our lungs automatically, breath after breath. Trees breathe too, in a fortunate photosynthetic inverse of our own respiration. As my friend Velda pointed out to me, we can imagine that the healthy respiration of the apple tree is reflected in its production of fruit…and how that homeostasis is ultimately expressed in a glass of cider!

As we carry on through this time of disruption and uncertainty, I will continue to consider the truth in the trees. To cherish my breath and the trees that help sustain it. To find ways to nurture resilience in my family and community. To look for opportunities to grow...

THE RETURN OF SPRING

Sun, 01 Mar 2020 20:15:31 GMT

As the world around us slowly begins to awaken from the deep slumber of the winter months, the release of Finnriver’s seasonal Honey Meadow cider reminds us that spring is on the horizon.

Cidermaker Andrew Byers notes, “Honey Meadow speaks directly to the roots, shoots, and blooms of Spring on the Olympic Peninsula. Locally harvested burdock from Midori Farm and dandelion roots are dried and roasted. The roots balance the acidity with their earthy depth and nutty notes and then we add honey to add the floral and herbs to honor the season.” Honey Meadow is fermented on the farm with a select blend of Certified Organic Washington apples, organic Midori Farm burdock root, organic dandelion root wild-harvested from our own organic farm, organic lemon balm, organic chamomile blossom and Sequim Bee Farm blackberry honey.

Sequim Bee Farm , the source of the luscious honey in the Honey Meadow cider, was created by Buddy and Meg DePew in 2014 and is a small company dedicated to practicing Sustainable bee keeping and providing the community with local, all-natural honey and bee products. Their love of bees began 25 years ago, when a swarm of bees landed on their truck in Seattle. They called a local beekeeper to remove them and were fascinated by the process. An interest in honeybees was sparked, but it was not until they moved to the beautiful community of Sequim that they were able to realize their dream. Sequim Bee Farm is a fellow multiple Good Food Awards recipient.

Midori Farm, the source of our botanical Burdock root, is a 29-acre organic farm located in the village of Quilcene which grows high quality organic vegetables, garden seedlings and crafts their own traditionally fermented sauerkraut and kimchi from farm grown produce. Their farm is nestled in the Quilcene valley which was created by the Little and Big Quilcene rivers flowing from the Olympic Mountains into pristine Quilcene Bay. This confluence has created a deep and fertile sandy clay loam soil ideal for raising crops.

Burdock is in a genus of plants called Arctium, in the plant family Asteraceae. Native to Europe and Asia, several species have been widely introduced worldwide. The taproot of young burdock plants can be harvested and eaten as a root vegetable. Burdock root is very crisp and has a sweet, mild, or pungent flavor with a little muddy harshness that can be reduced by soaking julienned or shredded roots in water for five to ten minutes. Interestingly, there is a connection between the burdock plant and the discovery of velcro!

According to Crystie Kisler, one of the farm’s co-founders, this spring seasonal cider was one of the most challenging to develop. “It took Andrew's botanical knowledge and fermenting creativity to put together this delightful convergence of spring ingredients!"

Honey Meadow will be available for purchase on tap and in bottles at the Cider Garden, as well as released regionally in our distribution territories and sold online .

A LOVE STORY

Sat, 01 Feb 2020 20:19:18 GMT

Chimacum WA— February 3rd, 2020,

This is a love story! Between trees and bees, people and the land, and folks and their fermentations. This month, we are highlighting the story of Finnriver’s Orchard Series ciders and the many relationships that make them come to life. To begin the story of any cider, we need to start with the trees...

Finnriver‘s ten acre cider orchard has its roots in the relationship we formed early on in our cidermaking journey with one of Washington cider industry’s early champions, Drew Zimmerman. Drew ran a cidery called Red Barn Cider in Mt. Vernon, Washington for many years, and kindly became our mentor as we founded our own operation in 2009. Finnriver co-founder and early cidermaker Keith Kisler recalls, “Drew was extremely generous in offering his advice and would answer the phone at all hours when I had questions for him about pitching yeast, selecting equipment and guiding unruly batches of cider.” When he retired, Finnriver had an opportunity to purchase the 1,000 traditional cider variety trees growing in his Skagit Valley fields. This transplanting adventure resulted in the first block of trees in Finnriver’s organic orchard in the Chimacum Valley. Drew continued to offer guidance and advice as those trees made a new home in the rich loamy soils of the Olympic Peninsula. Thanks to his mentorship and the ongoing care of our crew, we now grow over 6,000 trees with 20+ different varieties of heirloom apples and pears, and feature these unique and diverse fruits in the Orchard Series ciders.

The Orchard Series offers Finnriver partner and cidermaker Andrew Byers an opportunity to showcase the depth and diversity of traditional cider variety fruits and to tantalize the palates of cider enthusiasts. This part of the love story celebrates the senses! These apples and pears, cultivated for generations for their versatility and character, are classified according to levels of acidity, tannin and sugar content into the categories of sweets, sharps, bittersweets or bittersharps. The resulting ciders are a fermented feast of complex harvest aromas, flavors and finishes.

The Orchard Series ciders from the 2018 harvest include the Fire Barrel, Black Oak, Golden Russet, Perry, and Blue Hewe. “The tannins in these apples create structure and substance that you can feel with your tongue, your cheeks and your lips,” according to Andrew. “Each bottle is written in the trees so to speak. The orchard has been planted with these ciders in mind. Each year the land and elements expresses themselves as apples and pears, and my task and my passion is to ferment that expression and share it with the community.” Each of these releases offers a unique blend of beloved fruits, finishing technique and/or aging process. From the whiskey-barrel aged Fire Barrel to the blending of our home-grown organic berries into the complex crab apples of the Blue Hewe, these bottles all express our love for this land and community.

Cameron Denning, Finnriver’s orchard manager and ‘guardian of the trees’ adds, “There are only a small number of orchards in the Northwest currently growing out these cider varieties (such as Kingston Black, Brown Snout, Frequin Rouge and Yarlington Mill)) compared to the more commonly grown dessert varieties like Honey Crisp and Pink Lady.” We continue to learn how best to support these trees to flourish here. Growing the fruit organically requires high levels of care and attention to the soil vitality and ecosystem health. Along with promoting biodiversity in fruit production, the Finnriver orchard is Certified Organic, Certified Salmon-Safe and is committed to conscientious farm practices such as rotational grazing of geese, water-efficient irrigation, habitat restoration and on-farm composting.

Since our own orchard production varies year to year with climate conditions, we have also nurtured a series of connections with other regional orchards who can supply this unique fruit as well. In order to create one bottle of cider, many relationships and connections must be made — among both our wild and human neighbors!

You can find the Finnriver Orchard Series ciders at our Chimacum Cider Garden & Taproom, and are distributed by request into Washington, Oregon and California territories. They are also available for purchase on our website Cider Store , where we can ship to most states.

We wish you full cups and full hearts!

THE GOLDEN AGE OF SAFFRON

Wed, 01 Jan 2020 20:23:22 GMT

As farmers ourselves, the folks at Finnriver appreciate the direct connections that growers have to their land and to their crops, and to the stories that have carried them into agriculture. Our Botanical Cider series has brought us into relationship with a range of wonderful folks throughout the region who provide organically-grown or wild-harvested ingredients for these seasonally released fermentations. This year, we are delighted to be forming a new connection with saffron-grower Tanya Golden from Oregon. Her golden saffron is highlighted in our Solstice Saffron cider, which is begun each year in our barn on the Winter Solstice and releases in January to celebrate the returning of the light!

Humble Beginnings

As a child Tanya Golden’s family started out as Peach Farmers, under the current name “Golden Orchard.” Later, her mother would branch out to sell creamed honey and gourmet preserves under the same name. Both of her grandmothers grew up homesteading and she grew up farming. Flash forward to the present-day Tanya Golden is determined to keep her family legacy alive, as well as representing her rich Native heritage. Tanya has moved forward with the name “Golden Tradition Saffron co. LLC.” Keeping Golden in the name to both “represent my family name and for the word play in the Saffron itself.”

That's What Friends Are For

Tanya was an organizer with Pacific NW Stands with Standing Rock at the time and made a run into town to pick up some flyers from friends who were vendors at “NAYA” (Native American Youth and Family Services) winter market. Tanya had made some raw chocolate truffles, for the Chocolate and Wine fundraiser event at her children’s school. Tanya made these delicious treats using her food stamp benefits, she was unable to afford a booth at the market. However, her friends loved these truffles so much that they knew it deserved a chance and made room at their tables to allow Tanya to sell her product at the market. They worked in conjunction until she had made enough money to pay for splitting the tables and to be able to afford salve and tincture bottles and jars.

In return for being an active part of the vendor community, Tanya was invited to the “Indianpernuership” and Micro Enterprise classes at NAYA. Although it appeared that opportunities were on the horizon, still a question burning in Tanya’s mind; What are you really going to do? Tanya happened to read some articles on Saffron a few days prior to a Wednesday evening class. On the eve of that class a friend walked in and handed Tanya a large container of Saffron that her partner had brought back from the Mideast. It was in that moment that Tanya realized exactly what she was going to do!

Triumph Through Challenge

Tanya was on the verge of something remarkable, however she found herself still navigating through the harsh trenches of financial hardship. It was suggested that she apply for the USDA/NRCS High Tunnel program, so she applied for both conventional and organic in hopes it would better her chances of receiving at least one. Indeed, she ended up receiving both! Coincidentally she had miscalculated and ordered enough Corms from Holland for both the conventional and organic as it turned out. Tanya used the IDA grant from NAYA to purchase the Corms. Tanya Golden is nothing short of an example of passion and persistence.

Tanya credits her ongoing success to her Creator, letting her know that she is on the right path. Gifting her with signs such as witnessing rainbows and eagles and even “meant-to-be” connections and phone calls including the one that put her in contact with Finnriver, she says. Tanya recognizes that being a small business owner and a farmer is a political position and it has given her a platform for her voice. Tanya recalls her personal accounts of growing up with conventional farming and says she has seen how toxic it is. “I’ve watched the old farmers die, many from cancer. I think it’s completely absurd that I should have to pay more to be a better steward to our earth and community.”

Acknowledging Ancestry and Traditions in a Modern World

Tanya continues to hold to the tradition of Women planting and harvesting in her family. She says; “Just like we have genetic memory, so do these plants. I like to honor them as much as I can.” Tanya is using her education as a clinical herbalist to experiment with the medicinal aspects of Saffron and is sharing what she has learned at the American Herbal Pharmacopeia. Tanya states that working with Saffron has had an altering effect, she says she has even experienced a sense of euphoria simply by being around the plants. I’ve been working with plants my entire life. These are seriously the happiest plants I’ve ever worked with! Tanya added, “among many other medicinal uses, Saffron is used as an anti-anxiety in traditional Persian, Indian and Chinese medicine.”

Tanya has fallen in love with her craft and with the process itself, even when she is tired and her body aches; she keeps moving forward. She is overwhelmed with the outpour of love and support from friends, family, community and even the kindness of strangers. As Tanya continues to grow her brand, she hopes to be able to create a life that allows her to give back in a substantial way and to continue to provide for her family and farm. “I feel so blessed to be able to do all of this. I can only imagine what kind of world we’d live in, if everyone could have this.”

Meant To Be?

Sometimes we recall a memory in life that makes us question the chain of events leading up to our current circumstances. Could the memories we record subconsciously play a part in the decisions we make along the way and where we end up? About twenty years ago, Tanya’s mother gifted to her a basket. Last year during her first harvest, basket in hand, Tanya realized that not only was the pattern of the basket and colors a Saffron flower. The basket itself was made from spent Saffron leaves! Only then did Tanya realize that Saffron had found her long before she had consciously found it.

BIODIGESTING OUR WASTE

Sun, 01 Dec 2019 20:26:42 GMT

What is that big purple thing behind the kitchen? Why it’s our new (used, actually) biodigester of course. This is a project that has been in the works for over a year and after a long wait for some critical upgrades, it finally arrived on site last week...and so begins our effort to introduce this technology to Jefferson County as a potential solution for solid waste reduction and sustainable-energy production.

Our Orchard property (formerly the Brown Dairy) is a fitting location for this experiment as most biodigesters operate on dairy farms—they serve to convert large amounts of otherwise noxious organic waste into a more useful fertilizer product while also producing methane gas which can be used to power equipment and machinery. There are a number of complex biochemical reactions embedded in this process but in simplest terms the digester acts very much like a mechanical version of the digestive tract of a cow. In goes food, out comes fertilizer and methane gas. To further complicate things, the acronym used to describe this system is as a High solids Organic-waste Recycling System with Electrical output. Get it?

In our case, the foodstock will be a combination of food waste from our Cider Garden, from our commercial kitchen, and potentially from cider production (apple pomace and lees) as well as from the Chimacum schools, other local food service establishments, and local households. We’ll grind that all into a slurry and feed it to the digester, which will in turn produce methane gas and a liquid “digestate.” We plan to pump the methane gas over to the new Cider Barn to heat water for pasteurizing, cleaning, and heating the building itself. We hope to package and sell the digestate as a fertilizer for local garderners. Between reduced propane and electricity costs and income from digestate sales we hope to pay for the digester itself in a win-win proposition. Less waste going into the local landfill, less money and resources spent on propane and electricity.

There are still a number of things that need to happen in multiple phases before it becomes fully operational. We expect that over the next several months we’ll get electricity hooked up, get some “starter” from another biodigester on Whidbey Island so that we can get the biodigester functioning. Then we’ll need to connect the methane line to the Cider Barn, and install some complicated plumbing that allows us to generate hot water and use it efficiently over there.

Stay tuned for progress reports this spring!

COMMUNITY HARVEST DINNER

Fri, 01 Nov 2019 19:31:41 GMT

On October 24th, the non-profit Community Wellness Project (CWP) and Finnriver partnered to produce a Harvest Dinner to benefit Farm-to-School programs at Chimacum and Port Townsend School Districts. 150 community members and school district staff came together at the Finnriver Cider Garden to share a delicious locally-sourced meal, prepared by Chimacum Foods Services Director Margaret Garrett, Port Townsend Foods Services Director Stacey Larsen, Finnriver Chef Willy Ray and other volunteers. Meal service was provided by volunteers and by high school students from both districts, and the evening included a dessert auction with delectable confections donated by local restaurants and food artisans. Bodies were nourished by good food, and spirits were nourished by stories of progress from both school districts.

CWP “Seedwork” project coordinator Shelby Smith says, "Good food helps students grow well, behave well, and learn well. When schools serve locally grown food in their cafeterias, students learn what fresh, healthy foods taste like, helping them form eating habits that will last a life time. As schools build relationships with local farmers, students develop an enhanced sense of place, the local economy is strengthened, and connections are deepened that keep communities healthy and vibrant.” With our co-founders’ roots as educators and school teachers and our mission to grow community— Finnriver is pleased to work with CWP and with the schools to support nutrition, school garden and community connect learning efforts.

The 2019 Harvest Dinner raised $13,500 for fresh, local food in our schools! Thanks to all who came together to make this such a successful, delicious, and heartwarming evening.

To learn more visit the Community Wellness Project .

GROWING GRAINS IN CHIMACUM

Tue, 01 Oct 2019 19:34:27 GMT

I grew up on a wheat farm in Eastern Washington near Othello where my family has farmed for five generations. I spent my days under endlessly big open skies surrounded by miles of grain fields in every direction and by age eight, I was driving the old farm truck around doing errands and by twelve was spending 12-hour days harvesting wheat on the tractor during the summer. Those long days and the rhythm of that life have deeply shaped my way of being and that sort of childhood also taught me how to fix things, make do, and work hard. I wanted to raise my own kids on a farm so that they would learn some of these same lessons...it's gratifying that the boys are big enough now to start helping more!

I have always been enamored with the process, the challenges, and the spirit of hard work and camaraderie during the short but intense planting and harvest seasons. I suppose having ancestors who were German wheat farmers that migrated to the Volga River district of Russia in the mid 1700’s also has something to do with my adoration for farming grain.

Twelve years ago, I started working with Dr. Steve Jones and his then PhD student Kevin Murphy at WSU, by planting small highly diverse trial plots of various grains like: wheat, spelt, quinoa, barley, and oats. They wanted to see what grains were well adapted to the Western Washington maritime climate and that did well in low input organic situations. Wheat has a rich history in Western Washington during the boom of dairy farms but was lost to consolidation as industrial agriculture and ease of transport made growing grains on this side of the mountains less necessary. By bringing back grains to bolster soil health and break disease cycles in veggie rotations, Dr. Jones hoped these studies would be valuable for growers, consumers and the environment.

Dr. Jones went on to create the Bread Lab which operates within the WSU framework and is devoted to bringing wheat and bread back from the commodity-driven mandate that makes farms focus on yield and not on nutrition or flavor. These varieties of grains have deep vigorous roots that mine deep into the soil profile to capture micronutrients and allow water to infiltrate deep for use in the dry summer and to prevent rain events from washing overland carrying precious topsoil with it.

So, that's why I’m growing grains here in the Chimacum valley. I’m excited people are able to know - through bread and cider - what this valley tastes like. My hope is that something deeper can shift a small or big part of a person which will allow them to be in a healthier relationship with their food and community and each other. I'd be glad to talk with any of you about grains any time! Come find me in the fields...

Follow Finnriver Grain on instagram @finnrivergrainco

COMMUNITY APPLE HARVEST

Sun, 01 Sep 2019 19:39:26 GMT

Gravenstein, Chehalis, Greensleeve, and Pippins. Northern Spy, Rubymac, Cortland, and Wolf river. The apple trees that dot the Olympic Peninsula—that grow in backyards, along sidewalks, on small farms—bear an abundance of fruit ripe with the potential to nourish a community. The Finnriver Farmstead cider is our humbled attempt to gather the harvest, connect our neighbors, and create some beauty of this bounty.

“The purpose of this cider in my heart is to give purpose to the fruit that grows in your yard,” Cidermaker Andrew Byers says of the Farmstead. “Trees have value. Fruit trees change a neighborhood. Local fruit is precious in that sense.”

A community apple harvest, to make a cider with the fruit of the season growing right here, was started by co-founders Crystie, Keith, and Eric before Finnriver began growing its own fruit. Community members were encouraged to donate their bruised and damaged fruit for a cider that would reflect and benefit us all (a portion of sales from our Farmstead fund educational programs in the community). Now, Andrew continues this tradition, gathering apples from Port Angeles to Quilcene and seeking out fruit with desired characteristics for cider. For several years, Andrew and his daughter Tesla did much of this harvesting, getting to know the trees and the people of this place. For the last two years, it has been a real community effort. Neighbors have been harvesting and bringing their fruit to us.

Apple Wrangler of the Olympic Peninsula and local tree lover Robert Laitman has found, harvested, and sold over 20,000 pounds of fruit to Finnriver. The entire cider making crew even went out for a harvest day at Huntingford Orchard last year. In addition to community donations, we have bought fruit from Lazy J Farm, Solstice Farm, The Lamb Farm, Wild Cat Farm, Vista Ridge Orchard, Vista Farm, Iron Root Orchard, and several others for this local cider.

“There are many versions of Farmstead that could be made here on the peninsula- depending on the fruit, the skills, the infrastructure provided to the fermentor,” Andrew says. “Finnriver Farmstead is the most pleasing edition I can grasp each year. Apples from real people, living around here, turned into cider by real people living around here, and consumed by real people living around here.”

Crafting the Farmstead involves pressing the fruit in house and lots of layering to achieve a great tasting cider. Most of the apples that are sourced for this cider are desert apples, which don’t lend a lot of complexity in flavor—just a lot of sugar. The hope is to find a blend of high acid fruit that pops. To do this, Andrew blends as many varieties as he can get his hands on. This year’s batch has over 50! Combining all these different fruits with different yeasts specifically chosen to highlight desirable qualities of the apples is where the art happens. And how the Farmstead is born.

BUILDING COMMUNITY WITH FOOD

Thu, 01 Aug 2019 19:42:22 GMT

Finnriver Orchard crew member Sam Scheidt and his partner Katelyn Porter were looking for an opportunity to get their hands in the soil, deepen their experience with production vegetable growing, and provide a needed resource for the local food bank. They found the connective tissue for their goals at the Finnriver farm when owner Keith Kisler suggested they dig into some underutilized space near the orchard. With the support of Finnriver, the Food Bank Farm and Gardens of Jefferson County, Sam and Katelyn began their first growing season this year.

They are currently responding to a need for an intentional grow of greens, lettuces and salad vegetables for the Tri-Area Food Bank in Chimacum. This is different from gleaning unwanted, overripe, or lesser quality foods from farms and supermarkets—how much of the food makes its way to the food bank. Sam and Katelyn feel passionate addressing the divide between people with means and people without means and the land’s capacity to provide for everyone.

The same land can and does provide food for the food bank as well as for the Finnriver kitchen Sam says. Vegetables don’t make distinctions based on income and class. Perhaps humans can learn something from that. Either way, Sam is interested in blurring the boundaries, and feels good about all the labor he puts into growing food when he feels it is a needed resource.

The food bank and this Finnriver partnership has also provided Sam and Katelyn a relatively low-risk environment to hone their farming knowledge and experiment with what they enjoy growing. Experiences like this can be vitally important and encouraging to young farmers, Sam says. He wants to encourage more farms to partner with newer farmers to better utilize extra space, address challenges of land access, and grow food for everyone in this community that needs it.

This food bank garden has been producing a variety of lettuces, kale, collards, cabbages, and summer squash so far. A bounty of onions and winter squash are growing bigger everyday and will supply both the food bank and the Finnriver Kitchen later this fall. Looking toward future seasons, Sam and Katelyn are hopeful to put in more perennial crops like herbs and berries.

PARTNERING WITH THE SUN

Mon, 01 Jul 2019 19:46:27 GMT

Finnriver relocated our tasting and tap room in 2016 to a historic dairy farm at the central intersection in the rural community of Chimacum. Our goal was to show how rural economic development, land and resource conservation and sustainable agriculture can all converge and thrive.

The old cow feeding trough was converted, using reclaimed barn wood, into a 75 foot long community table and the space covered by an open air pavilion. Alongside the pavilion, we restored an old feeding shed into our cidery tasting and taproom. These and other structures make up the Cider Garden, which looks out over the 50 acres of organic farm and orchard.

This Cider Garden has now become an all-ages gathering space, music venue and local food court, offering a welcoming space for neighbors and visitors to gather and reconnect to the land that sustains us.

In order to continue the mission of educating and inspiring wise land use, we worked with local renewable energy advocates and Power Trip Energy company to apply for the USDA Rural Energy for America program (REAP). With matching funds from REAP, federal tax credits, support from a Barnraiser crowdfunding campaign and loans, Finnriver was able to install an expandable, grid-tied 65-kilowatt system, using 212 solar panels. These panels cover 3,000 square feet of roof space here at the Cider Garden.

Initially, we estimated that it would produce 65,000 kWh of electricity annually which would produce enough electricity to supply more than half of our annual power needs and send green energy back into the grid.

After one year in service, the solar panels have in fact produced around 74,500 kwh – which is enough electricity to cover almost 80% of Finnriver’s portion of electricity use at the Cider Garden property.

To commemorate this feat, a Sol Mandala was crafted by the ceramic artists at Millbrook Clayworks and with metalwork by Abraxas Crow. It celebrates the generous contributions of supporters of Finnriver’s renewable energy campaign. We recently installed an educational display that will teach visitors about the benefits of renewable energy near our North entrance.

We hope that this renewable energy system will provide a venue to educate our community about the benefits of solar energy and give us an exciting opportunity to 'walk our talk' about sustainability and to showcase how the local food economy can integrate land conservation, renewable energy and watershed restoration!

COLLABORATING WITH PLANTS, BACTERIA AND FUNGI TO CLEAN OUR SOIL

Sat, 01 Jun 2019 19:51:48 GMT

That patch of yellow-flowering, wild mustard greens behind the Finnriver Kitchen aren’t just growing tall to look pretty; they’re working hard! Results are in from the first round of testing on our bioremediation project, revealing the decontamination efforts are meeting our goals of clean and healthy soil!

The Remediators, one of Finnriver's land partners, took up the task of removing toxic levels of petroleum and lead from an area of the property where farm equipment was historically repaired. A network of specially selected plants, bacteria and fungus (locally sourced willow, rapeseed, PDN-1 bacterial endophytes, and a mushroom strain similar to the edible Stropharia rugoso-anulata) have significantly reduced the high levels of toxins detected on the site since the project began two years ago.

In a decontamination method known as the Integrative Biological Approach, mycoremediation and phytoremediation are used in tandem to leverage each organism’s purifying talents. These living beings have proven abilities to grow in contaminated soils and take up or break down petroleum and heavy metals.

“By combining this suite of organisms together, they work better than on their own,” said Howard Sprouse, CEO of The Remediators and lead of the project at Finnriver.

For example, the chosen fungi strain are able to transform heavy metals into a soluble form that the plants can then take up and store in their tissues. In general, the methods of bioremediation transform toxic organic materials at the molecular level, converting them into more innocuous compounds. While full mineralization of contaminants is desired, it is sometimes not possible, as in the case of heavy metals. In these scenarios, the hyper-accumulating plant material can be removed from the soil and taken elsewhere to decompose. This will be the method utilized at Finnriver. The biomass of the plant and fungal matter will be significantly less than if the contaminated soil were to be removed directly, as is the case in more conventional forms of remediation.

In some cases, the plant or fungi material utilized in remediation create useful byproducts, such as bio oils that can be turned into fuel. There is even consideration that edible mushrooms can be harvested as a food crop byproduct in instances where the organic soil contaminants might be decomposed without so imparting toxicity.

Soil contamination, particularly involving heavy metals and petroleum, pose huge health burdens to society and to the earth. Conventional clean-up invokes a sizable financial strain as well. Through observation, appreciation and application of the natural capabilities of some specific plants, bacteria, and fungi, we can remediate the damage as we work in partnership with these incredible beings.

The samples collected from the Finnriver farm this spring were from areas of the project where plants were growing well and that were expected to be cleaner. More complete testing will occur at the end of this year’s growing season.

THE LAYERS OF COMMUNITY

Wed, 01 May 2019 19:55:09 GMT

Our mission at Finnriver is to reconnect people to the land that sustains us and to grow community. We believe that these strong connections inspire us to take authentic and more effective care of ourselves, each other, and this land.

As farmers, students, and lovers of the land, we understand that ‘diversity' is one of the key ecological concepts that sustains a healthy and thriving ecosystem. We also know diversity is essential in creating a healthy and thriving society. With this reverence for and understanding of diversity, we aspire to offer a ‘welcoming place for all walks of life’ at our Cider Garden — a farm-based community gathering space where we celebrate the culture in agriculture.

We believe that a very important component in creating an inclusive and welcoming space involves ongoing learning and engagement around what this means and how to bring this about. Over time we will be sharing the many ways we engage with this mission. For instance, we are excited about our upcoming plans to gather with our crew this Spring and spend time learning about the layers of cultural history in our area and the indigenous cultures— the Chemakum, S’Klallam and Snohomish among others— that have inhabited this landscape 'since time immemorial.’

At our annual staff retreat in May, we are starting the day with local resident and Snohomish tribal elder Nancy McDaniel, whose ancestors farmed the land that is now Finnriver. Her great great-grandmother was Lag-wah, "the daughter of a prominent Sdu'hubš (Snohomish) leader" and her son, Nancy’s great uncle, was William Bishop Jr., first Native American state legislator in the Washington House of Representatives and member of the Purebred Dairy Cattle Association “Hall of Fame."

Later in the day, the Finnriver staff will then meet up with David Brownell, the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, to explore a local sanctuary site and learn more about Chemakum and S’Klallam history and traditions.

As people who have settled on this land we feel a deep responsibility to understand the history and heritage of the people that shaped and still shape their lives here. We acknowledge that we are just adding another layer to the long lineage of peoples that have lived from the bounty of the fields, forests and waters of the Olympic Peninsula.

We are grateful to Nancy and David for spending time with us and for sharing their knowledge and perspectives. With our deeper understanding of regional history and tribal cultures, we hope to be better neighbors and advocates for supporting a healthy ecology and honoring and encouraging human diversity and equity.

Interested in learning more of the history? Learn more HERE .

FEEDING THE SOIL ORGANICALLY

Fri, 01 Mar 2019 21:00:33 GMT

Last Fall’s rains and harvests may have depleted our soils of the nutrients that will determine the fate of our crops and the health of our garden this year. Early spring is a great time to add soil amendments because the rain and warmer temps will awaken soil microbes and bring those nutrients into the root zone. It is often said that we need to put a healthy dose of NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) fertilizers on our lawn and gardens every year. However, it is important to first know the components of your soil in order to understand what you may or may not need to add. At the Finnriver orchard, we test our soil every year as it lets us track how our soils are improving or being depleted by our fertility management program.

With a soil test in hand, you can apply the appropriate amounts of amendments. By adding amendments such as lime (for alkaline) and sulfur (for acidic), you help "unlock" fertilizers that are bound to soil particles and increase the absorption of other amendments you add this year. It is essential to be careful about over-applying which can cause problems downstream when leached nutrients travel into storm water and aquifers that ultimately pollute river mouths and other bodies of water.

This is why we encourage the use of organic means to amend soils. For example, a gentle means of replenishing nitrogen is to apply a 2-inch layer of compost onto your beds or around perennials. Earth worms and other arthropods will break down the compost and slowly release its nutrients to your plants. After a few years of composting this might be the only source of nitrogen that you need to add. Homemade compost from kitchen scraps, coffee grounds and leaf debris is a fine way to start. Other good commercial options are NutriRich (pelletized chicken manure) or Mushroom Compost in bulk. For more detailed information about the health of soils, I recommend “Teaming with Nutrients" by Jeff Lowenfells and “Soul of Soil" by Grace Gershuny.