Updates & Events

Seasons Rolling on…

By early November our orchard farm-stand transitions into “November mode” for a couple of weeks, then closes entirely.

Also in November, the orchard field crew makes the final hard push of the year. In 2025, in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa, the Jamaican workers are especially impatient to get home and start repairs. Fortunately no-one in their communities was badly hurt, but infrastructure, schools and other community essentials are damaged, not to mention their own homes. (See fundraising article above! East-coast farming, the fruits and vegetables we prize, could not be produced without seasonal workers from Jamaica. You will see many many farms besides ours asking for donations to help the workers who are returning home to property damage or worse.)

They're bringing in the last tons of our bittersweet, bittersharp and various other apple varieties “cider-grown” for fermentation.

These apples are ripe beyond the point that people find fun to bite. For good cider, sugar levels in the fruit should reach maximum, so as to produce the 7-8% alcohol range we expect for Farnum Hill Ciders. Growing apples for consumers is different from “cider-growing” apples for fine ciders, even with varieties that are good for both uses.

Just one of those things to know about “orchard-made” or “cider-grown” ciders, if you’re looking for ciders that draw their character from the land -as fermented fruit-juices all over the world have done for eons.

The trees are easing toward winter dormancy … pruning will begin in the new year. Thanks to all who came up Farnum Hill to the orchard in fall ’25. Special, intense gratitude to the people whose hard work make the harvest season possible.