So far, so good

By Jeff on Wednesday, October 29th, 2014

Thanks to everyone who has made a pledge so far. In our first 10 days, we’ve been able to make it to 30% of our total. Lots of projects never even make it to this point, so we’re grateful for your support thus far. Please tell everyone you know about what we’re doing, and encourage them to pledge as well. If we keep this pace up, we’ll make our goal, if just barely.

I was out in the backyard last weekend making cider with a good friend, Hunter, who had foraged about 15 bushels of apples from various parts of the city over the last two weeks. It was a beautiful day- golden late October sun, a little bit of chill in the air, falling leaves and the smell of apples and cider as we worked. I needed to get away from the computer and sending emails and social media, so I was glad to have a reason to be outside on a nice day.

We pressed apples with the old-fashioned apple press Gita bought for my birthday, and while we worked, I thought of how many other people have done this same thing, over the last decades and centuries, in this place where we live. Picking the fruit off of the trees in the fall, grinding and pressing it, then fermenting it into something that would keep them warm over the long winter. It felt like the right thing to be doing on a fall afternoon.

It’s the thing that I hope to be doing on a larger scale soon. Taking what’s fresh and what’s abundant, and making it into something delicious. The fruit is all around us- we just need to find it, and pick it. Even in the city, we often have more than we can eat- falling on the sidewalks, drying on the vine, or being eaten by birds who wonder why nobody else has noticed this delicious thing up in their tree.

So– thank you for helping to get us a little closer to realizing this vision. I realize that your dollars are hard-earned, and I appreciate you sharing them with us to make Urban Forage Winery and Cider House possible. We will do our best to provide the best products and customer experience possible once this is going. And we promise to rescue as much of the unloved fruit as we humanly can.