Cider Press Debut!

We have a grinder, press, press bags, shiny information plates, grinder-motors, a lot of electric parts, and insurance. Here Bob shows the grinder mechanism to Dr. Norton.

The press is amazingly easy to use – at the VIGA meeting I was turning the wheel using only one finger. The mash emerges from the press almost dry to the touch. 

Bob is refining the grinder-hopper interface so the fruit will move smoothly through to the grinder with no extra prodding, and placing the handles for easy transport. Photography and a manual are next; we'll send out email and postcards when we are ready to take orders. 

We look forward to many cider parties in 2014. 

The Seed Underground

Most inspiring book I've read this summer: The Seed Underground, by Janisse Ray.

Ray is a great writer, a poet, and utterly passionate and inspiring on seed saving and seed culture. The book combines reporting, memoir, thoughtful essay, and call-to-arms. (It's inspired me to sign up for the conference Justice Begins With Seeds, sponsored by the Biosafety Alliance, in Seattle August 2-3. ) If you care about gardens, seeds, or humanity's future on this threatened & blessed planet, buy this book from your local bookseller or from the publisher and read it. Plant some seeds.

"I say, Rev up your awesome. Look around, so many people have put their shoulders into the load. You. Find a place to push. Pick up a tool -- a hoe or a shovel. Start turning the compost bin, to make the soil in which the seed will grow. You will begin at the cente,r the center of many concentric circles that expand further and further out from you. You soon will become a local hero and a local rock star, and from there your influence will wash outward, even across the globe, where so many people are rising up like germinating embryos to claim food sovereignty, to rescue local seeds, and to guard human civilizations cornucopia. Come home. Have the courage to live the life you dream: There is nothing greater than this.

Many of our seeds have been lost forever. But we can protect what's left and in our revolutionary gardens we can develop the heirlooms of the future.

Begin now."

Janisse Ray
The Seed Underground, 194

Cider Press Prototype

The Cider Press prototype is done -- we took it up to Mother Earth Fair this weekend. Many, many hours of work went into making this all-steel version, with electric grinder. There are still some refinements ahead but we are very close to a share-able, sell-able version.

The grinder represents a breakthrough in design; modeled after industrial versions but scaled way down --

Bob and Paul worked on it all last week. We are excited & exhausted!

Production Team

We have a whole awesome production team now: Bob, Paul, Jared, Ryan, and Rhody.

They make the broadforks and soon the cider press. & then a chicken plucker? grain mill? anti-gravity engine? watch this space.

Portland for Easter Weekend

We visited Portland last week to deliver broadforks to Naomi’s Organic Farm Supply and take a break, and got a preview of summer with warm, sunny weather all weekend. Naomi's bustles with activity, plants, and baby chicks.

We were thrilled to meet Binga (pictured) and Oona the goats, who help out in the store and go home with Naomi at night.

We brought more forks for the energetic gardeners of Portland. 

We bought Eric Toensmeier’s new book Paradise Lot, a delightful introduction to permaculture  through the down-to-earth story of building a diverse garden ecosystem in the backyard of his shared house in Holyoke, Mass. (It got a great review in the NY Times, with a cute slideshow of Eric and his gardening partner, their families, and the amazing garden they built.)

I totally dug staying at the Kennedy School. Especially the art.

 

Portage Bay Grange

We were happy and excited to get a call from Kevin at Portage Bay Grange offering to be our retail partner in Seattle. Now you can buy a Meadow Creature broadfork in the U District, just north of the University Bridge. It also gave me a great excuse to visit Portage Bay Grange.

PBG specializes in feed and supplies for urban farm animals, and they have a beautiful array of books and tools aimed at urban farmers, along with some nice soaps, home items, and treats. This would be a fun place to visit just to check out the possibilities or buy a gift for someone who is doing urban gardening. 

The rabbit was feeling shy that day, but the chicks were chipper. From the signage in the chick room, it looks like they get a lot of visitors in to meet the baby chicks. A good winter-day outing for anyone and especially for kids.

Olympia Artesian Well

When I first moved to Olympia in 1981, there were several artesian wells in town, and learning about them helped me tune into the local environment. 

The Olympia brewery in Tumwater was running an advertising campaign that ascribed the beer’s quality to “the artesians,” portrayed as helpful gnomes or devas.

One artesian well was in front of the old Mark & Pak grocery store; it was paved over when the store was remodeled for BayView. The drinking fountain at the corner of 4th and Washington was artesian, and may be still. The Spar advertised its pure artesian drinking water. 

But the pipe that jutted from the asphalt in the middle of the parking lot near 4th and Jefferson was the best one to catch drinking water. With several gallon or five-gallon jugs, you could get a day’s supply for a communal household in a few minutes.

The access in the parking lot was contested for years; water advocates wanted to see the whole site made into a park, while the owners had no interest in parting with a valuable piece of real estate. Urged on by advocates, the city eventually came to a deal with the parking lot owners and acquired a portion of the lot for the Olympia Artesian Well. 

  

This beautiful mosaic art was added recently. The water flows at 10 gallons a minute, and it’s free. When I stopped by to take pictures on a brilliant, cold January day, the dude filling his jar saw me with my camera and asked, “Have you TASTED it?”  

It’s delicious.