On July 10, Suzanne and I went to visit Diane Flynt who owns and operates Foggy Ridge Cider. The The operation began in 1997 with a cider apple orchard. Using modern fermentation, those at Foggy Ridge craft traditional cider apples such as Hewe's Crab, Harrison, Tremlett's Bitter, Asmead's Kernel, and Dabinett into fine cider. Their cider apples are selected for unique flavors and grown for taste, not appearance.
On my Extension visit to Foggy Ridge Cider, I got to take a walk through the three orchards. During our tour, Diane showed us the different varieties of apples she has. She has noticed that two varieties, Dabinett and Ashmead's Kernel, are more susceptible to Fire Blight. Fire Blight is a very detrimental disease of fruit trees. She also gave us a short tour of her cidery facilities.
While visiting with Diane, we also discussed some of the typical problems associated with growing apples including pests, diseases, and environmental factors. One thing I saw that was really neat were some trees that Diane had topwork grafted using a cleft graft. I had learned about this in one of my classes at Virginia Tech, and it was neat to get to see it done successfully in a real orchard.
Foggy Ridge Cider has been gaining lots of attention in the media as well. Diane Flynt's ciders have won taste tests and been featured in the news as well as many magazines. If you are interested in learning more about Foggy Ridge, check out their website, www.foggyridgecider.com. You can also visit them on Facebook.
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