Cider Mill Prospectus

Our trees are now producing sufficient quantities of apples for cider making purpose. Community investment to set up a commercial cider press comes next. Here's where we examine costs, look closely at the politics of cider, and propose Slow Money ways for folks to help the cause.

Our post'n'beam barn was built with an apple addition in mind. The cider room would have some variation of a hydraulic press, a grinder with means to readily move the pomace onto the press, a refrigerated bulk tank, and a bottling station. Means to wash the fruit certainly makes sense. Cool storage is envisioned in the earth banked foundation beneath this room. Solar panels to power this operation would be a separate goal. Construction costs will be $15,000 with used mill equipment running another $10,000 minimum.

The national food police only allow unpasteurized cider to be made and sold directly on the farm. Real Cider tastes so good! and has the sorts of healthy enzymes and antioxidants you would expect in a "living food." Nevertheless, bureaucracy and vested interests alike are unrelenting in eventually wanting to shut down the last artisan cidermakers through mandatory pasteurization. Reasonable safety results when caring craftsmanship meets plain ol' common sense - like pressing handpicked fruit only - in the making of sweet cider. The choice to drink the real thing should ultimately be an individual decision.

The business prospects here are pretty daunting, eh? Investment in a cider mill is not going to make exorbitant returns as much as simply enable a delicious community service. The regulatory climate is absolutely unreliable. And we're a small farm (in mountain country to boot!) dependent on Nature to deliver apple harvests that pay the bills year after year.

Our Lost Nation Cider Mill effort will ultimately be community-based. Together we need to find a way to share the costs, which by so doing, will establish "member-ownership" and thus shift regulatory reach.* Those dynamics in turn empower some number crunching as regards Cider Shares.

A good apple year at Lost Nation Orchard will result in the availability of 1200 gallons of organic cider. Allotting 8 gallons per share suggests 150 available shares. Wisdom points to setting a goal to find 100 investor shareholders to raise $20,000 . . . which amounts to $200 per share. Such shares could be transferred (sold) to others on a waiting list when one leaves the area. What are the odds of finding that kind of support in the North Country? Do you have better ideas? Please let Michael know of both your interest in this cider brainstorming and your potential willingness to get financially involved. Together we might just make this cider vision real.