TeePee Cider

At Beau Vista orchard we strive for a traditional way to manage the ecology Grazing sheep balances pests and nutrients through ecological relationships rather than external inputs such as fertiliser & pesticides to control pests that get out of control with intensive farming. #farming #orchard

Illustration of man grafting.

Winslow Homer began his career working as a commercial illustrator. Born in 1836 he became prominent American oil painter. Winslow Homer captured the practical side of orchard life in this wood engraving "Spring Farm Work-Grafting" published in Harper's Weekly, Apr 30 1870. #apple #grafting #art

The Marketing of Good Taste Have you ever asked

teepeecider.co.nz/blogs/cider-...

Yesterday I made a longer article that does not fit easily on social media, but it’s an interesting insight on marketing of iconic brands and worth a read especially if you don’t know this man’s name. Below is the link to it on our website. #cider #champagne #vodka #marketing

Sadly the cider world has just lost a major figure. Ted Brunning a writer on drinks wrote this major book on cider history in 2012. He lived in Cambridge. Sadly I never got to meet him but we corresponded frequently. 😢 #cider

Road closed barrier.

On the way to the cidery! This is not good for business 🤪. However it’s just Carterton District Council being cautious about flooding. First time I have seen the barriers being used and ironically no flooding (just) this time. #cider #flooding #barrier #roadclosed

Roto-jolly in use.

Post riddling.

Another batch of the new 375 cL ‘champagne’ bottles of cider being riddled and disgorged. #rotojolly #cider #methodtraditional #riddling #disgorging

Flooding close to the current site of TeePee Cidery 1920.

Flooding close to TeePee Cidery 2018.

Living on the Taratahi alluvial plain in Wairarapa flooding is frequent The bush has been cut down and the swamps cleared but heavy rain in the Tararua hills overwhelms drainage given the flatness of the land. Flood protection covers the towns but not us on the rural land. Photos from 1920 and 2018

Twilight over the nature reserve.

Twilight in Wairarapa. Pink glow to the clouds as another day slips by over the nature reserve near Beau Vista orchard. The colours deepen. The ever changing appearance of the pond through the seasons is delightful. Now early autumn. #Wairarapa #Twilight

Carterton sign in a field at sunset.

Carterton. Our local rural town in Wairarapa. Population 6000. It was founded in 1857 and originally known as Three Mile Bush. It was later renamed Carterton after Charles Rooking Carter who was a pioneer here and politician in Wellington . #Wairarapa #Carterton #Taratahi

Old stumper to remove tree stumps.

After the dense bush of the Wairarapa around Carterton of tōtara, rimu, rātā and mataī were cut down and logged from around the 1870s the land was turned in pastoral ( beef and sheep) and dairy farms. The large stumps needed to be cleared. This stumper was one way used. #history #farming #aotearoa

Old photo of apple collecting in a Herefordshire orchard.

“Climacteric” Descriptive term for fruits that continue to ripen after being harvested, caused by a sharp increase in respiration and ethylene production during ripening such as apples Hence the best apples for cider making are those that fall from the tree, then collected and processed later #cider

Dalefield Road in 1989. All the bush cleared.

Teepee Cider is on Dalefield Road However the road was not always called that Originally it was Arnold’s Line After clearing SH2 through the dense Wairarapa bush surveyors would set straight lines off it and often name them after local land holders In this case John Arnold. It was renamed in 1980.

Civil defence warning.

Power outages today.

Teepee Cider backyard.

Local stream in flood. Yesterday afternoon it was hardly a trickle.

We got a civil defence emergency text last night. And it was spot on. A wild night with wind and rain. Beau Vista orchard fared well considering. Power stayed on. And we (just) avoided flooding. We fared better than most in the region. #nature #storm #wairarapa

Disused Dalefield Dairy factory.

Dalefield Wairarapa. Now just a disused dairy factory, a rural school, community hall built 1898, several farms and of course the home of TeePee Cider. Originally a logging town, followed by early agricultural expansion, & renowned for its dairy factory which began exporting cheese in 1887. #dairy

Rain map of area.

Thunderstorms came though yesterday. It’s hot and humid and was threatening rain. Then Carterton was in the bullseye of an intense storm coming v in from the NW. Prudently we cut the orchard grass for the last time before the harvest. Finished half an hour before the rain. #orchard #rain #apples

Twilight view over the Wairarapa plain looking east from Teepee Cidery.

Twilight last night at the cidery. Nearing the end of a week’s run of good weather. Thunderstorms and cold forecast later today. Luckily we are doing inside jobs for a bit. #apples #cider #cidery #Wairarapa #NZCider

Heavy laden cider apple tree.

The cider apple trees are becoming heavy laden with fruit This cooler wetter summer weather has been good for fruit development but now we need more sunshine to up the sugar content and flavour aroma development over the next month or so Some auto-thinning has been going on #apples #cider #Wairarapa

Following on from yesterday’s post the bard’s drunken escapade slept off under a crab apple tree, he seems to have a poor attitude to apples. His most famous apple quote is "There's small choice in rotten apples" from The Taming of the Shrew Act 1, Scene 1, meaning all options are equally poor.

Shakespeare’s crab apple tree.

The Falcon inn Bidford upon Avon.

OS map.

Shakespeare once slept drunk under a crab apple tree after drinking at the Falcon Inn at Bidford upon Avon On waking Will uttered this epigram of local villages
“Piping Pebworth, Dancing Marston,
Haunted Hillboro, Hungry Grafton,
Dodging Exhall, Papist Wixford,
Beggarly Broom and Drunken Bidford”

Chemical diagram of Phloretin.

Craft cider contains antioxidant polyphenols These fight free radicals & reduce disease But are they absorbed into the body?
Scientists led by Serena Marks at the Uni of Glasgow have shown this with phloretin-2'-O-glucoside in plasma ileal fluid & urine and showing uptake and excretion. #chemistry

First year growth.

Second year flower spike.

Plants of Beau Vista orchard. The Common Mullein or Verbascum thapsus is a naturalised biennial plant in New Zealand from Europe commonly found on roadsides and disturbed ground. Recognized by its soft, felt-like, silver-grey rosettes and tall, yellow-flowered spike in its 2nd year. #Botany #weeds

New wooden base plate for Roto-Jolly.

Teepee cider is introducing a new range of method cider. In 375 ml ‘half’ bottles that are more popular in restaurants. This requires some re-tooling such as a new base plate for the Roto-Jolly. #methodtraditional #cider #bottles

Postcard of apple harvesting in a Somerset orchard.

This postcard was from Wiveliscombe, Somerset from a photograph by George William French (1868-1940) who lived in the nearby area of Chardstock and Whitestaunton in Somerset. He was known for producing postcards of local social history and scenes. #postcards #Somerset #apples

Chris Adams on Chatham Islands.

Sadly Chris passed away recently. A loss for his family geology and art. Despite being well past retirement a he was still very active

Lawrie and his wife Jan.

TeePee Cider bought its M793 rootstock from L E Cooke of Hawkes Bay Run by the ever helpful Lawrie Cooke who retired in 2012 As well as dessert apples they grew a wide range of key apple and pear rootstocks like M793, MM106 & Quince A. Sadly Lawrie Cooke passed away in 2022 aged 91 years 😢 #apples

No. The gall midge has not made it here. ( so far)

www.doc.govt.nz/globalassets...

At TeePee Cider we care for the environment Although an orchard is not part of the natural order in Aotearoa we try to mitigate harm. Our footprint is low We do not use artificial fertiliser or pesticides We trap introduced pests such as possums and feral cats Wildlife rebounds. #feralcats #pests