News 2024 10 10

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Quiet corner at our caravan during harvest season.

Our base basking in the sun.

Cliffs of Landemer.

Calva panorama in one of the caravans.

One of the traditional cider apple varieties.

Standard 12.5 kg basket full of cider apples.

Greetings to all,

so are you curious how did the first harvesting trip to Normandie of this season 2024 went? This journey we have done together with Sara, who has helped us already with promotion and sale at previous events. We drove during the night to avoid the traffic in Germany, after the arrival we rested a bit and then we focused on organization and cleaning of our "base". We have swept and mopped both caravans as is our standard, we have set up and cleaned the fridge, connected both of the caravans to the electricity and installed temporary outdoor shower. We have also set up the dry toilet, did small shopping and the base was ready! The next day we drove to do some spending in Cherbourg especially in la Cave à Fromages so we would have something tasty during our breaks. Their cheese selection is amazing, it is the only place I know off which has thirty six months old comté. During the afternoon we have visited all the orchards. The fall of apples is around two to three weeks early compared to normal. The next day we have started the harvest and steadily continued till Wednesday. The weather was nothing special but it was doable. On Tuesday we got some lovely sun, so we took our off day and went for a trip. We did a round trip of our region Cotentin, starting at the residues of the second war fortifications not too far from the Landemer cliffs, where we stopped for a "snack break" and walked the coastal path for a bit later on. After that we have passed the nuclear waste recycling center La Hague. It is a huge colossus described in a humorous way by Dominique Gros in his book L'usine, histoire anecdotique de l'usine de la hague (so far I had just a peak in it). Our final stop were the Dunes of Biville. This place is a real charmer. We walked through the littoral zone natural reservation, then we crossed the dunes and at the end like a cherry on the cake "plunging" into the see. It was nice, quite an active off day.

But back to the main purpose of our visit. During our stay we have harvested 2,14 tonnes of apples and did the first passing of four from five orchards. In this case we have not pressed the apples but gave them to a friend as an exchange for his help later on in the season with the apples which are optimal for "cidre bouché"/cider for bottling. Before leaving we have prepared the base for the second harvesting trip, which will start on 20-21/10. Mission accomplished.

Concerning the commercial events, lets mention at least the seventh anniversary of Cider Festival which was held in Prague's Holešovice Cross Club. The weather was just great, people came and in the competition for the best cider we have won second place, just after the Slovak's producer Opre.

When you have a moment, just have a look at our online shop. It doesn't look like much but it is already functional, you can order within Czech Republic (plus Bratislava). If you want the goods to be send abroad we have to still discuss in person but the prices including postage are basically the same.

We are wishing you lovely autumn,

for Kvasírna Jara,

František Apfelbeck