Heirloom Apples & Craft Cider

Mehgan Blair (Lake Superior Chapter) and Nate Watters (Cannon River Chapter) are two orchardists and hyper-local craft cidermakers in different Minnesota landscapes. Blair and her family steward a historic dairy farm with an heirloom orchard in Duluth: Canosia Grove. Icelandic sheep are their “land managers,” grazing and conditioning the soil to expand their orchard.

Watters and his family started their now 6-acre orchard from scratch, planting over 6,000 apple trees of many varieties near Dundas. They bottle their cider as Keepsake Cidery, also offering a cozy tasting room experience with noshes from nearby cheesemakers and other food producers.

The two prioritize community partnerships, sustainability of land and people, and growing the heirloom apple and cider markets to financial sustainability–the major challenge of note.

You can listen to this interview on Dirt Rich anywhere you get your podcasts, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Podbean, and on the SFA website. Do you have ideas for future episodes? Comments? Drop us a line.