Cidery Calls on Local Apple Donations

It’s apple harvest season, and Fenceline Cider in Mancos wants all the local apples it can get. Whether you have one tree, a handful, or a small orchard, the cidery will buy what you have as part of its Community Pick program. How do you like them apples? You’re watching the Local News Network, brought to you by Keesee Motor Company and Hospice of Montezuma. I’m Connor Shreve. For the second year, Fenceline is inviting its apple-bearing neighbors to add their fruit to the company’s cider cash.

It is essentially our way of getting apples from the community that would otherwise go to waste. And providing a fun opportunity for people to pick and feel like their apples have value. They get to bring ’em in. If they bring enough in, we’ll write ’em a check. Or we’re trading for, you know, a four-pack or a bar tab, some free cider coupons.

Montezuma County and Southwest Colorado are two of the best apple-producing regions in the country. And Alex Ekey says the program originated out of the cidery’s desire to feature the area’s varietals. He says people usually have more apples than they know what to do with.

It’s food, it’s resources, it’s water that’s already been absorbed, and so it’s not the end of the world if the apples go to waste, but they’re there and they might as well be put to use rather than being cleaned up and thrown in the landfill, you know.

Fenceline helps locals who have apple trees to make their orchards profitable ventures. I met Ekey at one of the cidery’s partners, the Old Fort, in Hesperus on a harvest day.

These are Virginia Hewe’s crabapples. They’re, like, a hundred years old, really tall, really nice for making cider with. We’ve just always kind of worked and picked this fruit, and I think before Fenceline and some of the other cideries in the area, this fruit didn’t really get used in the same way. You know, people would still make jelly and apple butter and stuff from it ’cause it’s really flavorful, but I don’t think it got used the same way.

The cidery will accept apples until it gets close to its goal, likely around the end of October. Last year, more than 40,000 pounds came from the Community Pick program supported by a number of local orchards that contributed at least 1,000 pounds of apples. Most of it goes towards a base cider blend.

To make a small batch of something, you usually need at least 600 pounds enough to fill a barrel or a small tank. And so if someone brings in a hundred pounds, even if it’s something special, it usually just gets put in the blend. But we’re always open to being brought really unique stuff. So if, yeah, if anyone has it, let us know.

If you have apples to donate, they must comply with Fenceline’s quality standards. The cidery only pays for three bushels or more, and offers benefits like bar comps or cider donations for less than that. Drop off hours are from 2:00 to 5:00, Monday through Friday at the taproom in Mancos. Find more information about this and other stories at montezumalocal.news. Thank you for watching this edition of the Local News Network. I’m Connor Shreve.