Can you imagine building an orchard from scratch.  Well Deirdre Birmingham did!  She's the owner/operator of The Cider Farm.  They treat cider production like winemaking, utilizing specific tannic English and French apple varieties to create cider with distinct mouthfeel, complexity, and high quality. Because European cider apple trees were not commercially available in the U.S. in 2003, Birmingham and her husband hand-grafted their orchard trees using rootstock and scion wood learned from a local orchardist in Wisconsin. Apple seeds produce genetically unpredictable trees, requiring grafting (cloning) to maintain specific varieties; the precise process involves lining up thin layers beneath the bark of the scion wood and rootstock. Unlike mass-produced U.S. ciders that rely on table apples or imported juice concentrates, The Cider Farm grows high-quality varietals despite risks like high disease susceptibility and regional weather variations.

Stu Muck says there's beautiful weather on the way for the next few days.  Welcome relief for some people that suffered with those heavy rains earlier.

It's a Wyffels Wednesday!  Brent Tharp with Wyffels gives us a quick preharvest update.  He tells Kiley Allan that those rains didn't do a lot of damage, but they definitely added a few points of moisture to those cobs.  Paid for by Wyffels Hybrids.

You're the end of the line for the family farm.  That's a place many farmers don't want to end up at, but it happened to Randy Roecker of Loganville.  Roecker shares the elements that were brewing when he faced his own depression at the thought of losing the family farm.  He shares with Larry Lee how he managed to get through the very difficult transition, and use what he learned on the other side to help other farmers.  Sponsored by Rural Mutual Insurance during National Farm Safety and Mental Health Week.