FEBRUARY 26, 2021by MARYROSE DENTON
Several weeks ago a slender, glass bottle of golden liquor was gifted to me. It was not the elixir of life but a Brandywine. I have to say, it was the best wine I have ever tasted. I would go so far as to say it tasted like heaven – but now I know its taste comes from the rain, the sun, and the soil of the Chimacum Valley.
I decided I must track down where this Brandywine originated. What I found was not a conglomerate business or big factory filling endless bottles. I found FinnRiver Farm and Cidery, an organic farm and community of growers producing small-batch, craft cider. I also discovered a lifestyle and a life philosophy.
Crystie Kisler, the co-founder of FinnRiver, described it best with their mission, “ to celebrate the beauty and bounty of the earth, to reconnect people to the land that sustains us and to grow community”.
Crystie Kinsler. (Image:Richard Schmitz)
Over the last 15 years, they have grown community right alongside their growing business, a business where they seek ways to be a force for good.
This can be seen as you enter this once-old working dairy farm. Walking past a large silo at the entrance you enter into a wide-open community space lined with long wooden tables and covered with a rustic style metal roofing. Raindrops rattled against it as we talked with Kisler about the vision and philosophy driving FinnRiver Farms.
Hear what she had to tell us…
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