Cider Press

In the mid-1850s, the era when James L. Johnson owned El Zaguan, orchards and fields extended from the Santa Fe River all along the acequia madre. There are still several old fruit trees on the property, some of which date back to the Johnson Era. We feel it's important to make use of the fruit, in the interest of preserving tradition and in support of the restoration of Santa Fe's once fertile agricultural belt. You can read about what the River Commission and the Mayor envision here.

This year, we made it a goal not to let our beautiful pears and apples go to waste. The fruit was starting to drop, and so we made arrangements to borrow a cider press from some generous friends of the foundation. We spent a cloudy afternoon picking apples and pears, and got plenty sticky crushing and pressing them into cider. In our first run, we made 4 gallons of cider, which we will ferment into sparkling hard cider.