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Date: 11/29/2022
HADLEY – Carr’s Ciderhouse at 295 River Dr. in Hadley will be hosting a holiday market on Dec. 17 if weather permits. Guests can visit the new outdoor cider garden, sitting around the fire enjoying hard cider and roasted chestnuts. Crafts will also be on display and for sale.
Nicole Blum, one of the owners of Carr’s, said that the goods sold at the shop are made from apples and other crops grown at their Preservation Orchard and Farm, also located in Hadley. They offer a wide variety of products.
“We grow apples for hard ciders and vinegars, we grow chestnuts and a variety of other crops … also vinegars called ‘shrubs,’ which are drinking vinegars. They’re a sweetened fruit or herb vinegar that you add as a mixer to seltzer or cocktails, things like that …We also have a really old-fashioned product which date back to the 1600’s in this area called ‘boiled cider’ which is cider that’s been boiled down like maple syrup but it’s sweet and tangy. It’s one ingredient [cider], but it’s really concentrated. We have honey from the orchard. There’s lamb and chicken from Meadowfed Lamb, our co-farmers. It depends on the season, but that what’s always there,” said Blum.
Blum stated that Carr’s runs an all-organic operation and is committed to locally-sourced produce.
“We are a ‘no spray’ operation, so we don’t use any chemicals … We also source apples from other local orchards and we use wild foraged fruit as well in our ciders, foraged from the watershed here around the valley and in the hills,” Blum said.
She encouraged people to follow Carr’s on social media for updates on events and general news.
“Follow us on social media because we’re going to be posting when our cider garden really opens up in the spring/early summer. It’ll be open every weekend through the warm season,” Blum said. “It’s a real new addition for us that we’re really excited about. It went great when we had our first weekend, lots of people came, it was just super fun. I’d love for people to know about that.”