Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/84143
LEADER IN BIOTIC BIOLOGICAL FERTILIZERS Lars Ringsrud Another remarkable innovation from Perfect Blend research laboratories! th Pe fe he er ma nd kabbl es C in no ch nn ov bo BioticCalcium ™ Unique high calcium biotic fertilizers in a machine spreadable granule form. From the research and development of Perfect Blend comes a revolutionary new product! BioticCalcium™ marries the incredible topsoil carbon seques- tration benefits of biotics with the well recognized benefits of calcium. Why can BioticCalcium™ be the best calcium product you have ever applied? The answer is in the topsoil. By combining biotic nutrients focused on growth of soil microorganisms with additional gypsum to supply calcium and sulfur your soil receives the best of both chemical and biotic fertility. By adding additional calcium to a biotic formulation the uptake mechanism for many other minerals, including nitrogen, phosphates, potassium, iron, zinc and other trace minerals is greatly enhanced. BioticCalcium™ as a soil conditioner gypsum acts to provide additional free calcium ions in which flocculates soil particles opening up the soil and making it more porous. Calcium is particularly effective in breaking up compacted soil caused by sodium and clay to allow less tillage and increasing topsoil depth. Calcium promotes water infiltration, retention and conservation which allows water to become more available in chemical terms. Test show farmland treated with gypsum can require up to 33% less water. This savings along can pay for the cost of application of BioticCalcium™. Only Perfect Blend has been able to manufacture a product that is as advanced and as topsoil efficient as BioticCalcium™. Growers have used gypsum for over 200 years. The remarkable marriage of these two products creates an entirely new soil nutrient. Pasco 509.545.1865 Plymouth 509.783.4076 Moses Lake 509.766.7772 188 106th Avenue NE, Suite 401 Bellevue, WA 98004 Phone: 425.456.8890 Fax: 425.456.8889 www.perfect-blend.com 2001-2012 Perfect Blend Biotic Fertilizer © All copyrights reserved. 20 OCTOBER 2012 GOOD FRUIT GROWER Grace Larsen Peter Ringsrud Just as it takes special apples to make cider, perry making requires pear varieties with tannins and plenty of acid. When he got home, Peter obtained several perry varieties—including Thorn, Gin, Butt, Barland, and Vermont Beauty—from a couple of growers in the Wenatchee Valley. In 2011, Peter and his family released their first perry. Most of it had a light, delicate flavor, but they made two cases of bottle-fermented perry reserve, a drier blend with more complex flavors. They also made a small volume of bottle-fermented cider. Wondering what the Brits might think of their latest efforts, the Ringruds "The only way that this can practically be done is by mechanical entered two of their ciders and their reserve perry in the Three Counties Cider and Perry Competition—the three counties being Herefordshire, Gloucester- shire, and Worcestershire, which form the heart of England's perry-making industry. Their objective was to receive some helpful feedback from the judges. Their bottle-fermented reserve harvesting." —Drew Zimmerman perry and reserve cider each won first place in their categories while their Cliffbreaks cider, their most intense and sweet blend, placed second. "What we were looking for was to be educated," Peter said. "We had no idea we would win." American ciders taking the honors caused quite a stir at the contest, they learned. The Ringsruds were surprised, too. "We figured that our ciders were too sweet for the English palate," Peter said. "But one of the comments was it was good to have some sweetness." Peter, the manager and grower of the operation, has continued to graft trees to cider varieties and has had Van Well Nursery produce trees on Budagovski 9 rootstocks for the more recent plantings. He now has about 40 cider and perry varieties on four acres, but thinks he needs about 20 acres to meet future demand. Perry varieties are scarce in this country, and he is considering import- ing five varieties from England that are the best for making perry because of their high tannins, acidity, and flavors. Snowdrift Cider's limited production, totaling around 1,500 cases this year, is sold in north central Washington and the Seattle area. The ciders have an alco- hol level of between 7 and 9 percent, a similar level to craft beers, but sell at between $13 and $20 a bottle, a similar price range to wine. The cidery is licensed as a winery rather than a brewery. In just the few years they've been in the business, they've seen the popularity of hard cider increase to the point where people are clamoring for it. It's the fastest-growing segment of the alcoholic beverage market. Peter's original goal was to produce 3,000 cases annually, but he feels the market could easily take 6,000 to 7,000 cases and is planning to triple the size of the cidery. • www.goodfruit.com