Lots of snow in Providence. Hard to negotiate the sidewalks, but most of the Cider Con activity is in one gigantic, high-ceilinged conference center. Not exactly like being in the orchard, but, hey, it’s February and it’s cold.

Today I participated on two panels. Steve van Nocker, Matt Kaminsky and I teamed up for the first panel: “Cider Apples of the Future.” We led off with a brief history of how we got to this place of needing new cider cultivars. Then we dove into the annual western MA Pomological Seedling Exhibition, Steve’s red-fleshed cider apple breeding program at Michigan State University, the widespread effort to track down seedlings, and the importance of large scale trials of potential new cultivars. One exciting new development is Matt’s project to grow out a couple acres of eleven of the most promising seedlings from the Exhibitions. I will grow all eleven on Super Chilly Farm as well. Although the three of us had never done a talk together before, I thought we were able to pull it off quite well. The audience was enthusiastic and asked many questions. The future’s looking bright for cider apples!