Jan’s Orchard Notes: August in the Orchard – Where Every Great Cider Begins

If you’ve visited Merridale in August, you’ll know this month has a rhythm all its own. The orchard is full of life. Families spread blankets across the lawn. Friends linger over lunch on the patio. Dogs wander happily beneath the trees, convinced they’ve found paradise. Some guests arrive with Merridale as their destination. Others simply turn off the highway because something about the orchard invites them in.

However, you arrive, you’re welcome.

One of the things I hope people discover here is permission to slow down. Life asks us to keep moving, but the orchard doesn’t work that way. It follows its own timetable, reminding us that the best things can’t be rushed. Over the next few months, I’d like to take you on that journey.

If you’ve ever wondered why cider tastes different from year to year, or why some orchards produce extraordinary cider while others don’t, the answer doesn’t begin in the cidery.

It begins right here.

Today, the apples are almost full size. They look ready, but appearances can be deceiving. These aren’t apples grown for lunch boxes or grocery store shelves. They’re traditional cider apples- varieties with names like Yarlington Mill, Tremlett’s Geneva Bitter and Frequin Rouge. They’re naturally higher in tannins, brighter in acidity and far more complex than the apples most of us grew up eating.

They’re also wonderfully patient. While summer visitors enjoy long evenings on the patio, these apples continue quietly transforming. Every warm day, every cool night, every drop of rain and every ray of sunshine adds another layer of character. They’re building the balance of sugars, acids and tannins that will eventually become the cider in your glass. Nature is still writing this year’s vintage.

That’s one of the things I love most about August. The orchard is changing every single day, even if the changes are almost too subtle to notice. If you come back in two weeks, you’ll see something different. Come back in September and the story changes again. By October, harvest will be in full swing, and the orchard will feel like an entirely different place.

It’s one of the reasons I encourage people to visit Merridale more than once each year. Every season offers a different experience, and no two visits are ever quite the same. The beautiful thing about cider is that it captures those seasons. Every bottle reflects the weather, the fruit, the patience and the care that came before it. We simply have the privilege of guiding what nature has already begun.

As you wander through the orchard this month, take a moment to look a little closer. Notice how heavily the branches are beginning to hang.

Breathe in the warm orchard air. Sit beneath the trees with a glass of cider and remember that the fruit growing above you is already becoming a future vintage.

It’s a connection that’s becoming increasingly rare, and one we’re grateful to share with you.

As August gives way to September, the excitement begins to build around one of my favourite days of the year- our annual Cider Harvest Festival, which marks the opening weekend of Harvest Season. What makes the festival so special isn’t simply the wonderful ciders. It’s the opportunity to stand in the orchard surrounded by this year’s crop while enjoying ciders crafted from harvests gone by. You’re experiencing the full cycle of the orchard all at once—where one season is ready to savour while the next is still quietly unfolding on the trees around you.

We’ll be welcoming some of British Columbia’s finest craft cider makers to celebrate the diversity of cider grown in this province, each bringing their own story from their own orchard.

If joining us sounds like your kind of afternoon, Early Bird tickets are almost available. Members of our InCider Club also receive preferred pricing for a limited time, our way of saying thank you for supporting the orchard throughout the year.

Until next month, I hope you’ll find a little time to slow down. Whether you’re visiting us for the first time or returning for the tenth, pause for a moment beneath the trees. Listen to the breeze moving through the leaves. Watch the apples becoming just a little more ready than they were yesterday.

Because every great cider begins long before harvest, and the story is already unfolding all around us.