Apples and Cider:
A VIRGINIA STORY...
PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

Apples and cider sound like fall, and in Virginia this calls to mind the rich Shenandoah Valley orchards and the many cideries across the state. But for over 250 years, apples grew throughout the South, from Tidewater to Mississippi. In Wild, Tamed, Lost, and Revived: The Surprising Story of Apples in the South, cidermaker and orchardist Diane Flynt tells a 200-year-old tale with anecdotes of 17th century Virginia orchards, Presidential apple grower, southern apples on the Oregon Trail emigrants, and even Queen Victoria. She also takes readers to darker side of the orchard: the apple’s relationship to slavery and the theft of Indigenous lands.

In 1997 Flynt founded Foggy Ridge Cider, the South’s first cidery. Join us to hear her journey as a grower and cidermaker, and her insights into Virginia’s complex history with this fruit. Her research and passion will enable you to never again view apples and cider with a simplistic lens. MacKenzie Smith, owner of Richmond’s Blue Bee Cider, will share additional cider commentary. Enjoy sampling three ciders from Blue Bee made with heirloom southern apples, taste heirloom apple varieties and apple themed nibbles. Select ciders from Blue Bee Cider will also be available for purchase.

Fees: Member $36, Non-Member $44

Participants 21 and older only. All programs are subject to change. Pre-registration through our website is required.

Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden strives to be a Garden for all and we are committed to offering diverse adult learning opportunities that are inclusive and accessible to all learners. If you would like to request an accommodation to support your participation in an adult learning opportunity at the Garden, please contact [email protected] or call 804-262-9887 x320 and we will make our best effort to help.

Register Member $36

Register Non-Member $44

Date:
Tuesday, November 12, 2024
Time:
6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
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Event Details

Diane Flynt Apples and Cider: A Virginia Story…Past, Present and FutureAbout the Instructor

Diane Flynt, founder of Foggy Ridge Cider and author of Wild, Tamed, Lost, Revived: The Surprising Story of Apples in the South, grows cider apples in the southern Appalachians and writes about fruit, farming, and the South. Her book offers a new take on the history of apples and how this fruit changed the South. Showing how southerners cultivated over 2,000 apple varieties from Virginia to Mississippi, the book shares surprising stories of a fruit that was central to the region for more than two hundred years.

A Georgia native, Diane worked for over twenty years in corporate America before seeing the light and returning to her farming roots. In 1997, Diane planted a cider apple orchard and founded Foggy Ridge Cider, the South’s first 20th century cidery.  Southern cider varieties like Hewe’s Crab and Grimes Golden, as well traditional English cider apples such as Tremlett’s Bitter, produced top quality cider fruit for Foggy Ridge Cider’s six cider blends. She is a four-time James Beard Award nominee for Outstanding Beverage Professional, including Finalist in 2017 and 2018. In 2019 Diane sold her last cider vintage called Foggy Ridge Final Call. She now sells apples to cidermakers throughout the South.

Today, Diane is active in national and state apple and cider initiatives and has played a leading role in promoting Virginia wine. She speaks on cider, farming and food culture. The University of North Carolina Press published Wild, Tamed, Lost, Revived in September 2023 under the Ferris & Ferris Imprint. The book was a Finalist for the inaugural Nach Waxman Prize for Food and Drink Scholarship in 2024.

“If you suspect the apple-evangelist’s, Diane Flynt’s, book would be an ode to tree fruit you’d be wrong. Instead Wild, Tamed, Lost, Revived is a personal and anecdotal walk through the storied orchard of the American South led by one of our country’s most poignant symbols, the apple. “—Vivian Howard, restaurateur author of Deep Run Roots: Stories & Recipes from my Corner of the South, and host of Somewhere South and A Chef’s Life

Diane lives with her husband, Chuck, near Floyd, Virginia, on the site of the Foggy Ridge Cider orchards.

Blue Bee cider

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