Events / whole organic foods

Our little pallet garden has been growing strong, we've picked a bunch of cilantro and made a few salads with all the greens.  The radishes never make it into the house, got to have something to eat while I'm picking food for a meal! [caption id="attachment_718" align="aligncenter" width="538"] Baby lettuces are delicious![/caption] Meanwhile, our garden in Richmond has turned into a Comfrey field.  And while Comfery is an amazing medicinal plant, it can not be eaten and it choked out all the rest of our plants! [caption id="attachment_719" align="aligncenter" width="538"] Dana whacking back the Comfrey, perhaps next year we'll grow vegetables?![/caption] We covered the whole garden up and will see if we can get a fresh start next spring.  What our garden at Green Means Farm lacked in vegetables this year, it made up for in hops, four different varieties, although the Cascades are doing the best by far! [caption id="attachment_720" align="aligncenter" width="538"] Picking hops really makes me want to drink a beer, they smell so good![/caption] Dana dried them out and has already brewed a 5 gallon batch with some of what we picked.   The brew should be ready by Friday, and we'll certainly enjoy it after our first day at the Big E!  Dana, Sean, Brian and I hope to see you there, we'll be on the Rhode Island side of the Massachusetts building all weekend!

Show us your best Fire Cider face!   Or your Fire Cider tattoo (no, seriously, we heard this was a real thing!), your friends trying Fire Cider for the first time, the funniest, weirdest, coolest way you use Fire Cider.  Get creative and you could win one of four $25 gift certificates to your favorite Fire Cider retail shop.  Sound like fun?  Here's how to enter the contest: Send us one photo OR one 60 second or shorter video along with your favorite place to buy Fire Cider.  We'll let our Facebook fans pick two photo winners and two video winners and each will receive a $25 gift certificate to the shop of your choice. [caption id="attachment_635" align="aligncenter" width="538"] Amy and Dana say: Beware The Underdose![/caption] Email your photo or video with the subject line "Fire Cider Contest" to [email protected] by Monday July 14th at midnight est.  We will post your photos and videos on our Facebook and Twitter during and after the contest.  Brian, Dana, Sheri and Amy will narrow down the entries to our top favorite picks and let people vote on our Facebook page starting on Tuesday July 15th. [caption id="attachment_636" align="aligncenter" width="538"] Our daily doses, down the hatch![/caption] Like us on Facebook if you haven't already!  The four winners will be emailed directly with how to redeem their gift certificates.  You can send in as many submissions as you like, one per email please.  Here's Amy and Dana's Fire Cider faces, show us yours!! [caption id="attachment_637" align="aligncenter" width="538"] Hurts so good![/caption]

Team Fire Cider is looking for 20 or more friends to join us for the annual Pittsfield MA, Independence Day 5 K race! We are giving out Fire Cider T-shirts to wear for the race and keep forever for the first 20 team members to show up for the race. Prizes will be awarded for first place, last place and best costume; think red, think fire, or just dress up like a pirate!  I have a feeling the prizes will be Fire Cider. We will meet at 9 am at Wahconah Park to hand out shirts, trash talk, stretch like we mean it and take a vote for best costume. Pittsfield Independence 5K Road Race, Wahconah Park , Pittsfield, MA, 9:30 am start time, Before Pittsfield Parade Here's a link to all the official details of the race: http://www.plattsys.com/waspeview.asp?eventid=1154 Send in your application for the race and run with Team Fire Cider!  Find the event here on Facebook and we'll see you on the 4th of July. [caption id="attachment_391" align="aligncenter" width="538"] A loud and clear message on the back![/caption]

Have I mentioned lately how amazing it is to be working in partnership with the Franklin County Community Development Corporation- say that 5 times, fast!   They offer guidance to anyone interested in starting a business and they have provided us with a space to produce Fire Cider and continue to grow our small business.  The CDC is currently under construction to expand their cold and dry storage as well as their commercial kitchen.   We are stoked to have more space to make more batches of Fire Cider. Last year the CDC's loan program, headed by Alan Singer, made it possible for us to upgrade all of our equipment to food grade stainless steel.   We were super happy to say goodbye to all of our plastic barrels.  We found them homes as rain barrels! [caption id="attachment_323" align="aligncenter" width="538"] Stainless steel steeping tank, stainless steep pump parts, only the best for your Fire Cider![/caption] Less than a year later, we approached Alan with another loan request, this time for two pieces of kitchen equipment that would save us many long hours in the kitchen, taking a lot of stress and physical labor out of making Fire Cider.  The result?  An awesome scrubbing tunnel that has turned a 10-12 person hour job into a 30 minute exercise.  Yes, you read that correctly.  It used to take 2 people working non stop scrubbing organic horseradish for hours on end just to prep that one ingredient for 2-3 batches of Fire Cider.  Now, we can achive even better results in just 30 minutes, and that includs set up, clean up and break down!   Here's a fun video of Dana and Brian trying out the scrubbing tunnel for the first time.  It's a bit loud, so turn the volume down! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f43-STEMEe8&feature=youtu.be Here are the before and after photos, can you tell we are super impressed with our investment?! [caption id="attachment_644" align="aligncenter" width="538"] Organic horseradish, covered in not so delicious organic dirt![/caption] [caption id="attachment_645" align="aligncenter" width="538"] So fresh and so clean and ready to be turned into Fire Cider.[/caption] With our second loan we were also able to purchase a chopper for the lemons and oranges.  Processing hundreds of pounds of citrus by hand is just asking for carpal tunnel, not to mention an injury waiting to happen.  This chopper, with it's graphic warnings, is definitely scarier than the chef's knives we've been using, and will save our hands and arms, as long as we keep them away from the blades! [caption id="attachment_646" align="aligncenter" width="538"] All thumbs ups, not to worry, we have cut resistant gloves to protect our hands while cleaning the machine.[/caption] And here's our new chopper in action, making batches Fire Cider just got a lot easier, which means that the three of us can safely continue making you Fire Cider for many years to come.   Yup, this video is loud too, what can I say, I'm working on my videographer skills! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSoH5OwJdiE&feature=youtu.be We are super thankful to the CDC and their staff for supporting the growth of our small business, we truly couldn't do this without them!  If you are thinking about starting a business, the CDC has you covered from the very beginning.

Our official SoWa market representative, Sean, will be sampling and selling Fire Cider at the SoWa Sunday Market in Boston every Sunday this month from 10 am to 4 pm - May 4th, 11th, 18th and 25th!  Oh, and he'll be there for the rest of the season too, though October!  Sean- you can even email him- [email protected] will take special orders for bulk, t-shirts and more, stop by anytime for a free shot of your favorite fiery health tonic! [caption id="attachment_405" align="aligncenter" width="538"] Getting ready for another great Saturday at New Amsterdam Market![/caption] Amy and Dana will be at the first New Amsterdam Market of the season on May 31st, Saturday from 10-5pm!  We are looking forward to seeing you all there! [caption id="attachment_575" align="aligncenter" width="538"] Blue Russ Health Coach sharing the love![/caption]

And, if you want to learn more about living the healthy life from the comfort of your home or office, check out this awesome      FREE 4 Day Women's Health Summit lead by Holistic Health Coach Blue Russ.

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• Techniques to reset your stress response in 1 minute.
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• Natural PMS relief
• The relationship between your feet and digestion
• Natural approaches to fertility and a healthy pregnancy
• How to enjoy (instead of dread) menopause
• How to create your own natural medicine cabinet
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• Sign up HERE!

Join us on Saturday March 8th at 7 pm for an intimate opportunity to learn about cooking with Fire Cider.  Let Dottie's, Carolann Patterson and the founders of Fire Cider show you how to really showcase it in your cooking! Dottie's chef will be featuring Shire City Herbals, co founder, Amy Huebner's healthful, mindful recipes as well as recipes from the Fire Cider Cookbook. You will take home an 8 oz bottle of complementary Fire Cider to experiment with and Enjoy!

Here's the Menu: Fire Cider Meat Loaf with Amy's mashed roasted cauliflower, steamed greens and Fire Cider slaw.

For dessert we will enjoy Fire Cider Apple Chutney over Ginger Ice Cream

The cost for this event is $30

Sign up NOW by calling Dottie's, 413-443-1792, as space is extremely limited.

Please feel free to share this event with your friends. We look forward to serving you!

[caption id="attachment_506" align="aligncenter" width="538"] Fire Cider 'slaw as served at Dottie's in downtown Pittsfield, MA[/caption]

The end of 2013 is nearly here and we will be doing our last two Fire Cider events of the year this weekend December 13th through the 15th! You can find Brian at the New Amsterdam Market this Sunday December 15th from 11 am to 4 pm in Manhattan's historic Seaport!  He will have glass growlers, half gallons, t-shirts and of course plenty of 8 oz and 16 oz stocking stuffers, I mean, bottles of Fire Cider.  If you want to make sure we'll have what you want on hand, send an email to [email protected] and he'll be sure to bring your special orders! [caption id="attachment_405" align="aligncenter" width="538"] Brian getting ready for another great Sunday at New Amsterdam Market![/caption] Amy and Dana will be at the Fire Cider booth at Crispina's Holiday Shindy on Melville Street in Pittsfield this Friday, December 13th from 5-8 pm, Saturday and Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm.   There will be many awesome local artisans at the Shindy, plus live music and Dottie's coffee too!  Got a special Fire Cider request?  Email [email protected] and we'll be sure to have what you need! [caption id="attachment_406" align="aligncenter" width="538"] This event always puts us in a festive mood! Or maybe it was all those Fire Cider Hot Toddy's Dana made last year ; - )[/caption] One last announcement for all holiday gifting procrastinators: The last day that you can order and be guaranteed Fire Cider for Christmas via UPS Ground (aka: cheapest shipping option) is December 17th.   Remember: everyone loves Fire Cider (except for the people who hate it)! Fire Cider will be taking some much needed time off from December 24th through January 1st 2014.   All web orders and whole sale orders received after midnight on Monday December 23rd will be fulfilled and shipped on or after January 2, 2014.  We thank you kindly for your patience while we recuperate and get ready for our best year yet! Looking forward to seeing you all this coming weekend.  2013 has been an outstanding year because of awesome folks like you!