Lloyd Capen's orchard and cider press here on Deer Isle substituted for a couple of years, then Lloyd's age got in the way (he died in 2008), and no more cider. Then, Merrill Farms got sold in 2001 and the orchard disappeared. I can still smell the store, cold inside with bags of several varieties of apples, cheddar cheese, and a fridge full of cider. The Lollypop Shop disappeared years ago, so I had to switch to Merrill Farms, on the road from Bangor to Ellsworth. Ice cold from the fridge, just the right mixture of sweet and tart, no one could drive off before uncapping the gallon jug and taking a big swig. So in the fall, the Lollypop Shop sold the most wonderful cider, the bench mark for all cider since. The Lollypop Shop was a modest place that carried bolts of yard goods, catering to women who sewed, but had the good fortune of being located in an apple orchard. The first Real Cider that I remember was from the Lollypop Shop, midway between Bangor and Bucksport. What passes for real cider in the supermarkets these days has sodium benzoate added as a preservative. It is cloudy, a rich golden brown, a tad thick, and absolutely delicious. Real cider, I found out, is unfiltered, unpasteurized, untreated, with no added preservatives. The cider of my childhood was the Bessy's Cider my grandmother served children at family gatherings, which came in gallon jugs, crystal clear, probably pasteurized, and was indistinguishable from apple juice. ![]() It's true: I never had real cider until I well into adulthood. Hard not to be, when you grew up in Presque Isle, waaaay up north in Maine. Plus multiple stacks of bags of fertilizer, peat and potting soil. The last time we visited, there must have been a dozen tractor trailer boxes being used as extra storage for hay, straw and the like. ![]() So cold it was on the day we were there, as you can see by the mud and puddles in these photos. Despite it being housed in a sort of newish metalīuilding, it feels like an old fashioned store. We stumbled on it a few years ago, and it is So Cool!Įlllsworth Feed and Seed is not a fancy place, which is part of why we Only a few trees show any signs of green yet.Īfter we have been in residence a day or two, we always head to Ellsworth and one of our very favorite stops, Ellsworth Feed and Seed, tucked in behind the L. Now here on Deer Isle, daffodils are in full bloom, and cherries and apples have yet to appear. We watched spring go backwards while we were on the road north, leaving daffodils and cherry blossoms behind in Washington, D. Way earlier this year, for several reasons: We pulled in to our driveway on April 18.
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