The Glories of Life on a Farm

You may lose power or get snowed in. Ah, but nature stretches your mind!

We get asked periodically why we’ve settled on the family farm to make wine and cider, in between Sheryl’s board meetings around the country and Nick’s travels and column writing. Well, for starters, there’s what we wake up to. How is this for starting the day?

That’s the view looking East, across our apple orchard. So we feel, as studies have shown, that our mind and body are more relaxed in this natural setting, perhaps boosting our creativity and problem-solving abilities. Maybe we attack our Zoom calls with more gusto! And then after a day of calls, interviews and “solving problems,” we walk the dogs around our vineyard at dusk — and ponder those lands farther to our West, yet labeled the Far East, that are now celebrating the lunar new year and welcoming the Year of the Snake with a Pinot Noir (oops — that’s only in the Kristof-WuDunn household!).

We thank our Chief Security Officer, Connie Kuvasz Kristof, for helping us close our work day — a vineyard with a view:

Absolutely there are disadvantages to country life. The power can go out. We live atop a hill, and when snow and ice make it impossible for a car to climb up, it’s a long hike. Don’t forget an item on the shopping list, because it’s a 25-minute drive on highways to the nearest supermarket. Visiting friends or going to the airport can be a long haul; tonight we’re going to a friend’s birthday party in Portland, and it’ll be an hour’s drive home afterward.

But we do have other companions to entertain us, even if they don’t host birthday parties. Take this guy:

And no, we don’t get that close to take photos. The photo is from our wildlife camera.

Suburban bears are often poorly behaved, raiding garbage cans or occasionally houses. In some areas, bears get drunk from eating fruit or grain that has fermented (deer and squirrels also get drunk, but a drunken squirrel is less of an issue than a tipsy bear). At some camp spots, bears occasionally manage to open car doors when a family is away, enter the car and then get stuck inside. But our local Kristof Farms bears have been models of good behavior, with one exception to be noted, and so far, they haven’t drunk to excess or entered our cars. There are at least four bears that hang out on and around our farm, and they have never come to the house or bothered us. They do show up on our wildlife cameras, which they seem curious about:

We mentioned that the bears are not always respectful. The one case in which we’d like them to be more considerate, if they’re reading this, has to do with fences. Look, bears, we’d prefer if you’d just clamber over the fence; too often, you go through and destroy them.

We have a soft spot for our generally well-behaved bears, and we’ve employed one on a cider label. Our wildlife camera caught an image of a bear with one of our cider apples in his mouth! He didn’t even look ashamed — although, truly, we’re happy to share some apples and grapes with the local fauna. So we adapted the photo to make it the label for our single-varietal hard ciders, the first one being our Kingston Black —an English cider apple famed for making particularly delicious cider, with rich tannins and acids alike. We’re very proud of this cider, and we thought the bear wouldn’t take offense at giving the apples our endorsement. Here’s the label:

Speaking of which, we feel we’ve been neglecting our ciders a bit lately because we’ve been so focused on our wines. We’re proud of Kristof Pinot Noir (scores of 94 and 93!!!), Chardonnay (93 and 92!!) and Rosé of Pinot Noir (92 and 90!), and we think they’ll delight you as well. But we’re also evangelizers for great cider. Many Americans aren’t familiar with high-end cider made from real heirloom cider varieties, maybe thinking of it as an obscure alternative to beer.

Oh, no! Think of it as a wine alternative — it’s technically an “apple wine” — and the best ciders have the tannins and complexity you’d expect from a good wine, but with roughly half the alcohol. We bottle our ciders in 750ml bottles, like wines, and they are so refreshing. We believe our ciders are some of America’s best, and they keep winning prizes (a tribute to our cider-maker, Christine Bauman, who also is the president of the American Cider Association).

We are just entering the Year of the Snake and so to celebrate the Chinese New Year, we now offer a FLASH! sale for people wanting to get back in touch with the land and try a great cider: For three days only on our website — Friday, Saturday and Sunday — we’re offering 20 percent off half-cases (6 bottles) and 30 percent off full cases (12 bottles) or more of cider. This offer expires at midnight on Sunday, West Coast time. We suggest you try the taster’s 12-pack. Check out our website at KristofFarms.com (the prices you see are the original ones, with discounts taken at check-out).

So that’s what we like about living on the farm. We’ve been talking about this land we love and the animals who enliven it, plus the golden liquid that derives from the land — and we haven’t been lamenting events in Washington or abroad. Distraction! Nature therapy! Even Connie gets this, so we’ll close with Connie patrolling the orchard at dawn:

Warm and serene wishes for a Happy Chinese New Year from Connie and all of us on Kristof Farms!