Title: “Cider Master of Rio Oscuro” Author: Harvey Frauenglass Published: 2000 Publisher: The University of Utah Press, uofupress.com Hardcover, 191 pages ISBN: 0-87480-660-7
“Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic,” Carl Sagan, American astronomer, planetary scientist and science communicator.
Harvey Frauenglass and his wife Gayle created magic after they moved to northern New Mexico. He yearned to be a cider master and she dreamed about establishing a painting studio.
Harvey had been a technical writer for Sandia Labs and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). Gayle had illustrated LANL technical manuals.
(The Sandia facility, U.S. Department of Energy, utilizes science and engineering to solve complex national security problems; LANL is focused on nuclear fusion, national security, medicine, nanotechnology, supercomputing, space exploration, and renewable energy.)
The two middle aged entrepreneurs left their lucrative careers and purchased their “forever” home near Embudo in 1983. The property included a run-down orchard, a decrepit adobe house, and various outbuildings.
“And with the farm came all of the present and the past, the human history of all the people who had lived and labored and died here from the beginning of time, recorded or not,” wrote Frauenglass after examining a copy of the 1891 Abstract of Title signed by U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt.
Moving to the farm inspired the author to research and identify the varieties of apples that had been part of the original orchard for more than 50 years. He learned that over the centuries mankind has developed the fruit, Malus domestica, to use as a dessert, for cooking, and for making cider.
And the couple began selling their organic Big Willow Cider along with their organic produce at the Taos, Santa Fe, and Los Alamos farmer markets. Harvey acknowledges that the sale of Gayle’s artwork provided the financial stability that allowed him to become a cider maker. Her studio attracts international visitors and has been a featured stop on the Dixon Studio Tour for more than three decades.
The farm’s success was based on hard work by family members and friends plus seasonal hired labor. Harvey describes several of the couple’s interactions with other orchardists and with seasonal employees. Some encounters are humorous, some sad, and some were the start of lifelong friendships.
Olaf, a stocky twenty year old, was one of their seasonal helpers during the early years.
The previous owners had relied on Olaf for irrigating the orchard, driving the tractor, and picking fruit.
“Olaf sang while he picked apples, while he ground apples into pomace [for pressing juice into cider], while he filled the jugs with fresh cider,” recalled Frauenglass.
Jesus Bonda was another seasonal hire. A woman who lived in the nearby village referred Jesus to the Frauenglass farm. Jesus had emigrated from Mexico when he was fifteen, taught himself English, and claimed to be an all-around handyman.
He pruned two large Red Delicious trees and had started trimming a Winesap by lunch time on his first day.
“For me that much cutting would have taken a whole day, at least,” said Harvey, “And he missed nothing.”
There was Tim who had experience with farming but knew nothing about successfully growing fruit trees in northern New Mexico. One morning Tim was gone - leaving half his clothing and all of his books. There was no note or forwarding address. Harvey eventually shipped the abandoned possessions to Tim’s parents in Iowa.
But Frauenglass is haunted by the memories of what he had helped create as a technical writer during the Cold War. He mulls the consequences of his work on underground nuclear weapons’ testing.
“What if we have again created a radioactive cloud that will rise up from this Nevada desert and drift eastward and rain slow, dreaded breast cancer upon the grandmothers and mothers and daughters of Utah?” wonders the cider master.
Much of this book is about overcoming obstacles and mastering a new craft. It is also a story about relationships, the importance of family, and it shares some of the traditional lore of northern New Mexico.
The author ruminates on what their farm means to the many people who have helped with harvesting fruit and performing routine farmwork.
“I doubt that going back to the land will automatically bring people a better life. It’s easy to forsake technology and convenience; it’s much harder to forsake the desires that spawn them,” concluded Frauenglass.
SIDEBAR:
American author Harvey Frauenglass (19292021) was born in Connecticut. He graduated from the University of Chicago, Illinois; attended the University of Edinburgh, Scotland; and earned a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, University of Iowa. Frauenglass’s career included teaching at Northern Arizona University, working at the Sandia National Lab and later at the Los Alamos National Lab. He and his wife purchased an orchard in Santa Fe County, N.M., in 1983 and began producing organic apple cider.
This book is available from The University of Utah Press, uofupress.com