cider fest
Megan Betz
The Bloomington Community Orchard hosted their fourth annual Cider Fest this weekend. I headed over for participant observation. Well, that and a mug of warm cider & some old-time music.
During classes this week, I had my students read Hayden & Buck's "Doing community supported agriculture: Tactile space, affect and effects of membership". It was their introduction to non-representational theory. We used the opportunity to discuss how all five senses build the landscape & enhance our relationship to place. As Haden & Buck write, following Deleuze & Guattari, "...affect is transversal force that is always being created, becoming. Affect emerges from spatially constrained mutable webs of associations and actions." Merriam-Webster defines affect as "the conscious subjective aspect of an emotion considered apart from bodily changes" and "a set of observable manifestations of a subjectively experienced emotion."
It was these two things I kept in mind while watching bodies move through the orchard, sipping cider & bending into downward-facing dog.
A volunteer beekeeper processes the honey from the Orchard's bees, & the honey bears are given away as door prizes.
Homemade treats & donations from local businesses were on display as other raffle prizes.
Volunteers keep the cider press running nonstop. The cider is then warmed, & volunteers fill their mugs before walking around the orchard.
Signs guide guests to activities around the orchard...
...like yoga in the espalier circle...
...pumpkin carving & painting...
...and grape pressing with grapes from this arbor.