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Rotarians gathered for lunch and conversation while enjoying background music played by Earl Reisdorff at the piano. It was wonderful to have that features of our lunches together restored! President Chris called the meeting to order with a ring of the Rotary bell and led us in the Four Way Test – with that final proclamation of “Is it FUN”. The reflection was provided by Laurie Baumer who provided a reminder of everything we should be in the chaotic and stressful world in which we live. We joined in singing “God Bless America”. Sue Hanson would have been happy to circulate the microphone for the introduction of guests but, alas, there were none. Thankfully, there was also nothing of note regarding the health of the club. A red badge was presented to Amy Partin with Christman Company and we welcomed her into our club. Rich Howard gave the report for September birthdays, beginning with noting that there was 100% participation. For the birthday question, he wondered which Rotarian each would like to trade places with and why. What followed was a detailed list matching those with birthdays and their desired switch. No less than four of them wanted to switch with Irv Nichols because of his wisdom and good looks. Others wanted to switch with Ben Bakken for his height, Lolo Robison because she is a perfect role model, and Sue Hansen because “good bourbon”. Finally Rich admitted that only one Rotarian had actually answered the question. The group raised $800 and Rich made a very entertaining presentation, even if his group wasn’t willing to answer  his question! Over half of the group remembered the Friday was Plaidurday and wore plaid for a group photo. This Rotarian remembered too late that I actually do have a plaid blazer and so did not appear in the photo. This activity definitely met the FUN category of our modified Four Way Test. President Chris introduced Michelle Reynaert as Chair of the Day. Our speaker was Brian Phillips, owner of a multifaceted, six generation gem in our community, Phillips Orchards. The operation is 173 years old and, as you might expect, has had to undergo a number of significant changes over the years. Brian’s family was the original settler of a frontier farm three years before Gratiot County was established. Through the 1040’s, apples were sold to cider mills and shipped via rail in wooden crates. They were also sold in the Flint farmers market and wholesale to grocery stores across the eastern US. Business was booming in the 60s and 70s when the farm doubled in size and opened a retail outlet, Centennial Farm Market, in Dewitt. This market included a cider mill and bakery and was the farms first active cider business. In 1973, this outlet was sold because no one in the family was willing to be dedicated to running it. In 1975, a cider press was purchased and there was once again an active cider business. Cider was sold to grocery stores through a broker.  Business was so good that there was another expansion so that they could have apples available year-round. More land was purchased, and trees were planted. By the early 80s, there were 200 acres of apples, as well as strawberries, raspberries, cantaloupe and watermelon, all of which kept the kids busy in the summer. As time went on, the grocery industry began to change. Family owned stores were disappearing in favor of big chains that did not want multiple suppliers for their stores. In the 90s, selling all of their product was hard and 3 of 4 years saw some kind of failure. Brian’s father decided to close the business, selling parts of the farm, leasing others and some just sitting idle. That lasted a couple of years before the farm re-entered the retail arena. The cider business was restarted in 2006 as a reseller for Hill Brothers, a west Michigan operation that was trusted. Brian returned to the business in 2008 and took over the business from his father. A cider press was purchased and driven across the country. Cider led to donuts in 2009 as customers insisted that one must have donuts with cider. At that time, the retail location was 3 miles down a gravel road. That limited the number of people who were willing to visit the store. A house and barn was purchased on 127 and became Gatehouse Market. Originally, only a portion of the barn was in use, but gradually it was entirely renovated and today sells apples, cider, baked goods, hard cider and other Michigan made items. This location accounts for the majority of the business and half of that occurs in September and October. There is always work to do in the orchard. A few trees are planted every year and it takes several years to produce fruit. Brian is always happy when the fruit starts to hit the bin. Winter is calmer. In 2002, Phillips came to Lansing with the opening of Phillips Cider Bar on Vine Street close to Frandor. There are 11 hard ciders on tap as well as sparkling water, baked goods and pizza. There is also a small selection of Michigan made items. The newest venture is a pizzeria in Maple Rapids. This is one of only two restaurants there and has been well received by the community. The top sellers vary between cider, baked goods and hard cider. They are working on building the year-round business and hard cider fits the bill nicely. During the Q&A, Brian spoke about varieties of apples. New varieties are a challenge as trees are a long term investment and a new variety may or may not become popular. They currently grow 35 varieties, but only 5 to 8 make up the bulk of sales. In response to a question about why there is no Honeycrisp cider, Brian explained that Honeycrisp is all about the crunch and would not make good cider. Honeycrisp will hold the crisp for a long time. Brian maintains that Jonagold is a better apple, but will not hold the crisp as long. Asked about what makes a good cider, Brian explained that it requires the right equipment. Cider should not be super sweet and should be well balanced. There is really no way to tell without tasting it and when you find it, you will know. Lessons learned from his Dad were to have dogged persistence and be committed to making it work. You can’t give up and need to consider survival to be a victory. When asked what to cook or bake with apples that we may not have considered, Brian suggested applesauce and said that nothing beats a freshly picked apple. He also suggested that you put that applesauce on pancakes. For the future, they are talking with some wineries about private labelling some wines and are talking with distilleries. President Chris thanked Brian for speaking to us and then opened the floor up to Katie Krick who had a late arriving guest. Vincent Kashaija had just arrived by plane to attend our meeting. He is from Uganda and Katie met him when she spent time there. He is building a hospital and nursing school there and Katie is very excited about what he is doing and will be submitting grant applications so that our club can support his efforts. President Chris, who will be in Spain next week, informed us that next week’s program will be Chuck Lippstreu, President of Michigan Agri-Business Association. With that, the meeting was adjourned. Email for Linda Lynch is: linda.j.lynch@gmail.com |
