The Myth

Craig and Sharon Campbell’s "Harmony Orchards" sits perched at over 2000 feet above the confluence of the Tieton and Naches rivers in central Washington. The long days, cool nights and fertile soils craft exceptionally great tasting apples, pears, cherries and apricots. A third generation Yakima Valley farmer, Craig committed to an organic farming program twenty years ago. Ten years later he started looking for niche apple varieties that weren’t in over production in the commercial market.

One day he took a call from his friend Cindy Richter telling him about a cider making class she had just taken. Something about the excitment in Cindy’s voice, the opportunity to master another group of apple varieties and their particular growing patterns piqued his interest. It was the nascent beginnings of Tieton Cider Works. It was an ideal situation: an orchard and four people each with a different skill set deeply committed to making an artisan product farm to bottle.

The Four Components

The love of land, food and drink brings us together. We are all foodies - curious in the back-story: the history, production, science, and industry of food. We are excited to create a blend of our ranch organically grown contemporary dessert apples with full-bodied ancestral cider apples - continuing the tradition of cider making.

We know the ciders we make will be reflective of the fruit we grow and the place we grow it. If ciders are an expression of the harvest then the fruit that will be used for TCW cider has a unique distinction by being grown in an arid climate. We can’t wait to see what develops with these opportunities.

Cindy

Cindy Richter is a gardener in her soul. With an innate intuition of how to care and raise all plant flower fruit or vegetable, she is dedicated to the organic movement. Cindy worked on the farm at UC Santa Cruz and acquired the experience of raising many crops. She is artistic in her approaches to life, from growing to cooking to photography. In her ongoing education about food, she took a course at Cornell University in cider making in December of 2007. Cindy is our cider maker.

Craig

Craig Campbell is our farmer. With a degree in Horticulture from WSU and a 30 year involvement in the marketing of produce in the Bay Area, he’s inquisitive and always looking for what else he can grow on his farm. When Cindy came to Craig with the idea of a cidery, Craig was on the phone arranging for cider trees and those trees were in the ground within a few months.

Fred

Fred Kasak is a naturally curious person and intuitively feels cultural movements before most of us know that something “new” is on the rise. With a degree in art and a back ground in both retail and brokering produce, Fred is constantly on the hunt for new trends in food. He will ferret out every location for our cider – he is our marketer.

Sharon

Sharon Campbell describes herself as a creative; as someone who wants to experience something new in each day. With a background in design, Sharon appreciates the evolution that naturally occurs in food, wine, small batch distilleries and farmers markets this fits with her natural ability to cook and feed her friends. Sharon has a unique perspective that allows her to see opportunities and connect just the right people. She oversaw the design of our labels and website.