In January, the staff of Big Fish Cider, Co. joined with community members and out-of-town visitors to check in on the dormant apple trees, or going wassailing, in one of the small back-yard orchards of Monterey. “In pre-Christianity England [the community] would go out to scare away the evil spirits and then they would call on the tree spirits to come because it was after the winter solstice (when the days are getting longer). Saying, ‘Hey, it’s time to wake up. Time to start moving your sap in the trees!’”

To read more about this annual event, check out the recent article “Here The Come a-Wassailing” from Blue Ridge Life!