About Us

Open Spaces…

…Cider is a tiny, pending project foraged and fermented thanks to the bounty of edge lands.

…CSA: Organic Apples, Eggs and seasonally- Turkeys!

…Farm Bar: Featuring farmed fruit sober options and well produced booze from small Finger Lakes cideries and wineries

…Community is a collection of professional and personal relationships focused on equity in ecological agriculture.

Melissa Madden

Open Spaces’ founder+ runner of things, etc., Melissa lives in the Finger Lakes Region of New York State on Seneca and Cayuga Nation land. She is a farmer, advocate for food ecologyand eager learner. You can reach her here.

 

Collaborators

  • Eve's Cidery

    Eve's Cidery is a small family farm producing naturally fermented ciders from our own organically-grown fruit and from wild-foraged apples and pears in the hills of Van Etten, located at the intersection of the Finger Lakes and the Northern Appalachian Plateau, traditional lands of the Cayuga Nation and Haudenosaunee Confederacy, in upstate New York.

  • Redbyrd Orchard Cider

    Redbyrd Orchard Cider is a small cidery with Certified Biodynamic managed orchards nestled in the rolling hills of the Finger Lakes region of Upstate New York, on the traditional Gayogohó:no lands of the Haudenosaunee. We grow heirloom, wild seedling, and cider apples to produce distinct hand-crafted orchard based ciders. Redbyrd Orchard Cider has been making cider for the public since 2010 and planted our first orchards in 2003.

  • Present Conversations

    Present Conversations is A Visual Expression of Culture and Art featuring a group of POC and Indigenous artists. The exhibit interprets the past, present and future through each artist’s unique culture.

    To get involved in fundraising and organizing for 2024: openspacescider@gmail.com

    Keep up with the artists and the show!

    FB: PresentConvos

  • BisonFeathers Designs

    Our artist partner, Brad DeFrees, is the talent behind BisonFeather Designs. His vivid, land-based paintings convey the magic of the land where these ciders originate. His images give a special life to our labels, tasting notes, notecards and this site!

  • Hemlock Grove Farm

    Hemlock Grove Farm has been growing organic produce since 1978 in West Danby. Over the years, we have grown vegetables, fruit, nuts, and raised sheep on our open land, while stewarding 80 acres of forest and marshland. Currently we grow chestnuts, hazelnuts, apples, pears, and persimmons. Along with then-partners Amy Garbincus and Melissa Smith, we started an apple CSA in 2013. Jenny raised the CSA to new levels in 2018 and 2019, and it has now grown into this year's Open Spaces offering. We honor the many people who cared for this land before us, and the wild plants and creatures of all kinds who sustain us.

  • New York Cider Association

    Founded by pioneering New York cider makers with leadership from agricultural non-profit Glynwood, the New York Cider Association was created in 2015 to foster community amongst and act as the collective voice and organizing body for apple growers and cider makers throughout the state.