Farm-to-Fork
Apples Plus
When Vincent Sterne opened Two Rivers Cider Co. in 1996, it was one of the first craft cider companies in California to make its product from fresh fruit instead of concentrate. A David fighting many Goliaths, Two Rivers needed to stand out to compete with the industrial ciders imported from England and Canada. Following the lead of the always-innovating craft beer industry, Sterne decided to buck convention by adding pressed juice from locally sourced fruit into his dry apple ciders.
He Puts Water To Work
I’m inside a shipping container located in a residential neighborhood. On both sides of the aisle, rows and rows of tender plants—heads of lettuce, herbs and microgreens—grow in trays. They bask under energy-efficient LED lights, which bathe everything in a red-tinged glow. A thin film of water flows past the plants’ roots, providing nutrients, while fans circulate the air. Jason Levens, 36, the founder of Aldon’s Leafy Greens, spends a lot of time in this engineered environment, tending his hydroponically grown charges, but he loves the work. “Every single plant in here I’ve seeded,” he says.