Blair Smith Oral History Interview, October 5, 2016

Partial Transcript: So my name is Blair Smith, we're here at Apple Outlaw Cider in Southern Oregon--Applegate, Oregon specifically--and it is October 5th.

Segment Synopsis: Blair introduces himself and talks about his childhood interests and how those interests helped shape is career in cider.

Keywords: Outdoors; Pacific Northwest; Seattle; Stockton; local markets; organic food

Partial Transcript: So did you graduate from high school in Stockton when you lived there--sort of your whole educational life?

Segment Synopsis: Blair talks about his time in high school and university, graduating with a degree in computer science, meeting his wife, making cider for fun, and moving to Livermore in 1990 after his graduation.

Keywords: Applegate; Livermore; Stockton; cider making; computer science; software engineering

Subjects: Applegate; Livermore; Stockton; cider making; computer science; software engineering

Partial Transcript: I bet it changed a lot though in that--that was a big period of transition for the area.

Segment Synopsis: Blair talks bout the transition to Applegate, Oregon, what it was like there, and some of the businesses in the area and how those businesses changed over time.

Keywords: Applegate; Livermore; Southern Oregon; cider; cider tasting; family; fertilizer; pot farming; wine country; wineries

Partial Transcript: So when you ended up on property with an orchard did you immediately think let's do something with this fruit, let's make this a business? Did you walk into the purchasing of the property thinking of a product?

Segment Synopsis: Blair discusses about learning how to maintain an orchard and how to press cider, getting a cider making business running and working with people like Nick Gunn from Wander Aengus Ciderworks.

Keywords: Apple Outlaw; Applegate; Ashland Food Coop; Rogue Valley; Southern Oregon; Wander Aengus; apples; cider; cider making; orchard; organic orchard

Partial Transcript: You were talking about when you moved here you would heat--you would lose power? So what has that been like to have a production facility up here when you're--you're not off the grid

Segment Synopsis: Blair talks about the some of the challenges they've faced in running the orchard and ciderworks due to location, power outages, and lack of initial advertising to tourists.

Keywords: Apple Outlaw; Southern Oregon; challenges; cider making; orchard

Subjects: Apple Outlaw; Blair Smith; Southern Oregon; challenges; cider making; orchard

Partial Transcript: I was sort of thinking more holistically about importance and impact. Do you think that that is in a nutshell the sort of impact of what you're doing for the local economy, but I guess for the state and the region as well? That kind of connection with-this is grown here, this is distributed here, this matters that it comes from this place.

Segment Synopsis: Blair discusses about the importance of locally produced foods and his involvement with the Ashland co-ops and Ashland Food Project. Smith shares some of his hopes for the future, and wants to create more cider, but also be sustainable.

Keywords: Angry Orchard; Ashland Food Project; Ashland co-op; cider making; farm to table; local production

Partial Transcript: So, what are maybe some things that I didn't ask about that you either thought that I would but did not that you want to share?

Segment Synopsis: Blair shares that he hopes more and more people just dive into their passions and try and create something out of it. He shares that his love fro cider has grown into something that has not only benefited himself but his family and community.

Keywords: Craft Cider; Culture; Intrests