Sculptor, philosopher run craft cidery Salt Spring Wild on B.C. island

When Salt Spring Island residents Gerda Lattey and Mike Lachelt went out looking for a new home on the island they didn't expect to find new careers instead. 

The couple had been seeking a new place to live and were struck by all the apple trees on one of the properties they were considering. 

While they didn't leave that day with a new place to live, they did depart with a fresh business plan.

"We had apples on the brain, and we had cidery on the brain, and we started thinking about that and started making cider," Lachelt told North by Northwest host Sheryl MacKay.

'Apples on the brain'

The two began learning how to make their own cider, and opened Salt Spring Wild Cidery. In less than a year of production their business has already gained a following of fans.

Lattey said they may never have gone into the cider business if they hadn't come across that tree-lined parcel of land.

"It turned out to be a blessing ultimately, because it propelled us into this," she said.

"We needed something to do, Salt Spring is a tricky place to make a living, I'm a sculptor historically and Mike has mostly a PhD in philosophy."

"Mostly," she joked, because he is still in the process of completing it — and over the time that they've been on Salt Spring Island he has also painted houses, whacked weeds and worked as a carpenter's assistant while Lattey has worked as a landscaper and cook in addition to her sculpting.

"You learn to be creative when you're out here, and the cider idea was one of those attempts to figure out how to make things work here," Lachelt said.

Lachelt said his graduate studies in philosophy have "absolutely nothing to do with cider."

Cider made from wild apples, pears, plums

"Which is why cider is so great," he said, "it just takes me away from this space that I've inhabited too long with studying philosophy."

Cider has long been their drink of choice as Lattey is allergic to wine and Lachelt doesn't consume gluten.

"We found that we weren't able to find a lot of ciders that we liked because they were far too sweet for our liking, so this is a response to that," she said, adding that they offer a dry and semi-dry cider.

They make their ciders from the wild apples and pears that grow on the island, and have recently been using wild berries in their ciders as well.

"We make a plum cider, which is an apple cider with Italian prune plums, and that went over really well," Lachelt said.

With files from CBC's North by Northwest

To hear the full story listen to the audio labelled: Sculptor and philosopher run craft cidery on Salt Spring Island