Farming holistically isn’t always pretty. The perfect, round, bright red apple is not what you’ll find on the trees at Solstice Farm, just outside of Waverly, Iowa.
Yet finding a balance of environmental and financial considerations is a core value for Mark and Theresa Westbrock. They manage their orchard with only minimal spraying of pesticide and are building their farm business with a diversity of products, including pastured poultry, layer hens, mushrooms, and sheep.
They understand their odd-shaped and sometimes insect-nicked apples are not meant for retail shelves. But they do make a good cider!
“Adding the cider operation has made our farm a more resilient farm in that we now have income streams year-round and new opportunities to utilize our fruit crops,” Mark said.
The Westbrocks are now expanding their growing Paha Cider business with the help of funding focused on building small food and farm businesses and local products.
A Business Builder grant from the Heartland Regional Food Business Center has afforded Solstice Farm a fruit press that will allow for faster, real-time pressing of ripe fruit on the farm for Paha Cider. The company was also awarded a Choose Iowa grant to purchase a small canning line. This will enable Paha to can more efficiently and to create smaller runs of specialty ciders.
Getting There
Mark’s experimentation with home brewing led him to contemplate cider as another farm enterprise. He enrolled in a course offered by the Cider Institute of North America and reached out to a consultant who specializes in the establishment of new cideries. Mark’s sister-in-law, Mo Valko, has joined Paha Cider as director of sales and marketing. The family planted apple trees specific to cider making to compliment other fruits on the farm: older apple, pear and cherry trees, as well as aronia berries, elderberries and honeyberries.
The Westbrock’s finished their Paha Cider building in 2023, just in time for the first batch of cider to be ready for Oktoberfest in Waverly. The name Paha is derived from the glacial hill deposits that surround the farm, prevalent throughout Northeast Iowa.
Growing Today
While the base of all the hard ciders at Paha is pressed apples, Mark uses local cherries, pears, aronia berries, honey and rhubarb in the ciders. Standard ciders for Paha now include Imperial Apple, Pear Cider, Sweet Cherry, Blueberry Aronia and Brut Cider. Small batch specialty ciders like Cedar Valley Blend allow the cidery to showcase unique blends. The Cedar Valley Blend won a silver medal in 2024 at the Great American Beer Festival, one of only 15 cider medals awarded.
Paha Cider is found at approximately 140 outlets now. Goals for the business include expanding the sales and distribution to a wider region and beyond Iowa’s borders. This will mean adding employees to the business to further boost production and sales.
Read the full story in the July 2025 edition of the Iowa Small Food Processing Digest.
[Editors note: Partners that built the 5-state Heartland Regional Food Business Center currently work together as the Heartland Food Business Coalition. We aim to continue building a robust business support system for the local and regional food and farm enterprises that are critical for community economic development and a food secure future. Contact Us.]