Will McMahon
@willmcmahon36.bsky.social
300 followers 190 following 490 posts
Union organizer, writer, cider-maker. https://will-mcmahon.com
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Reposted by Will McMahon
willmcmahon36.bsky.social
Thanks! And I drafted it all as one block except for the final break, then added in the ellipses later for online readability. They could have been placed elsewhere for that reason, so it was down to eyeing the different clauses and doing it by feel.
willmcmahon36.bsky.social
Too bad this Asian pear tree lost a limb, but it worked out for me. I’ve heard mixed things about making perry from them, but figure I’ll give it a try.
50+ foot tall Asian pear tree, green leaves and small golden fruit. Large branch on the ground, surrounded by pears. Two small golden pears still attached to the fallen branch. Wooden packbasket full of pears.
willmcmahon36.bsky.social
Gotta love the trees that just truck along in spite of (or because of) the lack of intensive management!
Reposted by Will McMahon
moreperfectunion.bsky.social
Italy's largest union, with over 5.5 million workers, has called a general strike for Friday in solidarity with the Global Sumud Flotilla.

And smaller Italian unions have said they will join CGIL's general strike.
willmcmahon36.bsky.social
I spent four years living half-time in New Bedford for multiple organizing drives from 2017-2021, including 9ish months in Providence! I liked it a lot. So I hope to make it out again sometime. Keeping Cidercon alive in my mind, but odds are it won’t work out. One day, though.
willmcmahon36.bsky.social
I was thinking of coming out yours (you’re in Providence, right?) for Cidercon in February, but not sure the cost and timing will work out. But yes, let me know if you ever visit (or want to visit) the Finger Lakes! We have cider and literature and waterfalls.
willmcmahon36.bsky.social
Five-ish gallons of last year’s ciderkin (second pressing cider from rehydrated pomace, low ABV). Let it sit because it was bland, but malolactic fermentation has since added a nice tang. Going to bottle some as-is, then do a gallon with sumac and a gallon with goldenrod and aster. All foraged here.
willmcmahon36.bsky.social
Really enjoyed this article digging into the evolutionary and geological development of the modern apple family (and the call for cider-makers to explore a diversity of Pomme fruits!).
ciderreview.bsky.social
New contributor Joe Flannery-Sutherland traces the origins of apples and pears, their evolution across millions of years, and how the attraction to early hominids has resulted in the rich cider landscape we now have.
Cider’s Evolutionary Backstory
New contributor Joe Flannery-Sutherland traces the origins of apples and pears, their evolution across millions of years, and how the attraction to early hominids has resulted in the rich cider lan…
cider-review.com
willmcmahon36.bsky.social
I’ll have to visit someday. I still remember walking into the Hall of the Northwest Coast at the AMNH for the first time and understanding much more viscerally that European colonists (and the countries they created) had destroyed half the world.
willmcmahon36.bsky.social
Also shoutout to @rjtaylor.bsky.social—we critiqued each other’s stories like a year ago, not knowing they’d be published in the same issue of the same magazine!
willmcmahon36.bsky.social
All prose should be unfilmable and all film should be unwritable. It’s all gotta be By Night in Chile and Man With a Movie Camera.
Reposted by Will McMahon
irrealist.bsky.social
Fists up for the IILF! Big thanks to @donfoolery.com, @parkeriswriting.bsky.social, and everyone who came out for our September reading!
Don Pizarro and Parker M. O’Neill standing on stage under purple lighting with their fists up.
willmcmahon36.bsky.social
Fastest start I’ve ever had for a wild ferment! Maybe the 24 hours of maceration after grinding sped the process along.
Three gallon glass carboy filled with murky brown juice. The surface of the juice is covered in a white foam and there are bubbles visible in the airlock. Same deal as the last photo but it’s the top of the one gallon glass carboy.
Reposted by Will McMahon
irrealist.bsky.social
Irrealists: join us TONIGHT at Liquid State Brewing in downtown Ithaca for readings by @donfoolery.com and @parkeriswriting.bsky.social! Onward!
irrealist.bsky.social
Irrealists: Our next reading will be on Monday, September 22nd from 7-9pm at Liquid State, featuring @donfoolery.com and @parkeriswriting.bsky.social! Join us for good fiction, good beer, and good company.
Ithaca Irrealist Readings

A boozy reading series featuring authors of the fantastic, the surreal, the absurd, the speculative, and the odd.

Don Pizarro
Writer whose work has appeared in McSweeney's
Internet Tendency, Crossed Genres, Lakeside
Circus, and other places online and in print. He is
a graduate of the 2016 Viable Paradise Writing
Workshop and can be found at donfoolery.com.

Parker M. O'Neill
Writer of fiction appearing or forthcoming in Apex
Magazine, Flash Fiction Online, Radon Journal,
and elsewhere. He is a recent winner of the
Elegant Literature Award for New Writers and can
be found at linktr.ee/parkermoneill.

Liquid State Brewing
Monday, September 22nd 7-9 PM
irrealist.org
willmcmahon36.bsky.social
My labor was eased by the cider of the day: Stoke Red Pet Nat from Little Pomona (Herefordshire, England). Keeved, meaning a naturally arrested fermentation to preserve some of the juice’s sugar without additions or pasteurization. Perfectly balanced acid, sugar, and tannin. Just a knock-out.
Red label with a black and white illustration of two figures hugging.

LITTLE POMONA
Stoke Red Pét Nat
HILL FARM
2023 Red back label:

Stoke Red, for its sheer joyful vibrancy, may be our favorte bitter-sharp cider apple variety.
We felt that the rural method, an old technique allowing us to retain natural sugars in the final cider, would be the best way of showcasing the beauty of the fruit, and bottling it as a pet nat helped to capture all the freshness of the vintage.
Emerging from this is a cider that pours a slightly hazy gold. releasing lovely aromas of tarte tatin, roses and baking spice.
In the mouth it has noticeable sweetness, but it's the sheer juiness and energy of the liquid that grabs your attention before flavours of warm apple pie, ripe cherries and vanilla begin to unfurl. Joined by a lovely sweet florality and fabulously soft tannins, it's as complete as it is delicious.
This cider loves spicy cuisine, so it's worth popping a 6 pack in the hold on trips to Mumbai!
Serve well chilled. Gluten free. Vegan friendly. No added sulphites.
fX© @LittlePomona
LITTLE POMONA LTD, HEREFORDSHIRE, HR7 4LB, UK
kirwork. O
@arianasauder
Alc 5.2% Vol 75 de Unfiltered golden cider in a plastic glass backlit by an electric lantern in the barn.