Hanging scale in our sales area
1. Photo opportunities. Our apple orchard constantly changes with the seasons. There is always something catching my eye and bringing me joy.
Royal Court apple tree in bloom this Spring
2. It provides the perfect blend of solitude and social interaction. I love my peace and quiet. There is nothing more nurturing for me than spending a Saturday morning alone, picking apples. At the same time, I do love meeting and bantering with the public on occassion, and when the mood strikes, I will load up the pick up and head to our local farmers market.
Hawking apples at the farmers market last season
3. Supplemental income. Sure there is some work involved in tending an orchard, but not nearly as much as you might suspect. One Semi dwarf tree will cost you $20 to $25.00 and once it’s mature, it can produce between 2 to 4 bushel of apples a year. = 80 to 160 pounds of fruit @ $1.50 a pound that’s $120 to $240 gross, from one tree…per year..not bad for some additional pocket change if you ask me 
4. mental stimulation. While the basics of tending an apple orchard are pretty easy to grasp, there is always something new to learn. Did you know there are over 750 different varieties of apples in the United States alone, and over 2000 varieties world wide?
5. Keeps you physically active. “ Keep those muscles moving” my grandpa used to say. Between the pruning in the early spring, to the picking in the fall, having an orchard provides me with lots of opportunities to be physically active outside, all the while,I’m getting paid and enjoying some fresh air. As I get older I will probably do more of that “you pick” marketing, but for now, I can still climb and honestly, I love picking apples. Last Saturday, I picked about 1200 pounds of apples in about 6 hours.
6. Provides me with lots of opportunities to bless others. I’m not going to brag and tell you how this works itself out except to say, I try to sell mostly our #1 apples, which means, what to do with the seconds? The opportunities to give are all around.
7. Get to enjoy some varieties of fruit that are hard to come by normally – plus if you can find them, you’ll pay through the nose. Sure we have Honey crisp, was told last year they were charging up to $5.00 a pound for those little rascals. So far this year, I’ve picked 11 crates of them and probably have at least another 8. My personal favorite is called the Ginger Gold:
Ginger Gold.
It is every bit as crispy as the Honey crisp and sweet. Last year we had 32 crates of these little jewels.
8. Fresh apple cider. You haven’t lived until you’ve had fresh apple cider pressed from your own apples. It’s got a texture and taste you’ll never , ever find in a store -ever. If you come to visit, and the apples are in season, you can help me press out a batch.
9. You’ll give the bees something to talk about. Ever hear of the “waggle dance”?
10. Provides me with lots of spiritual insight.
Life is full of mystery. I believe God has hidden the answers to some of our questions about life in the apple orchard.
Pruning and suffering. I hate it when people try to slap pat answers onto my life when I’m in the middle of something hard. It makes me angry. So I will not disrespect you and do that now. Sometimes it feels like I’m getting “pruned” and when it does, I barely have enough energy to survive, let alone do more.
Fruitfulness (ever see an apple tree grunt? 
Me neither.
Seasons. Apple trees don’t produce fruit 12 months out of the year. In fact, they need large blocks of “down time” in the winter..to get ready for the next season. They literally need that time, which is why apple trees don’t do well in warmer climates.
Variety. Already mentioned this one, but it bears repeating. Apple trees vary widely and differently in the type of fruit they produce. I think people are created much more varied than culture tries to tell us. I found an apple tree on an abandoned farmstead a few years ago like nothing I’d ever seen before. Some heirloom variety I’m sure. It looked and tasted just like it was designed to taste. Definitely not some domesticated boring apple. So why do you and I sometimes think we have to look like everybody else? Nothing more beautiful than someone being 100% alive just the way they were designed:
Heirloom variety I found at an abandoned orchard near here
As always, thanks for reading my stuff DM
Tags: apple orchard, attitude, Buy fresh buy local, Christianity, depression, enjoying life, Iowa, personal, photography, spirituality, suffering, thoughts, Uncategorized
September 4, 2011 at 9:52 am |
Beautiful pictures and thoughts, DM! Looks like this might be your favorite time of year?
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Yes, Lawyerchik, Fall is definitely my favorite time of year…although I’m one of those people who love all four seasons…even in the dead of winter, w/ the snow blowing in my face, as long as I have my carharts, my beard, and some hot coffee (black /no sugar) I am in my element. Good to hear from you. DM
September 8, 2011 at 2:40 am |
You are reminding me of how much I enjoyed our yearly apple-picking trips when I was growing up. Frequently, we’d end up with over 50 lbs. of apples– even over 100 lbs.– but we’d get Golden Delicious, which are incredibly good “keeper” apples– still sweet a month or even 2 months later, if kept reasonably cold….
You have chosen a good life. Sometimes my life here in Brooklyn gets me down– not enough wide open space, everything a little harder than it needs to be– and looking at your blog is like a breath of fresh air and sanity. Thanks, as always, for chronicling your life-well-lived!
(That said, Brooklyn still offers some opportunities to do some growing and picking– I planted stuff late this year but am still hoping for a decent harvest–my few veggies are just starting to come in, in force…we are sure getting enough rain, if not enough sun!!)
September 8, 2011 at 10:52 pm |
Ahhh I hope one day I can have my own apple orchard! Or have a friend nearby who has one! I love apples.
My favorite fruit! I’d eat them every single day if I could. We had an apple tree but it went kind of funky after a while and we cut it down last year or so after 15 years or so of having it around.
I know apple trees need a certain amount of cold weather to thrive, and since you’re in California, I’m wondering if that had anything to do w/ your tree struggling. DM
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Sorry about having to cut down your apple tree.
September 29, 2011 at 7:33 pm |
That’s it!
I will never be absent again!
Awesome stuff here Doug. I think the way you get your nourishment from your orchard is so similar to how I get mine in the woods.
When you think about it, we really are very blessed to have such opportunities!
October 2, 2011 at 5:01 pm |
I’m curious to know if you saved some seeds or took some cuttings to root from the delicious heirloom variety you found in the abandoned orchard?
first attempt and 6 out of 10 of them are still alive. the rabbits found 4 of them I’d started in pots. Have you ever done any grafting? DM
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I took some cuttings and grafted them onto some semi dwarf root stock.
April 18, 2012 at 1:31 pm |
Very nice pictures! And I loved the thoughts, stuff you discovered from tending the orchard. So much beauty and wisdom all around us and it’s like a treasure hunt when we discover them, isn’t it?
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Thank you! DM
September 21, 2012 at 2:50 pm |
Great thoughts here. You about summed it up well. I feel the same way about our orchard, though we don’t have the apples yet. We planted last year. Good words for the soul. – TT
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TT, thanks for your comment! DM