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Some Maine orchards  will provide some family fun as they celebrate Maine Apple Sunday on Sept. 13, according to State Senator Andy Buckland’s weekly update. Maine orchards participating in Maine Apple Sunday are listed online at www.maineapples.org/directory/index.php/admin

FARMINGTON/WILTON — It may be early in the apple season for local orchards Morrison Hill Orchard in Farmington and Stony Brook Farm in Wilton but a plentiful crop is expected at both this year.

“It will be a bumper crop,” Jody Hollingsworth of the Morrison Hill farm said of the crop her family expects from the 10 acre,  about 600-tree orchard, part of an 80-acre farm with a 150-year plus history.

The trees produce over 15 apple varieties along with pear, peach and plum trees to prune, spray and pick each year, she said.

The summer dryness helps keep the pests away and fungus down, she said of the crop. Recent heat only speeds things up a little.

Changes in weather always bring something new to deal with but the last few years have produced good apple crops, she said.

Some early apples have been picked. The Macintosh are expected to be ready within a week, she said. The farm will open for customers to “pick your own” next Saturday, Sept. 19. They are open from 9 to 5 and the self serve stand is open seven days a week.

Hollingsworth and her sister, Jan Rackliff, now work with parents, Jerry and Jeanne Simpson, to keep the family-owned tradition going.

Formerly, the Simpsons’ home overlooked the orchard they now own. Jerry worked for the telephone company while Jeanne taught school. When the opportunity to purchase the farm arose, they took it on as a hobby and a future retirement venture, Jerry Simpson said.

That was nearly 30 years ago.

“It’s a passion when you do stuff you like doing,” he said.

While growing good apples in Maine is not easy, the family is committed to growing practices that protect their family and their customers by “continuing education and the least invasive, most practical and safest practices,” according to a farm flyer.

The season begins with pruning which starts in February. That continues through April then it is time for spraying, trimming and finally picking.

“It is a hands on crop,” Rackliff said. 

With no storage, the farm only sells fresh products and shuts down around Nov. 1. The farm does supply apples for RSU 9 school lunches in the fall.

Likewise, Stony Brook Farm in Wilton has a long history of family involvement.

The orchard was started by either Freedom Rand or his brother, Blanchard, Ruel Orff, manager, said. The farm was purchased by the Rands in the late 1920’s.

Orff is Freedom Rand’s grandson but he now runs the farm for owner Jeff McElroy who purchased it around 2001 from Orff’s uncle, Earlon Rand.

He went back to work the farm where he spent many hours of his youth learning about farming from his grandfather. He then worked at the Otis Mill for 24-years until it closed.

A good crop is expected this fall at the Orchard Drive farm where a self-serve store now offers early apples, summer squash and tomatoes. Winter squash, pumpkins and pickling cukes will also be ready soon, he said.

Fields which once held an apple tree in every spot available now provide hay which he also sells.

In the past, apples from the numerous trees were produced for packing. Now some shipping for individuals is done from the approximately 800 bushels grown on around 600 trees, he said. 

Noticing a small hole in a Honeycrisp apple growing low on a small tree, he picks the apple where a wild turkey has nibbled. Deer can also bother the crop but hail and hurricanes take a worse toll, he said.

Farm sales of fresh fruit and vegetables runs from mid-August to early November, he said. With no storage, all is sold fresh.  A variety of apples from Macintosh, Cortlands, Empires, Golden Delicious along with Paula Reds, Gala, Fugi and Honeycrisp are grown. Orff is updating the orchard a little bit at a time.

Neither farm is participating in Maine Apple Sunday.

abryant@sunmediagroup.net