The Orchard
We grow nearly 40 varieties of apples, as well as a small selection of pears and peaches. Almost all of these are historic varieties from Massachusetts and New England, as well as selections of wild seedlings discovered and grafted by ourselves and friends. We offer PYO by appointment in September and October. Variety offerings are limited this year as we wait for new trees to bear.
Intensive regenerative pruning after years left alone. Cuttings are chipped in place to build healthy fungal soil.
Our 15-acre farm has been an orchard for over 100 years.
Decades ago the previous stewards replaced old abandoned trees with mac, cortland, red delicious and empire. Many of those trees are still standing today. Now under our family’s care, we’ve begun the process of greatly diversifying the varieties grown and transitioning to less chemical-intensive production. Currently in an IPM program, we’re moving toward a low-spray orchard that supports abundant biodiversity, beneficial insects and pollinators.
A successfully topworked tree after just four months.
In addition to planting 130 new trees, we are grafting many of the old apples over to new varieties.
This technique of “topworking” allows us to retain the basic structure and root system of these beautiful old trees while also bearing an abundance of new varieties of fruit much sooner than tearing out the orchard and replanting.
This year only the older mac, cortland, red delicious and empire trees are fruiting. But in a few seasons we’ll have an array of interesting heirloom, locally historic, and recently discovered varieties available.