Chippewa Valley (WQOW) - When
we think of going to the apple orchard, we tend to think of fall. Cool weather, falling leaves, pumpkins… but
not this year. Many apple orchards say
their crops are two to three weeks ahead of schedule, so the picking is already
underway.
"The good news is
that we have apples," says Hillview Farm owner Jerry Harper.
In late June, Jerry Harper told us
his apple crop was damaged so badly, he wouldn't open this fall. Fast forward to today, and Jerry says he will
open the orchard after all because he was able to salvage some of the crop.
"We have 14
varieties. I think we have 3 main varieties that we can pick. We have
absolutely no Carmel
reds, they froze," Harper says.
But other orchards were luckier.
Cain's orchard in Hixton, just 35
miles down the road, says it's having a bumper crop this year, thanks to one
thing.
"For starters,
irrigate the apple trees. We've never ever done that before, we just felt that
it got really dry and it was very necessary for us, so that really helped with
our size and helped with our crop," says Diane Cain, co-owner of Cain's
Orchard.
"When we go around,
we just keep looking for size and color. Right here we don't have a lot of
color, because these have already been picked three times this year," says
Kevin Cain, co-owner of Cain's Orchards, pointing out red apples on the trees.
And picked earlier than normal.
"Our season is
certainly accelerated, our business has certainly accelerated. We're very
grateful for that. Next year it might be us that has a light crop," Diane says.
There's one thing these two
orchards, which have both been in business for decades, can agree on. It's been
a weird year for weather.
"I really haven't
had this combination of drought, and then we had the early bloom so we had the
freeze," Harper says.
"Everybody talks
about the drought of '88, and I guess this probably ranks up there with that,
but then on top of the drought, was the spring was so early and selling apples
so early," Diane says.
The dry
weather also impacted some pumpkin crops. Hillview Farms will not be selling
any this year because of the dry weather.
