Visiting an Apple Orchard

Before I wander to other topics for my posts, I'd like to take you back to two things we did in early October.  Come with me today to a large modern apple orchard on the Open Fields Farm T     our in the township just to the east of us here.  Four farms put on tours as well as an apple packing facility.

Perhaps first I should say a word about why we grow so many apples here.  Apples around Ontario are generally grown close to the Great Lakes because the temperature of the water changes more slowly than the temperature over land.  This tends to delay blossom opening until the risk of frost is past.  All the major orchards here are located between the Niagara Escarpment and the bay, which provides a boundary for the zone of more moderate temperatures.  Close to the shoreline is also a zone of sandy soils which are the best; apple trees don't like wet feet!

The farm we visited is Ardiel Acres, where the orchards are a mixture of older style large trees, and these narrow rows of high-density plantings.  There were lots of apples ready to be picked when we were there.

This farm has no retail outlet, rather the apples go to a local apple packing facility that will send them on for juice-making or retail sales in stores, depending on quality.

One of the family farmers explained some basics to the small crowd, and thankfully I could get out and ride around on the gravel.  Apples are picked directly into large red apple crates like those in the background, mostly by seasonal farm workers.

Picking the apples requires specialized equipment since the trees are about 15 feet high.  Good old-fashioned ladders are still used for the large trees, but in hi-density orchards more mechanized equipment can be used.

This enormous piece of machinery is what modern apple picking looks like here.  Apple pickers ride both sides of the machine, standing at different heights, so the entire tree gets picked on both sides.  And no-one drives this machine; it's programmed to drive itself down the rows.  We were told it is accurate to with half and inch at the end of each row!

There was also a little fun to be had at this family event, though I didn't see anyone playing tic-tac-toe.

The blow-up balloons were popular though, and when the little kids were finished Mrs. F.G. slipped in to get me a new hat!  What do you think?