Enjoying a beautiful day for opening the season at Johnson's Orchard are Melissa Williams, Sandy Tollefson and her daughter, Emma Tollefson, and Scott Williams.
Star Eagle photo by Barb Finseth
By BARB FINSETH
Staff Writer
Gary and Judy Johnson of Johnson Oakside Orchard were busy on their season's opening day, Sunday, September 19th. They were quickly bagging more of the early apple varieties of Honeycrisp, Zestar, SweeTango, Regents, and Paula Red, as displayed bags left with customers. The later varieties of the popular Haralson and Fireside apples are being added as they are ready to harvest.
Gary and Judy are happy to have apples to sell this year. Gary confessed that early this season they weren't sure there would be much of a harvest. In late May, just as, the blossom buds on the trees were peaking out, our area had three nights of frost. This is a critical time for the fragile buds as once an apple tree wakes from dormancy, it is highly susceptible to damage from any freezes.
But the death of even a majority of apple buds on a tree will not necessarily mean there won't be any apples in that year. So Gary continued with his usual spring routine of having his beekeeper neighbors, Don & Menta Macy, bring their bee hives to the orchard to pollinate the trees. This may take a couple of weeks, but the hives stay there longer to take advantage of the orchard's many spring flowers for the bees to make honey. Later, Don & Menta sell their honey at the Johnsons' Orchard during the Fall apple selling season.
Unfortunately for this season, there were varieties of apples heavily damaged by the frosts. So few apples developed on the trees of the MacIntosh, and Spartan (an older variety that few orchards grow today), that there won't be any of these offered for sale this year.
The orchard land has been a part of the Johnson farmland since the mid 1850's, but it was over 100 years later, in the late 1980's, that Gary and Judy first started planting their orchard. Among the first varieties they planted were the Haralson and Paula Red, which they are still harvesting today. They also planted State Fair, Cortland, Jonathan, and Honey Gold, but these began to fall out of favor with the introduction of the now popular U of M varieties. The Johnsons began planting more of these varieties as they became available, including Honeycrisp, Zestar, and SweeTango (a cross between the Honeycrisp and Zestar). About 6 or 7 years ago, they downsized their orchard and removed the older four, less popular varieties.
The Johnsons harvest all of their apples by hand, so they can check them and pick them at the peak of their ripeness. This means it usually takes three rounds of picking over about two weeks for each apple variety, so that each Sunday there are fresh-picked apples for sale.
Customers can also hike through the orchard each Sunday afternoon if they'd like, or take a walk along the woodchip covered trail through their woods behind the sales shed. There is a favorite spot of the Johnsons on the trail where the trees arch and overlap to form a cozy canopy to walk through.
Today, in addition to selling bags of apples, Gary or Judy will make carmel apple "sundaes" for sale, which have been popular enough that they now sell containers of the carmel, too. They also sell bags of popcorn kernels, and have an on-site popcorn popper to make some for customers to taste before they buy. And, of course, they carry Don & Merta's Medford Creek honey, as well as their Medford Creek maple syrup. If you are looking for new ways to use apples, ask Judy for free copies of her tried-and-true favorite recipes.
Johnson Oakside Orchard is open 12 to 5 on Sundays, now through the end of October or when the apples are gone, whichever comes first. They are located on County Road 4 just west of the Pontoppidan Lutheran Church, or just southwest of Keck's Repair. Bring the family for a fun day of walking, hiking, buying your favorite apples, and probably socializing with people you know from the area.