Apple orchards have strong crop in 2011

Area apple growers are excited about this fall’s bounty.

The crop in the St. Croix Valley is “excellent,” according to Charlie Johnson, owner of Whistling Well Farm in Denmark Township.

“There's a really nice crop this year,” according to the message greeting customers at Apple Junction.

This is welcome news to growers who faced a lean year last season when hail damaged the area’s apple crop.

The consumer palette has changed over the years, Johnson said.

Customers, in past years, waited for Cortland, Beacon and McIntosh, he said. Now, they want Honeycrisp.

Customers determine what trees growers plant, he said. He has many more Honeycrisp trees than in the past.

There is a lot more to do than just buy apples at area orchards as the season gets under way.

In addition to riding a hay wagon into the orchard to pick apples, all of the orchards feature other activities and items to buy. There is a play area and petting zoo at Afton Apple and dig-your-mums at Whistling Well Farm.

As the season winds down toward Halloween, there will also be pumpkins available for sale.

Area orchard information

Apple Junction – (651) 480-4701, www.apple-junction.com

Afton Apple – (651) 436-8385, www.aftonapple.com

Whistling Well Farm – (651) 998-0301, www.whistlingwellfarm.com

Fisher’s Croix Farm Orchard – (651) 437-7126 www.fisherscroixfarmorchard.com

Grove Orchard – (651) 459-4752

Carpenter Nature Center – (651) 437-4359, www.carpenternaturecenter.org

Brown’s Apple Acres – (651) 437-7126

Aadmodts’s Apple Farm – (651) 439-3127, www.aamodtsapplefarm.com

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