“Pick Your Own” At Hickory Hill Orchards: A Fall Tradition

Aside from apples, Hickory Hills also grows tomatoes, okra, cucumbers, peppers, kale, nectarines, peaches, pumpkins, and gourds. Currently, Hickory Hills grows almost exclusively organic vegetables. Beasley is committed to growing and harvesting sustainable crops with minimal chemicals. He explains that older farming practices involve spraying “by the calendar” – by date, rather than by need – however, he pays attention to the population of crops within an orchard and only sprays when the horticulture faces potential risk for crop damage, particularly from the spread of disease and bacteria. Beasley partially credits the health of the orchard to the diversity of apples grown on the property, interspersed with pumpkins and gourds, which limits the opportunity for any specific pest to flourish.

Hickory Hills sells any grade-2 or “second” apples (anything that has been affected by rot, is misshapen, bruised, bug bites, etc.) to local chefs. “Restaurants who buy their apples from a wholesaler are paying a higher price for a perfect looking apple. But they don’t actually need to put those apples on a shelf.” Beasley has approached restaurants, offering to sell them grade-2 apples, since he says they’ll be cutting and baking the apples, or otherwise destroying their outward appearance before they ever arrive on a table. In addition to chefs, Hickory Hill Orchards also supplies seconds to New England Cider Company, a hard cider company based in Wallingford, as well as baking companies, and restaurants. “The ultimate goal is no waste,” says Beasley.

Beasley notes one of the challenges of growing apples is the temperamental weather conditions. While a light, overnight frost can benefit apples, picking too soon after can potentially bruise them. “If you have an apple tree in your backyard, then that’s okay, it can wait. But when you have an acre of McIntosh apples that are starting to fall, you have no choice but to pick them,” even in less than ideal conditions.