Serving the Vermont Champlain Valley Area for 45 Years
Tuesday October 27, 2015 Edition
Main Sections
Front Page SportsValley VitalsIt's in the StarsStarwiseArchivesLinksAbout The VoiceContact Us







Celebrating Generations On The Land And A Special Birthday

It was 1998 when the Douglas men posed for this photo celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Orchard. Now in 2015, the family will host a celebration of Bob's 90th birthday on November 6th!
photo by Photo Provided
It was 1998 when the Douglas men posed for this photo celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Orchard. Now in 2015, the family will host a celebration of Bob's 90th birthday on November 6th!
Sitting on one of the beautiful wooden chests he made, Bob Douglas is getting ready to celebrate a special birthday and have an Open House from 4:00-7:00 p.m. on November 6th!!
photo by Photo Provided
Sitting on one of the beautiful wooden chests he made, Bob Douglas is getting ready to celebrate a special birthday and have an Open House from 4:00-7:00 p.m. on November 6th!!

Tuesday October 27, 2015

By Cookie Steponaitis

While an old time proverb states that ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away’ the people of Shoreham have a different interpretation in mind. The apples of Shoreham are sweet and have been ready to eat at the rolling sixty acres of the Douglas Orchard for generations. If you do need to see a doctor, there is none better than Dr. Allan Curtiss. And in fact the 1200 inhabitants of this western Addison County town know that the path to delicious apples and cider is on Route 74 West. From New York take the Fort Ticonderoga Ferry. Their proof is four generations of the Douglas family on the land and in the business of growing some of Vermont’s finest apple crop and producing some of its well-known Douglas cider.
    Bob’s grandparents and parents settled on a piece of land with a ‘birdseye’ view of Lake Champlain and acres of rolling Vermont farmland. This was the homestead where Malcolm and Adah Douglas settled, where Robert was born and where he still lives today in the same house. On November 6th, ‘Bob’ will turn 90 years old and the family will celebrate with an Open House from 4:00-7:00 p.m. So mark your calendars and plan on some goodies and cider. No gifts please. Your presence is Bob’s present!  
    The apple business is in the hands of sons Bob, Jr. and Scott and now boasts eighteen varieties of apples, but some things in Shoreham do not change. “To this day,” remarked Bob, “it is still Macintosh that repeats as the favorite.”  While Bob admits a love of Macoun Apples, Betty’s best family recipes call for more Macintosh than anything else. The couple was married in 1946 and their three children Amy, Bob, Jr. and Scott have a ton of memories of growing up in an orchard. They know that while the harvest season is now just about done, apples are in fact a year round business.
    Bob graduated from Shoreham High School, and worked the land and orchard for over sixty years. He has witnessed the transformations in science, technology and harvesting techniques that have changed all facets of Vermont agriculture. During the earliest times on the land, apples were picked by hand, put into wooden barrels and shipped by train to Boston. “One of the best innovations was the shift from the barrels to bushel boxes and then bins,” explained Bob. “Instead of one bushel of apples per container we could move bushels of them in a bin and could use a fork lift to move the product.”
    When asked to share his two favorite innovations during his lifetime, Bob grinned and thought bushel boxes for apples and the telephone were at the top of his list. While the early telephones were almost magical he chuckled and reminisced that, “the telephone operator cautioned all people not to use the phone on Sundays, except in dire emergencies, because that was her only day off.”
    As well as being involved with the orchard and having the pleasure of working with his family, Bob was also a mail carrier for almost thirty years, and enjoyed wood carving, sailing with friends and making handmade wood furniture for family and friends.
    Picking your own apples is nothing new in Shoreham but it is a family tradition that in the past ten to fifteen years has taken off. People come in droves to Douglas Orchard and often park three or four deep in the driveway. Hand in hand and generations strong, groups head off to find the perfect Macintosh, Paula Red, Cortland or Empire. Furthermore, pallet after pallet of apples head off to stores around New England.
    As the last of autumn splendor gives way to the first bursts of winter wind and snow on top of the mountains, mark your calendar and come celebrate with the Douglas family. There is a lot to be happy about, for patriarch Bob Douglas senior is turning 90; and Douglas Orchards is enjoying a wonderful harvest. See you at Bob’s Birthday Open House on November 6 from 4:00-7:00 p.m. at Bob’s house next to the Orchard at 1050 Route 74 West, Shoreham.

               Douglas Orchard Apple Tart Recipe
Enjoy this family favorite!
Tart Pastry Crust:
   1 cup flour
   ½ teaspoon salt
   ¼ lb. butter
   1 egg yolk
   2 tablespoons water
·Pour in blender with blended flour. It will ball up on blender blade.
·Roll out lg. half of blender dough on bread board in rectangular shape.
·Fit it to a 9x13 pan and up the sides.
·Fill with sliced apples (Macs or Cortland or Honey Crisp) mixed with:
   ½ cup sugar
   1 teaspoon cinnamon
   Dash of cloves.
·Roll out the remaining dough to rectangle, slice into strips.
·Place on the apples diagonally,
·Bake at 350 to 375 until apples are cooked through.
Enjoy hot or cold or with ice cream as desired.


 Printer Friendly  Top
Advertisements


Search our Archives


· More Options



   

Agricultural Weather Forecast:

© 2006-18 The Valley Voice • 656 Exchange St., Middlebury, VT 05753 • 802-388-6366 • 802-388-6368 (fax)
Valleywides: [email protected] • Classifieds: [email protected] • Info: [email protected]