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Apple Crop Early This Year

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Tuesday September 26, 2006

By Dale Piper

    This year's apple crop is certainly different from last year's, which was light because of the hot and dry weather.  Last year's apples, while of good quality and exceptional size, were very slow to mature, resulting in very late color.  This year the apples are just as good, but the large amount of rain and cooler temperatures caused them to mature much earlier.  In fact, several orchards are experiencing a large amount of drops because of the apples' size and maturity.

According to Bob Douglas, of Douglas Orchard in Shoreham, the apples “looked good to start with, but they have dropped terribly.”  Pickers must work much faster to harvest the apples that are still on the trees, as drops lose their market value immediately.  Bill Suhr of Champlain Orchards, also in Shoreham, concurs by saying, “the size is good, the color is much better, but many are dropping before they can be picked.”  But, all told, Suhr considers it a successful harvest nevertheless.

At Sentinel Pine Orchard, Roberta Blodgett reiterated by saying that their offshore pickers arrived on September 9th and began work on the 11th, although the orchard could have easily started them on Labor Day.

Sentinel Pine has had an exciting year since Whitney Blodgett is now the sole owner and the business is being run as a family affair.  Roberta, Whitney's wife, has given up her preschool in favor of working full time with the orchard.  Their three daughters have also found their niches in the business.  Amber, age 15, is operating forklift; Jasmine, at 13, is the family number cruncher, working in the accounting end and Jade, the youngest at 11, enjoys cooking and helps Mister Jim with meals at the crew quarters.

The orchard is also looking at diversification, since a cost analysis showed that they are being paid the same for their apples as they were five to six years ago, while expenses have steadily risen.  They are going to try production of Shiitake mushrooms, which are fairly high-end mushrooms and very, very good in recipes.  Roberta, with her private preschool background, is skilled in grant writing and is going after funds, with the help of Vermont Technical College, for wind energy to lower their electricity costs.

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