Picking Apples at Shelburne Orchards in Vermont

It's apple season, folks, and the best way to get them is to go and pick them yourself. Yesterday, Dorothee and I headed to Shelburne, VT, which is about 10 miles south of Burlington, to visit Shelburne Orchards, a 80-acre orchard that grows both organic and non-organic apples.

Apples are at the center of the organic vs. local debate in the Northeast, because it's so difficult to grow organic apples in this climate. Before finding Shelburne, I called around to several Vermont orchards, and most of the growers told me that they weren't organic and that they didn't even know of any organic apple growers in the area.

Nick Cowles (pictured above), the owner of Shelburne Orchards, invited us out into the orchard to talk about apple growing. Nick says that a very small portion of the 60 acres that he grows on are certified organic, but because they are so fungus-prone in Vermont's moist climate, some years he isn't able to harvest anything from the organic field. Organic apples are better suited to more arid climates, Nick says, like Oregon and Michigan.

Cowles' story is sort of similar to that of John Peterson, who is featured in 'The Real Dirt on Farmer John': He inherited the orchard from his father and attempted to convert the entire farm organic, and as a result, nearly lost the farm. Now, although he doesn't qualify for organic certification for most of the orchard, he refers to the apples as "eco apples" because he sprays pesticides and fungicides as little as possible, and he uses compost and seaweed foliar sprays.

Despite the rain, we saw several families head out to the fields to pick some apples yesterday. And after we finished the interview with Nick, we made sure to grab some of the delicious fresh donuts and cider that they produce on site. (Shelburne is worth a visit for the donuts alone.)

-Mark