Whats been going on at Jones Creek Farms?
Jones Creek Farms is in the middle of transplanting the entire u pick orchard.
A little history is in order here…. The orchard was never originally intended for u pick and its existing layout has never worked well from a u pick management standpoint.
The orchard was planted over many years, increasing in size and varieties as needed for direct marketing in farmers markets. With so many varieties scattered all over such a wide area (4-5 acres) it is very hard to make the orchard as available to strangers as it is to me.
I know where everything is but no one else does... To get people to the ripe varieties and not have them pick other varieties that are not ripe yet are major logistical problems. Some customers go away complaining that there were no apples to pick….. yet when I go out to the orchard to check there is plenty of the advertised varieties. Its obvious people just aren’t finding their way around.
Now no matter whose fault it is I don’t like it when any customer has less than a perfect experience. So I made the commitment to convert the entire orchard to u pick. A more customer friendly experience... To do this it means that almost none of the existing varieties are in the correct location for the new u pick layout so this means planting an all new orchard.
Since I have to stay in business I cant afford to rip out the entire orchard all at once and start over. That would be many years of down time. I came up with a 10 year transition plan to slowly have the new orchard in operation.
I started transplanting in 2011.
Needless to say it hasn't worked out so well, as far as the timeline, since as I write this it is now 2023 and the new orchard layout is still not complete. Its pretty much just been the story of my life…. Biting off more than I can chew. It has turned out to be a massive endeavor and with roadblocks that I hadn't planned for along the way.
The new U Pick orchard: The plan is simple. Each weekend a new row of trees will be opened up to picking. There will be 12 rows offering then 12 weeks of U pick. Each row is 550 to 1150 feet long. There will be several new varieties to pick each week as well as being able to pick the previous weeks rows. Future rows will be closed off to entry. The picking will start at row 3 at the west and end at row 14 at the east.
Over the years there has been a great reduction in varieties grown at Jones Creek Farms. This has been mostly due to me getting rid of varieties that have not worked out. A lot of the varieties I planted 20 - 30 years ago were truly just an experiment to see if they would work at this location. The u pick transition will further reduce this number.
I assure you though that there will be plenty of diversity in the picking pallet. I have left many blank places in the new u pick rows for new varieties to plant in the future also. Also with the local weather, here at Jones Creek Farms, giving us an ever increasing growing season we are sourcing, trialing and planting ever later maturing apple varieties. This all to increase our u pick season later into October or even November.
Thank you for your patients and good eating!