By Deb Kroon
Review Staff Writer
In May of 2010, Randy and Kay Wolf bought the Dayton Avenue Orchard, located 4 1/4 miles south of Adrian. In the seven years they have owned the orchard, the Wolfs have made some changes, expansions and added new products. This past spring, the apple trees received a makeover. Old trees of all varieties were torn out to make room for new trees and new varieties. They planted 400 new trees, mostly apple, but they did put a few more varieties of plum trees and new to the orchard – cherry trees.
I caught up with Randy Wolf and Madelyn O’Dell at the Farmer’s Market in Adrian. They were selling tomatoes, beets, corn, onions, zucchini and summer squash, and one early variety of apple – SweeTango. SweeTango is a newer variety from the University of Minnesota. Randy told me it was a marriage of Zestar! (the groom) and Honey Crisp (the bride). The offspring is Minneiska, the tree that gives us the SweeTango apple. It was crisp, juicy and had a great taste.
Madelyn O’Dell lives near Rushmore, and is a Junior at AHS, and Randy’s go – to person at the Markets. She works at the orchard, picking the produce and getting it ready for market. Then she sells the produce at the different Farmer’s Markets in Adrian and Worthington. Randy trucks for Adrian Tile Company and isn’t always able to be there during the Farmer’s Market, so he depends on Madelyn.
We talked about the different varieties of apples that Randy raises, including the new varieties he planted in the spring, Randy has about 18 varieties of apples, from early season apples, like Zestar! And SweeTango, to late season apples like Regent and Haralson. All but three varieties, Cortland, Macintosh, and Gala, are bred at the University of Minnesota. Randy said that the U. of M. is great to work with. Minnesota growers have first crack at new varieties. The U. of M. only allows the sale of so many trees, so the varieties that are bred in Minnesota, pretty much stay in Minnesota for the first few years.
The U. of M. is one of three universities that actually breed flowers, fruits and vegetables. The breeders cover the blossoms to prevent natural pollination. They take Q-tips and by hand rub the blossoms with pollen from the tree they want to cross it with. The odds are 1 in 10,000 that the cross pollination will be worth selling. When they manage to breed a good cross, they take the seeds to sell. It takes many years to develop a new variety.
If you visit the orchard in the near future, you will see trees loaded with beautiful, good sized apples. With the plentiful rain in August, Randy said the apples have doubled in weight – giving the buyer a bigger apple, and giving him more apples per acre. A win, win situation right? Not necessarily! Randy will get more poundage from the apples, but he lost about 1/3 of the plum crop. They too grew with the timely rains, but they expanded too fast and the skins split. “You win some and you lose some,” Randy stated.
Showing me around the place, I noticed a large vat of water, so curious as I am, I asked, “ What’s that for?” Randy explained, “Outside you saw the stack of white bins, well each bin holds about 800 pounds of apples. We dip the full bin into the water, that is mixed with a bleach solution that kills bacteria that may be on the apples.” From there the apples are loaded onto a sorter. There are two sets of soft brushes. When Randy turned on the machine, the apples began to roll over the first set of brushes, which cleaned the apples. The apples were channeled into a smaller chute, where they were rolled over the second set of brushes, and sorted by size into different holding areas. “We sell apples to the school” Randy commented. “The little apples go to the younger kids and the bigger ones go to the older kids. We got this machine in January. We finished up the season using it. We’re pretty excited about using it this year.”
The varieties that Randy planted this past Spring include Gala (the only variety not Minnesota bred), Kinder Krisp, First Kiss, Snowsweet, Keepsake, and Prairie Spy. It will be a couple of years before these varieties are ready for sale, but definitely worth the wait. He also planted four varieties of plums and four varieties of cherries.
At the orchard, you can pick your own apples if you wish, but Randy said that when the apples are ready, they pick them. “Most people are okay with us picking the apples. Some, who bring along their kids, want the experience of picking their own.” When pumpkin season begins, I’m guessing, more people like to pick their own!
The Dayton Avenue Orchard opens on Saturday, September 9. The hours at the Orchard will be 1:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. You can call Randy anytime and arrange to meet him, or possibly Madelyn. You can also find them at the Farmer’s Markets through October: in Adrian on Fridays, at the Adrian Hardware parking lot, from 4 – 7 p.m.; in Worthington, on Tuesdays at the Campbell Soup parking lot from 4 – 7 p.m.; or Saturday mornings, at the Ace Hardware parking lot, from 6:30 a.m to 12:00 p.m. Just be sure, whether you go to the orchard, or stop at the Farmer’ Market, you try out Dayton Avenue Orchard’s apples. I highly recommend SweeTango for starters!
