Peaches are still available for a few more days but will soon end. Blueberries are done. Paula Red apples are in the market. U-Pick Paula's are done. W now have Golden Supreme, Gala, and Honeycrisp in the market. U-Pick Honeycrisp is NOT ready yet but probably soon. McIntosh (we pick) will be available this weekend..
Come and meet "Peaches," our Golden Retriever puppy. You will love "Peaches."
Sparta Festival
The Sparta "Harvest on the Ridge Apple Festival", was a great success in 2009 and 2010 will be even better. You can download the 2010 schedule of events and scarecrow contest rules at www.spartachamber.com . We will also have the contest rules available at the market.
Put Sept. 24-25 on your calendar and consider entering the scarecrow contest.
Steffens Orchards covers over 250 acres in Alpine, Sparta and Chester Townships. Currently the orchards produce fifteen varieties of apples and eight varieties of sweet cherries.
The orchards are owned and managed by Robert Steffens, a fourth generation farmer. Rob and Christine were married in February, 2009, and have built a new home next to the market.
John and Sharon Steffens, Rob's parents, are retired but help out on the farm and in the market. The Steffens family arrived from Germany in 1846 and settled in Alpine Township in 1852.
The production of apples is a year-around effort. Each tree must be trimmed during the winter months. In the spring, older orchards may be replaced with new plantings and a new orchard isestablished. We are always watching for new varieties that the consumer may like.
Blossom time usually occurs during the middle two weeks of May. To help ensure that the blossoms are pollinated, the Steffens place beehives in the orchards. Without bees, there would be no fruit. As a result of pollinating the apple trees, bees produce delicious apple blossom honey which is available in the Market.
Steffens Orchards practices Integrated Pest Management (IPM) to minimize the use of chemicals. We protect the “good bugs” so they will eat the “bad bugs”. We set pheromone traps that attract the “bad” bugs to glue traps so they can't infect apples on the trees. In May and June, when the apples are still very small, we reduce the number of apples on each branch of each tree to help the apples grow bigger and more attractive. Our goal is to produce a high quality product for you, the consumer. Good weather is important in reaching that goal.
About half of the apples picked at Steffens Orchards are sold fresh in grocery stores across the United States, England, Israel, Central America and South America. Apples that aren't eaten fresh are used to make apple cider, apple sauce, frozen slices for apple desserts or fresh apple slices for restaurants. Most of the apples at Steffens Orchards are picked by workers who move across the country picking fruit of all kinds as it ripens. Without them we would have a very difficult time operating the orchards.
