Hoch Orchards, Creative to the Core

Hoch Orchards, of LaCrescent, Minnesota, is turning into a Wedge favorite. This small family farm has been bringing their amazing apples and plums to the Wedge for two years now, and customers are starting to look forward to the weekly arrival of treats from this innovative and high-quality orchard.

Hoch Orchard has been in the Hoch family since the early 1950's, and current proprietor, Harry Hoch, has the experience to make his orchard into an exceptional operation. Harry received an Associate's degree in Horticulture in 1985, managed Hoch Orchard through 1989, and he worked as a Research Plot Coordinator at the University of Minnesota's Horticultural Research Center. While working for the University Harry received a Bachelor's degree in Integrated Pest Management and a Masters degree in Technical Communications and Sustainable Agriculture.

Harry, his wife Jackie, and their children moved back to their orchard in the summer of 1997 and immediately began replanting the old orchard aggressively.

"Our orchard's first trees were planted in the mid-1940's, but there are only a handful of these old trees left on the farm today," says Harry.

They now have between 4000 and 5000 young trees planted on approximately fifteen acres, with over fifty apple varieties. Many of the newest ones are just coming into production.

And this really is a family farm, with three generations working the orchards. Harry's mother, better known as "Gramma," spends the summer months on the farm, helping coordinate the busy family and maintaining her many flower gardens. "Grandma doesn't pick apples very much anymore," says Harry. "But we can't keep her out of the shed when it's time to clean and grade the apples."

Growing organic apples is extraordinarily difficult for farmers in the Upper Midwest, since the array of insect and fungal foes is daunting, so Harry's educational background has proved invaluable for the environmental health of Hoch Orchards.

Harry wrote the book (literally) on Integrated Pest Management for Minnesota orchard keepers, so while his farm isn't certified organic, his growing practices are as clean as possible. For example, due to his creative and laborious IPM practices (scientifically monitoring pest population levels with the latest technology and sparingly applying different classes of insecticides to only affected blocks of trees), Harry is proud to note that organophosphate, a "last resort" pesticide in his estimation, has not been used on this year's apple crop at Hoch Orchards.

Apples are not their only crop, either. Hoch Orchards grows about two acres of wine grapes and a small amount of berries and vegetables. They also grow other tree fruit such as apricots, cherries, pears, and the Wedge has seen some of Hoch's alderman plums. Harry also has some peach trees, an experiment that the Hochs hope will pay off.

"The key is finding a growing method that will help the tender peach trees survive our harsh winters," Harry says. "There is nothing quite like a tree-ripened peach."

Let alone from Minnesota.

We're glad to have Harry's expertise available to us at the Wedge. This year, Hoch Orchards brought the Wedge their Zestar apples, a Minnesota variety developed at the U, and also the sweet, rich Akane, a Japanese hybrid of the Jonathan apple. We should have Hoch apples well into November and maybe December, easing and sweetening our entrance into winter.