School of Natural Cookery 

 

 

 

It was a trip to the grocery store one fall day that inspired Oscar's orchard; he says he and his wife were shopping and could only find apples from New Zealand at the store, even though it was apple season in Colorado. Oscar grew up here, and knew that there had once been apples growing on the Front Range, but found that commercial apple orchards no longer existed here, probably pushed out of business by inexpensive apples from out of the state. He spent the winter poring over gardening catalogs, researching which varieties might do well in our climate-and then, in a bold stroke, ordered three hundred trees.
 
Oscar bought this farmland with a view of Long's Peak years ago. He studied to be an engineer, and used his knowledge during his military service in World War Two, building airfields in legendary places like Okinawa. After the war, he signed up for a job in the Middle East, and spent years providing advice in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Egypt. When he finally came home, he settled in Minnesota, where he began growing native grasses for seed. He describes trips out into the country to collect the seeds of native grasses; he would then cultivate them, and sell the seeds to firms that use native grasses for revegetation, like the Bureau of Land Management. But he felt that the business was too big for him, and eventually sold it; he and his wife then decided to escape the cold Midwestern winters and move back to Colorado. He continues to grow native grasses for seed on his Longmont land, and there are other projects like the restoration of a hundred-year-old seed cleaner; but it's the apples that draw me in.
 
Go visit Wide Horizons orchard, and you'll see long rows of lovely trees, some just planted this spring and others taller, a blue tractor up by the house, the combine working out in the field of purple prairie clover, and the sun on Long's Peak to the west. Oscar is tall and slim, with a straw hat and a quiet voice; he drives us out to the orchard and we walk along the rows as he describes the different apple varieties. He wanted types that would be ready for harvest at different times, providing a continuous supply for the farmers' market season. He also chose apple varieties that are resistant to diseases common to Colorado; this, along with the use of Integrated Pest Management techniques, allows him to harvest beautiful apples with little chemical intervention. No apples are left on the ground here; the fallen fruit could harbor insect pests, so they keep the ground clean.  Birds have been an issue; Oscar says they considered the idea of flying a remote-controlled model airplane through the orchard to scare the birds away, but decided this might too time-consuming; he then "got radical and bought a shotgun", but found he didn't want to kill the birds-he just used it to scare them out of the orchard. They've since settled on tinsel streamers hung from wires above the trees; the sparkly tinsel has worked fairly well to protect the apples, and provides a festive feel to the orchard.
 
There are now five hundred trees in the orchard, but it's still a small operation: partner Jerry picks the lower apples, Oscar the taller ones, and their assistant Fernando gets to climb the ladder for the highest fruits. They're experimenting with some new apple varieties, as well as some other fruits, including peaches and cherries. And for those concerned about food miles, this fruit is truly local-it travels only 7 miles to market.
 
Now follow the apples to the Longmont Farmers' Market, where you'll find Oscar and Jerry sitting in the shade of one of our little trees, with boxes of sweet-smelling apples and a small crowd. You might think apples would have a hard time competing with more summery fruit like peaches and plums but not these apples. Despite a short season this year, market shoppers already know these fellows and their fruit. They're closing out the season with their Honeycrisp, and these juicy, crisp, shapely apples are very popular, and keep well. Any fruit they don't sell they'll deliver to Longmont's Our Center, for distribution to people in need.
 
Wide Horizons is a name that well describes this lovely new orchard, surrounded by farmland and with a broad view of the mountains, but it was inspired by a vision of local food, with a little optimism and patience thrown in. Lessons and apples for us all.