We are off to a good start for the 2025 season.  Good Macintosh and Gala continue to be available.  There are some Ginger Golds and fewer Zestars still ready for picking.

On Saturday 9/13, we will open up the Honeycrisp rows – many will get picked this weekend – there probably  will be some available the following weekend.

Also on Saturday picking will start for Cortlands and Macouns – this weekend they will be on the tart side – they will be riper the following weekend.  The  crop is large enough for Cortlands and Macouns  that they should be available thru September and possibly into October.

Cider and syrup have been resupplied.  The DONUT crew will be back in action on Saturday and Sunday.

Photo shows  artistic use of bushel baskets around the barn for container gardens put together by our daughter Lisa – photos encouraged.

Look forward to seeing lots more familiar faces.

Tom & Sylvia

The  ripest apples will be Zestars, Ginger Golds and Premiers.  There will be tart Macintosh, especially on the 85 year old trees.  Galas will be riper next week, but some with good color will be ripe this weekend.

Honeycrisp may be ripe next weekend September 13 or may need to wait until September 20.  We will make the decision by Wednesday September 10.

The photo shows our granddaughters Sylvia and Katie decorating more purple alligators to be this years “Charlies” out in the orchard on Saturdays and Sundays.  Go madtomorchard.com/charlie for details.

Syrup from Zecher’s Havoc Hill Sugar House has been delivered.  I will pick up cider from Dutton’s tomorrow.

Check out our restocked shirts and hats with our logo – we have added more colors and styles.

AND – Sylvia and our daughter Jennifer made a perfect trial DONUT run last weekend and will be making donuts again every weekend.

Look forward  to seeing you.

Tom

As I indicated in my last post, we have a smaller crop than last year.  That said, we will still have good apples, cider, syrup and donuts (on the weekends) plus some new clothing items and more note cards.

Since there are relatively few of the early ripening Zestars and Ginger Golds we will not be open Labor Day Weekend, but we plan to open weekend of September  6 &7  for those early varieties plus Macintosh and hope some Galas will be ripe.  We will be busy the next three weeks mowing and getting the barn set up.

The picture shows some Macintosh on the old trees that already have good size.

Come see us and help us make 2025 a good season.  Look forward to seeing you !!

Hope everyone has had a good winter – ours was long with a lot of snow and ice, but our pruning is done and all the brush is now picked up and chipped.

After the huge crop we had last year,  the bloom this spring is only moderate and the very wet weather has  made pollination difficult.  It will be a couple weeks until we can see how much fruit has set.  Barring hail storms, we should have  a reasonable crop this year but not as big as last year.

Crimson Crisps, Cortlands and some of the now 85 year old Macintosh trees had the most bloom.

Put us on your fall schedule – probably starting Labor Day Weekend.  Look forward to seeing you.

The old Macintosh trees are a mainstay.

Wednesday October 23 was our last day open.  We started early this year on August 31 and have been open for eight weeks.  We had a bumper crop and most of it has been picked.  Many of the local folks have been here several times and picked what they need – most of the large number of out of state visitors have gone home.

In addition to picking lots of apples,  people ate 14,000 donuts and took away lots of cider and maple syrup plus some Mad Tom sweatshirts and hats.

The Grateful Hearts groups from Manchester and Bennington, the Vermont Food Bank (see photo) and several other groups picking for local charities have come today.  The remaining fruit will compost into the ground to provide nutrients for next year.

Big THANKS to everyone who came to make it a great harvest.  Have a good winter – see you next year.

Photo shows our new dog Janey who enjoys running in the orchard and we hope as she gets older that she can restrain her excitement to spend time in the barn to greet customers.