Growing Up on a Fruit Farm
My passion for fruit growing started at a young age. Even though most days were spent working on the trees, my free time often led me back to the orchard. Eight hours pruning plum trees in bloom isn’t enough time to take in the scent and color of thousands of white blossoms. Would you ever grow tired of walking through an orchard in spring time to search for the very first ripe apricot, blueberry, raspberry, or peach?
Home Orchards is Founded
Over the years, the farm received calls from homeowners seeking consultation or pruning advice for their backyard fruit trees. I would politely decline these requests, not wanting to spend my extra time working on someone else’s trees.
That changed in 2019 when I agreed to help a local prune her fruit trees. She introduced me to her backyard orchard. It was filled with apple trees, blueberries, and raspberries to name a few, and her enthusiasm for growing fruit was immediately evident. As she showed me around, I realized how much her passion mirrored my own love for fruit trees. Her trees needed proper care and I was happy to share the correct pruning methods and other fruit growing techniques with her. I left her property that afternoon with the gift of her homemade blueberry jam and the realization that you don’t need a 50 acre fruit farm to experience the joy of growing fruit.
That same year I opened myself up to visiting more backyard orchards. Inspired by these experiences, I launched Home Orchards one year later, dedicated to helping homeowners create and care for edible fruit gardens in their backyards.
