Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/232761
Uncommonly GOOD FRUIT T When they shop at the farm, consumers expect fruit that's ripe and ready to eat and something they can't get at the grocery store. The Tonnemakers sell 34 apple varieties. by Geraldine Warner he fruit variety lineup at Tonnemaker Hill Farms is different and much more varied than at the typical Columbia Basin orchard. That's because the farm sells all its produce direct to consumers. "It just really changes your perspective and variety choice when you have to be face to face with the consumer," said Kole Tonnemaker, who heads the growing side of the business on Washington State's Royal Slope. The family has 62 acres of organic tree fruits with more than 100 fruit varieties. They grow 34 varieties of apples, 8 varieties of pears, 16 varieties of sweet cherries, some tart cherries, and a large number of stone fruit varieties. That's not counting all the vegetables, with 400 varieties of peppers alone. Kole said because of the direct marketing program, he tries to have fresh peaches for sale all season long, from July through September. Each variety might be at its peak for only about two weeks. Consider for your next planting: Krymsk®5 Krymsk®6 [cv. VSL-2, USPP 15,723] [cv. LC-52, USPP 16,114] Dwarfing Cherry Rootstock BENEFITS: • Disease tolerant • Cold hardy • Adapts well to all cherry-growing districts • Forms flower buds and comes into bearing quicker than Mazzard with a better distribution of flower buds Cherries, which he enjoys growing despite the risks of adverse weather, make up a third of the orchard. Harvest begins with Chelan and ends with Sweetheart. In between are some varieties that are never seen in grocery stores because they don't hold up to commercial Roots available for SPRING DELIVERY Call Tree Connection: 800-421-4001 "It just really changes your perspective and variety choice when you have to be face to face with the consumer." —Kole Tonnemaker "Krymsk 5 and Krymsk 6 cherry rootstocks have proven to be the best rootstock for our orchards. They are yield efficient, grow and adapt well, and are cold hardy." ® ® —John Morton The Dalles, Oregon 503-538-2131 • FAX: 503-538-7616 info@treeconnect.com • BRUCE PONDER 28 JANUARY 1, 2014 GOOD FRUIT GROWER • SUSAN WILKINSON www.treeconnect.com • ADAM WEIL • DAVE WEIL handling. But they can be outstanding when they're sold at a farmer's market the day after picking, Kole said. He would like to have even later cherries to sell, but one of the downsides to being a small, independent grower is the lack of access to managed fruit varieties. He has Ambrosia apples only because he planted them before Ambrosia became a limited variety. He was one of the first growers in the state to plant Washington State University's first apple release, WA 2, which is available to all Washington growers. He also recently planted Sweetie, an apple from New Zealand. Honeycrisp He planted Honeycrisp apples in 1993 when the variety was hardly known, and soon realized it was an outstanding apple. Three years later, he took some of the apples to the warehouse that was then selling his fruit www.goodfruit.com