Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/418083
36 DECEMBER 2014 GOOD FRUIT GROWER www.goodfruit.com S teve Tennes, who operates the Country Mill orchard and farm market at Charlotte, Michigan, became convinced several years ago that there was a future in organic fruit production. Today, some of his custom- ers will come a hundred miles or more from Detroit and Chicago specially to buy his organic apples. But Tennes also realized he needed to know a lot more about horticulture to do it. So he went back to Michigan State University and spent four years, part time, from 2004 to 2007 working on a master's degree in horticulture. He was encouraged and helped in his organic plan by Drs. Ron Perry and Jim Flore. (He was also helped finan- cially with two different scholarships administered by the Michigan State Horticulture Society. "It is ironic that now I am the president," he said. "I came full circle.") Tennes began the process of converting existing orchards to organic production, and also began plant- ing trees at higher densities. His new orchards are on trellis wire with trees 4 feet apart, compared to the older orchards on 10 by 18 spacing. "The new plantings have worked out well," he said. "What hasn't worked was trying to convert old varieties to organic. We tried that for six years and finally backed out of converted acreage." The new orchards contain all apple scab-resistant varieties—Liberty, Jonafree, Enterprise, GoldRush, Crimson Crisp, Redfree, Galarina, Florina, Novamac, farmers' markets a week in the Lansing area and keeping the farm's websites up to date. Labor supply The farm is 120 acres in size, with 35 in apples and small acreages of blueber- ries, peaches, and sweet cherries. They also grow 25 acres each of pumpkins and sweet corn. "Labor, right now, is the limiting factor on our farm," Tennes said. "We could sell 40 more acres of fruit where corn grows now if we had the labor." The Country Mill is not on the usual path for migrant workers. The enterprise runs mostly on local labor. "Our workers are in three categories," Tennes said. "Stay-at-home moms look- ing for some work, early retirees looking for something to do, and high school and college students looking for flexible hours." He puts it together. "I piecemeal a lot of schedules," he said. "It takes a lot of cross training." A person working a cash register one day may be in the bakery the next. But even with pick-your-own, "it's still a struggle to find enough good pickers; in September and October, we pretty well run out," he said. You-pick While having customers pick their own apples may seem like a labor-saving technique, Tennes says it's no panacea. "About a third of the apples are lost on ORGANIC FRUIT attracts customers PHOTO BY RICHARD LEHNERT The Country Mill started small and just kept growing, adding new activities and new buildings.