The pursuit of the perfect apple has been a bit more difficult this year, and orchard farmers are facing unusual challenges from weather that’s been too hot to an army of hungry squirrels and crows.
At Gould Hill Farm in Hopkinton, N.H., Tim Bassett said his crop of apples still are coming in.
“This year, being so humid and so hot, we’re behind,” he said on a balmy Wednesday afternoon. “The McIntosh-type apples like those 40-degree nights, a couple of those really turn the color and gets the sugar and flavor in them. The Macs, the Macouns and the Cortlands need that cool weather.”
The industry is entering its prime season with tourists visiting in droves to get their hands on fresh-picked apples. Carter Hill Orchard in Concord was bustling with activity on Wednesday, and Bassett said Gould Hill had one of its busiest days in recent memory on Sunday.
“Probably the busiest pick-your-own we’ve ever done,” said Bassett, who bought the farm in 2010. “Our field (parking) was mostly full and a line of cars down the road. People were everywhere, and they were picking everything. If it wasn’t bolted down, they picked it up and took it.”
Apple pickers can be picky about apples, too. Many search for the perfect shape with the right amount of color, no scuffs or marks. Some perfectly delicious apples with a less-than-perfect appearance are set aside and sold for a lower price, usually destined to be made into applesauce, pie or cider, or as a treat for horses and dogs.
These apples may not look as appealing, but they are still good to eat.
“They’re right off the tree,” said Todd Larocque, manager at Carter Hill Orchard. “There might be a mark or bruise on them or might not be that nice, ripe color, but they’re all hand-picked. We don’t sell anything off the ground.”
A hailstorm in July beat up the apple orchard at Meadow Ledge Farm in Loudon, N.H., leaving many apples with dents and blemishes. These, too, are fine for eating, but Meadow Ledge owner Ernie Roberts has learned in his experience that apple pickers eat with their eyes.
“Once we explain to them what happened and that it’s not going to make them sick, they understand,” Roberts said. “It’s all visual.”
The abundant squirrel population this year has literally taken a bite out of local orchards, nibbling their way into apples and pumpkins and other items. Gould Hill hasn’t lost too many apples in terms of overall production, but the heirloom varieties grown in smaller quantities have taken a hit.
“Volume-wise, it’s very little, but when you have people driving up from Boston asking for Hubbardston Nonesuch, go ask the squirrel down there and maybe he’ll share one with you,” Bassett joked.
The apple trees along the perimeter of the orchards are the ones most likely to be chomped by squirrels, which come out of the woods and slip through wire fences before sinking their teeth into a fresh McIntosh.
There is little that the farmers can do to keep the squirrels away.
“I guess you could sit there and try to pick them off with a gun, but they do it all day and night,” Larocque said. “They’ve eaten the apples, pumpkins, squash, anything they can get their little hands on.”
Farms across the state have been affected by the spiking squirrel population this year. Devriendt Farm in Goffstown, N.H., lost more than half of its pumpkin crop to animals, and Meadow Ledge in Loudon started noticing an issue when birds and squirrels began picking out pumpkin seeds in the spring.
“That was when we knew we were going to have a problem this year,” Roberts said. “Crows would pull up the seed and the chipmunks and squirrels would come by and eat them.”
The apple-picking season usually lasts well into October and farmers are asking customers to be patient and understanding as the season unfolds, given the circumstances beyond their control.
“We’ve never seen anything like this,” Bassett said. “We’re hopeful that the customers and clientele will stick with us.”