Fall 2003
A Taste of Rulf’s Orchard
It’s the season for Macintosh, and Rulf’s got it.
Photo by Joe Samuelson III |
Apple trees just after the prime picking |
In 1952, with only four
cows and 10 acres of apples, Bob Rulf, owner of Rulf’s Orchard
in Peru, started what is today one of the North Country's largest apple
orchards.
Rulf studied animal husbandry so he could be a dairy farmer, but he
didn’t have the money to buy a farm. He explains that it was fortunate
that his uncle lent him the money, which, Rulf likes to point out, he
repaid ten years later. He arrived to Plattsburgh in 1952 from New York
City and bought the farm. His neighbor took the time to help him with
the orchard and a dairy farmer in town sold him cattle so that he could
start a herd.“The farm was border line –sink or swim,”
he recalls.
Rulf became involved in the wholesale business in the last ten years. Today, they deliver to 18 stores. Before that, they were strictly a roadside stand that sold pies, cider, string beans, and other produce.
“This is Macintosh country because in late August and early September there are warm days and cool nights, which is ideal weather conditions to make the apple red,” he explains. “The same apple in the same tree in the Hudson Valley never turns really red because the nights never get that cool. They can’t compete with our color,” notes Rulf. As a result, the majority of the apple growers in the Hudson Valley have expanded to a different variety of apples.
Rulf recalls the time when he could more or less court a price, whether he was selling a bag, bushel, or tractor-load of apples, and he and the broker would bargain.
"But today, the stores tell you what they are going to pay you, and if you don’t like it that is fine because there will be someone else who will supply them," sighs Rulf. He believes there are too many red delicious apples in the state of Washington. He explains that they ship them east, and whatever the grower in the Washington gets for his red delicious more or less determines the price of Macintosh.
Rulf’s Orchard consists of 6 greenhouses of flowers, such as geraniums, herbs, and vegetables that are sold locally. He grows 80 acres of sweet corn and 12 acres of strawberries. Rows of apples, pumpkins, summer and winter squash, and blueberries fill the fields. Their products are homemade, expect for the apple turnovers sold in the store. He has 5 full time local employees, but all his harvesters are Jamaicans who have been working with him for 16 years. During the harvest season, he picks them up and takes them to work everyday.
“Once frost hit,” said Rulf. “It’s over.”
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New York’s 695 apple orchards produce an average of 24 million bushels of apples every year on 45,000 acres.
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