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Fall weekends often find Nathan Trowbridge and his family rising at
6 a.m. to make the 60-mile drive from their home in Mishawaka, Ind., to the fruit farms along Lake Michigan’s southern tip. On a good trip, they take home 50 pounds of Honey Crisp for eating and applesauce.
“We have been doing this every year for seven years. It’s a fun day for the kids and a nice family outing,’’ says Trowbridge, who makes the trek with his wife, Suzy, and daughter Maddy, 10, and son Peyton, 7.
Orchard outings have become a major tourist industry in the past decade as small-farm operators have discovered that a little entertainment mixed with a lot of sun-ripened fruit makes for big business.
“People can buy apples any day of the week at the grocery store. When they come to Crane Orchards, it’s our job to make sure they have fun and a great experience,” says orchard owner Rob Crane, who over the past seven years has turned a small roadside fruit stand into a total farm experience for adults and kids.
Every year, thousands of visitors come to his 200-acre Fennville farm to pick fruit, wander through the Haunted Corn Maze, ride the kiddie “cow train” or enjoy an old-fashioned hayride. Crane calls it “agri-entertainment.”
Up the road, the neighboring Crane’s Pie Pantry and Restaurant is filled most weekends with tourists out to capture a slice of the Midwest fall bounty. During the apple harvest season that runs from September to November, the restaurant starts filling up at mid-morning and by noon has customers sitting on benches outside, waiting to get in.
Owned by Rob Crane’s sisters Rebecca Crane, Laura Bale and their parents Lue and Bob Crane, the Pie Pantry is housed in a meandering century-old barn turned into an antique-filled rustic restaurant. On the menu are hot-out-of-the-oven breads and freshly baked cinnamon rolls. A real treat is the “apple burger” made with a slice of grilled apple and a hunk of melted cheddar cheese.
“And of course, everybody has to have a piece of homemade pie,” says Rebecca Crane. “The pies are made daily from in-season fruit and frozen so our customers can enjoy fresh fruit pies all year round.”
Crane Orchards and other small farm businesses around the Great Lakes are blending fruit and vegetable sales with a fun day on the farm. Those in the industry call the trend “agri-tourism.” It developed at small, family farms looking for new ways to profitably sell products and survive.
Farmers learned they could make more money selling through farm stands and U-Pick operations than to wholesale outlets and canneries. As U-Picks’ popularity blossomed, hayrides, petting zoos and corn mazes were added.
“Agri-tourism is now a growing part of Michigan’s $9 billion agriculture industry, as well as the state’s $60 billion tourism industry,” says Jeanne Lipe, marketing specialist for the Michigan Department of Agriculture. “It’s a combination of connecting to the farm and nature while getting some great fruit and vegetables in the bargain.”
These days, the hay wagon is the best way to get around the Jollay Orchards Harvest Festival in Coloma, Mich. The wagon allows you to get on and off at the farm market, the picnic area, the apple orchard or the 10-acre “Great Pumpkin Patch.”
“Making a memory, creating a family friendly experience at the farm – that’s what we try to do for everyone who comes to Jollay Orchards,” says Jay Jollay, whose family owned farm is celebrating its 150th anniversary.
Memories from Jollay Orchards come from fruit picking, a haunted house and a catch-and-release fishing hole. But the star attraction is the fruit.
Jack Polsky, along with his wife and young son, take to the orchards on weekends throughout the summer and fall.
“We have a weekend home in Michigan and go out to pick fruit about four to five times a year,” Polsky said. “It’s great to be outdoors on a sunny day picking fruit.”
Among the most famous of the agri-tourism farms in southwest Michigan is Tree-Mendus Fruit Farm in Eau Claire, a fruit-and-family-fun orchard more than four decades old. The farm is known as the home of the cherry “pit spit” contest, held the first weekend of July, whose champion was listed for 12 years in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Creating a farm where people can have fun like it’s 1955 was the brainchild of family patriarch Herb Teichman, who started in the 1970s to make his 400-acre fruit farm a destination for visitors who wanted to get back to the great outdoors.
Tree-Mendus takes a different approach to attracting customers. Instead of corn mazes and haunted barns, the farm focuses on the fruit, with special picking weekends, family picnics and a tasting table where you can browse the merchandise with your mouth. With more than 250 varieties of apples on the farm, one of the most popular attractions is the farm’s “Rent-a-Tree” program where families, friends and even business groups can rent an apple tree or two for the year and then come out for an apple picking party when the fruit is ripe.
“You can rent a small tree of Golden Delicious or Jonathan apples for around $35. The bigger trees start at around $75,” says Monica Teichman, market manager for the farm.
In a good year, a large tree produces 18 to 20 bushels of apples. “Part of the fun of renting a tree is watching the fruit develop. People come out from spring through summer and watch their trees move from blossoms to mature ripened fruit,” Teichman says. “And, when the apples are ready, there’s nothing like coming out and picking your apples off the tree and tasting that first delicious bite right out in the orchard.”
Now that’s agri-tainment.
Where To Find Farm Fun
Crane Orchards U-Pick and Corn Maze
Fennville, Mich.; 269-561-8651; craneorchards.com
Fruit fact: 15-plus kinds of apples, peaches and sweet cherries make this a u-pick paradise. Gettin’ around: Hop aboard the “cow train” or take a hayride. Corn crazed: Abandon hope, all ye who enter the newly designed 15-acre corn maze.
Jollay Orchards
Coloma, Mich.; 269-468-3075; jollayorchards.com
Scary fun: School daze, indeed: an old schoolhouse is a fright-filled haunted house. Field day: Find your perfect pumpkin in the 10-acre patch. Reel time: The fishin’ hole is all yours – poles and bait provided.
Tree-Mendus Fruit Farm
Eau Claire, Mich.; 877-863-3276; treemendus-fruit.com
Gettin’ around: Pony rides give horsepower to little tykes. Good eats: Waffle irons are hot ’n ready to make you a famous Cherry Brite Belgian Waffle Boat. Fruit fact: U-pick everything from apples to cherries to pears.
Stovers U-Pick & Farm Market
Berrien Springs, Mich.; 269-471-1401; stoversupic.com
This old barn: A massive red barn, built in 1865, is this working farm’s centerpiece. Pick me: There are 26 varieties of apples and four acres of pumpkins to be had. Gettin’ around: Tractor-pulled hayrides are all day on Saturdays.
Sturdy Pumpkins/Haunted Acres
Sodus, Mich.; 269-926-6815; hauntedacres.com
Gettin’ around: A hayride takes brave weekenders through the “Haunted Woods.” Scary fun: 1- to 80-year-olds have enjoyed frightening fun in the haunted house/barn.
Barbott Farms
Stevensville, Mich.; 269-422-2378; barbott.com
Corn crazed: This year’s football-themed corn maze is a winner. Farm fun: Pedal-car races, animal barn, three-story hay fort. . . need we go on? At the shop: Buy hand-painted Jack O’ Lanterns at the farm market.
Guse Farm
Wanatah, Ind.; 219-733-9346; gusechristmastrees.com
Corn crazed: This year’s seven-acre corn maze has three miles of paths. Scary fun: And, it’s haunted on Oct. 20 and Oct. 27. Gettin’ around: Pumpkin-train rides transport little ones.
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