The pleasant crunch of a sweet and crisp apple can entice even the most hurried among us to take a moment and enjoy the delicious experience. With over 7,500 varieties (cultivars), 100 of which being commercially grown in the U.S., this lovely pomaceous tree fruit‚ a species of the rose family‚ has captivated America's taste buds and imagination many times over.
A Wikipedia© search tells us that the apple takes a prominent place in Greek and Norse mythology and was at one time a generic word for many types of fruits, nuts, and even tomatoes. Among numerous tales, we think of the apple as the fruit of health, Newton's muse, a perfect teacher's gift, the bane of innocence, and (in its pie form) the quintessential expression of American culture. Feeling chunks of juicy pulp shred and dissolve in my mouth, I swallow as much a myth as a refreshing treat.
Though abundant, the threads of narrative that have been woven into the cultural meaning of the apple don't tell the entire story of our Red Delicious, Granny Smith, Enterprise, Northern Spy or other flavorful cultivars; most importantly, they don't explain how this beloved fruit found its way from the orchard and into our hungry mouths. There are graver realities involved in the mass production of a commercial item, which are often left concealed behind an inviting display at the grocery store.
A well researched list on sustainabletable.org tattle tales on some of the harmful consequences of industrial agricultural practices. Among many problems of these practices, including the degradation of local economy and an enormous requisite fuel consumption, one of the more prominent issues mentioned is the abundant use of pesticides. Expressed bluntly, the abstract to the May 2002 edition of Environmental Health Perspectives concludes from its research that, “The pesticides used heavily in industrial agriculture are associated with elevated cancer risks for workers and consumers and are coming under greater scrutiny for their links to endocrine disruption and reproductive dysfunction.”
In addition, the epa.gov asserts that over 1 billion tons of pesticide products are used each year in the U.S., the question of where my fruit comes from rises in importance.
According to Ed Pruss, the Extension Educator at Wayne County Cooperative Extension, in order to successfully mass produce apples, large factory farms will douse their product with an array of pesticides in an attempt to thwart the unpredictable onslaught of parasites through the growing season. There are some foreseeable apple parasites local to the Pocono region such as San Jose scales, spider mites and aphids; but there are also many others that migrate from different regions in the U.S. and arrive sporadically throughout the growing season. No one insecticide kills all insects and farmers can't completely predict which will attempt to infest their crops, so industrial growers lay a soup of pesticides on their product and hope for the best.
Fortunately, there is an another tale to be told about apple growing, which began once upon a time in small, local orchards. Pruss explains that local farmers have the opportunity to attend to their apple crops at a level of intimacy that is inaccessible to larger industries. Although many preemptively spray pesticides early in the season while the trees are still dormant, they generally avoid the maintenance spraying so common in industrial orchards. Instead, they spray in a reactionary manner with precision pesticides appropriate to the specific parasites that have inhabited their trees. Pruss, “Any good grower has the ability to scout the orchards to see if there are insects that are trying to eat the fruit. The local farmer will then select an insecticide that has the least impact on the fruit. There's some thought that goes into the selection and timeliness of the spray.” Even better, organic and biodynamic farms avoid pesticides altogether.
By turning to locally grown apples and other agriculture, we foster a narrative grounded in sustainable food production‚ one which supports a healthy immune system and a healthy local economy. I, like many of us, am no saint when it comes to my choice of produce. The temptation of a quick, all-inclusive trip to WalMart© can seduce even the best of us; here the apple is indeed the fruit of sin. Yet my first time shopping at a farmers market for produce came with two exquisite feelings: the freedom from a lingering guilt, which always accompanies my indulgent shopping sprees; and a profound sense of security in knowing the story of my fruit. n
Taken mainly from the Shop Local Save Land Pennsylvania pamphlet (shoplocalsaveland.com), here are a few local apple growers/sellers in the Pocono region:
Gould's Produce and Farm
Frable Road, Brodheadsville, PA 18322
570.992.5615
gouldsproduce.com
Heckman's Orchards
Rte 115, Effort, PA 18337
570.629.1191
heckmanorchards.com
Klim's Orchards
477 Keystone Road, Lake Ariel, PA 18436
570.698.5539
klimsorchard.com
Miller's Orchards
1515 Fairview Road, Clarks Summit, PA 18411
570.587.3399
millersorchard.com
Mueller's Vegetable Farm
826 Beach Lake Hwy, Beach Lake, PA 18405
570.224.4198
O'Neill's Orchard
242 Miller Pond, Honesdale, PA 18431
570.448.2226
j2oneill@nep.net
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