by John Dowd, Editor
Last Thursday, Swanson’s Orchard in Corvallis hosted a Farm to School event meant to bring education administrators and school food workers closer to local produce. The event was organized by Ravalli County Economic Development Authority food and farm programs manager Grace Nichols. According to Nichols, “Personal connection [to local food and where it comes from] just means so much, both to people buying and people selling.”
According to her, and the managers at the orchard, the goal of the event was to introduce school food service directors, early childhood educators and university dining services to local apples. “It’s been super positive,” said Nichols. Their hope is to help both local producers, and youth health across the state, but especially in the Bitterroot Valley and surrounding areas. However, “trust is key,” said Nichols. Nichols added that this was a Food/Agriculture development program meant to help grow that connection between consumers and growers.
This was the second year of the event, which took the form of a tour, apple tasting and talks about the process of getting an apple from the tree to the table. The tour was led by orchard managers, husband and wife team, Kendall and Ryan Mouw. Kendall handles the business side of things, while Ryan leads the operations and farming side. Together they, and Swanson’s Orchard, ship apples all over the state, with their main customers in Kalispell, Missoula, Bozeman and in the Bitterroot.
Apples getting washed and quality tested, floating in water, at Swanson’s Orchard in Corvallis. Photo by John Dowd.
The orchard property consists of 80 acres, 30 of which are in trees and 50 in pasture.They offer five main varieties of apple. However, according to Ryan, there are over 20 varieties on the property. Ryan said their top apple is the McIntosh, but they find creative uses for all their main types.
The event was opened up to all Missoula and Ravalli County public schools, as well as Missoula Office of Public Instruction (OPI) and Western Montana Growers Co-Op.
Kendall spoke to the benefits of locally grown apples, saying fresh apples have a better taste. She often hears that from youth that visit the orchard during field trips. When the youth ask why these apples taste better, Kendall said locally grown always tastes better, especially apples. A big part of this is because, even though apples can be preserved a long time, after being off the tree for so long they lose their flavor. According to Kendall, in some schools apples can be in cold storage for up to a year. That is why the orchard strives to get apples out fresh this time of year. They have shipments going out every week.
She spoke about the challenges in keeping up with larger producers, including the higher overhead costs for local growers. “Inflation is real, to sell under $1 apples doesn’t work any more,” said Kendall. It can also be a challenge to get into even local grocery stores due to requirements that are often “unrealistic and sometimes just impossible,” she added. Those large producers are often not concerned about their apples staying in cold storage for an extended period of time, and they produce on such a large scale that they can charge far less and it doesn’t affect their bottom line.
Swanson’s Orchard just got into local stores with their apple bags, and after purchasing nearly 10,000 bags last year, she said they may take a couple years to get through that. They hand pack those bags themselves, and with the cost to get them designed, it really was a long term investment. That really affects their bottom line, but for a big producer, “it’s peanuts.”
Ryan and Kendall Mouw at right, speaking about operations and apples at Swanson’s Orchard last Thursday. Photo by John Dowd.
Kendall added that they are also working to incorporate a “no waste” model to help save where they can. They now feed their ground apples to a herd of cattle and they sell the beef. This is a growing part of the operation. The orchard also makes over 10,000 gallons of cider, using Snappy and McIntosh apples. They then reuse their frozen cider, cooking it down into a syrup and adding it into spring doughnuts they make.
Part of the reason they work so hard to utilize these ground apples is because it can be a huge loss. Ryan said they can lose between 10% and 20% of the crop to windfall, and once those apples hit the ground, they cannot be sold fresh for human consumption.
Additionally, the weather can create hurdles for an orchard. According to Ryan, two to three degrees can make or break a crop. They even have huge fans that run during the spring to keep humidity and temperature in check. They also try to maximize what every tree can produce. Their oldest crop in use was planted in 2005. According to Ryan and Kendall, these trees produce best when they are under 25 years old. After that, the trees have trouble producing the same quality and quantity with regularity.
During the tour, Kendall said that this year, “we’ve had a fantastic growing season.” She added that it has been great because additionally, they had such a hugely positive reception from last year’s Farm to School event. Because of this they have been able to form better relationships with the schools. “This year has been tremendous working with them,” said Kendall. Their main objective is to “grow with the schools,” because, even though they see demand from all over the state, according to Kendall, “it’s important that these kids have local produce.”
Ryan added to this, saying they have three kids of their own and for them, healthy local food is important. “It’s something we can provide for them [local youth],” and that is why they work so hard to get apples into the schools.