Apple Orchard and the Industry at Blakes Farm-A Few Ideas

For those who know me, I’ve been talking a lot lately about finding 10–20 acres in the U.P. and eventually building a little retirement hobby farm.

One of the things I’ve already tried was planting a couple of apple trees in my yard. Unfortunately, the deer demolished them pretty quickly! So, when I eventually scrape enough money together to buy some acreage, I’ll definitely need to figure out how to protect the 10 or so apple trees I’d like to plant. We’ll see what the future brings!

Anyway, I was at Blake’s Farm in South Lyon, MI and thought they had a really nice thing going on there. Not that I’m interested in doing something quite like this, but I do love getting out and seeing places like it.

Music, kids dancing, donuts, apple picking, and just a whole lot of fun. 🍎🍩🎶
It definitely got me thinking about what my own little place might look like someday.

U.S. Apple Industry at a Glance

• The U.S. apple industry contributes billions of dollars to the economy and supports thousands of jobs.

• More than 27,000 apple producers grow apples across all 50 states.

• U.S. growers produce approximately 11.1 billion pounds of apples annually, generating $3.2 billion in farm-gate revenue.

• About 67% of the crop is grown for fresh consumption, while 30% is processed into juice and other food products.

• The United States is the world’s second-largest apple producer, with more than 7,000 varieties grown domestically.

U.S. Apple Association. (n.d.). Industry at a glance. https://usapple.org/industry-at-a-glance