It's Apple Time at Fieldstone Enterprises
By OWEN MORRIS
Ken Krause smiling as his wife Nancy helps customers in the background.
Thirty miles west of Lawrence, on the outskirts of a town called Overbrook (town motto: "Don't overlook Overbrook!"), on a patch of orchard stretching nearly 200 acres, stand hundreds of apple trees with dozens of varieties of fresh apples ready for picking. As in, you pick them yourself.
As Ken Krause sees it, that's not a catch but an opportunity. "We get children here who don't know that apples come from trees. They think they come from the grocery store. We're able to show them that look, this tree was once small, like you are, but it kept growing and it grew fruit and that you're going to keep growing."
Krause and his wife Nancy own the orchard, which they call Fieldstone Enterprises. Krause claims to have 40 varieties of apples and refers to them as his children. Right now, late summer turning into early fall, is the best time to pick them. "All the apples have their own time -- Lodi in August, Arkansas Black in November -- but after the first of September, that's when they really start. Each week, there will be a new variety ripe."
When I asked Krause which apple variety he recommends most, he chuckled a bit, "Now, that's asking me to pick which one my children I love the most."
I pressed on. "In general," he explained, "in stores across the country, different varieties of apples are becoming more popular or replacing other types. Honeycrips, Braeburns, Pink Ladies... A good cooking apple is Ozark Gold. Jonathan is probably most tart and Gala is the sweetest one. Galas are really wonderful for children. We try and sell them to schools. A child will eat a Gala and it's sweet and it's small and they can set it down when they're done -- it's not like this large apple they can't finish. There's more value with the Gala."
Krause, who is 81, came to the apple business by chance. After 40 years of being a dental supply salesman, he retired in 1993 with the idea of growing grapes for amateur winemakers. That didn't quite go according to plan.
"We got hit by 2,4-D, which is used for killing weeds. It killed all the grapes we had too. Probably about six or seven acres worth. At the same time, I planted some apple trees, the idea being we'd have a double income from the apples and grapes... but after pruning the apples, picking them, carrying them, washing them, packaging them, we found we were losing money. So we went to a you-pick. A gentleman came down and he said that didn't sound like much fun. Where was he going to put the apples? How was he going to reach all the trees? We thought about this and we let him use our golf cart, gave him a bucket with a bag in it... within ten minutes he returned and said he was leaving to get his children. He brought them back and they loved it. So we basically worked out the business that one afternoon with the man."
Since then, business has been hit-or-miss. Two years ago, families picked every apple he had before the end of October. A late freeze last year ruined much of his product. This year it's been too rainy. "We got 6.5 inches the other week. The ground is wet and apples don't like wet feet. The roots become weakened and with the heaviness of the apples, the trees will fall on their side. That's happened a lot this year. Trees just falling, apples and all."
Even at 81, enduring boom-or-bust cycles that would make younger men gray, Krause said he has no plans of retiring soon. He obviously cares much too deeply about his trees and the families who come visit him. "Last year the orchard froze and that cost us money. We considered selling the farm and moving to Portugal and drinking wine until, I guess until we die. But I couldn't go... I like telling my stories too much and talking to families."
2 comment(s) / Post a Comment
