If you take a walk around this time of year, you'll come across apples. Some are still hanging from the trees, while others lie on the ground, bruised and battered.
If it’s up to Phil Beauchamp with Beautiful Field Farm and Fruit Trees, Sudburians would eat, press and celebrate those apples every fall at Applefest.
Beauchamp considers himself a total “apple geek” and next week he’ll be bringing his press, his trees and his knowledge to Applefest at Seasons Pharmacy and Culinaria.
It’s the fourth year in a row that Beauchamp has partnered with Seasons in the West End for Applefest.
“My vision is two-part: To get more apple trees planted in the city and then to use the fruit to feed all of us,” he said.
Beauchamp has been selling his apple trees for 10 years in the Sudbury region.
Having amassed 3,000 sales that are mostly locally, about five per cent of the trees are also sold elsewhere in North Bay, the North Shore and even in Montreal.
“We live in an area that needs hardy trees that can grow in zones 2 to 5,” Beauchamp said.
Beauchamp’s apple trees come from Prairie breeding plant operations in Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
While this year the early frost made for a bad crop on his property, Beauchamp will still be bringing his apples to Applefest.
He’s encouraging anyone in the surrounding area to deliver apples, even crab apples for tasting and pressing, in the next week or even on the day of Applefest.
In the days leading up to the event, guest chefs will be preparing special apple treats, alongside sourdough apple breads from the local bakery, Hazel and Rosemary.
Beauchamp said most Sudbury area apple varieties are Norland, Red Sparkle, September Ruby and his favourite., the crunchy and flavourful Gemini apple. He said Manitoulin Islanders also have a lot of apples and most of them are “ditch apples” that no one picks up.
Site host, Rachelle Rocha at Seasons said that while Applefest grows every year “people still have this ideology that we are a mining town and there is no real agriculture here in Sudbury.”
“We really have a great climate for apples because they need a proper winter,” she said.
She truly believes an investor could one day make a lot of money opening a cidery here. She prefers the hardy Norland varieties that grow on her farm.
Next weekend, Beauchamp will be managing his commercial cider press at Applefest and welcomes visitors to bring their own apples to press cider.
“My press runs on water pressure so no real chopping needs to be done. And the apple chipper works wonderfully,” he said.
Beauchamp said he also likes to use the event to educate people about the proper planting procedures with pollination.
“Everything I know about apples, I learned from my neighbour, Ron Lewis. He carried and sold hardy fruit trees back in the day. I asked a lot of questions,” he said.
“I now graft apples in the dead of winter and know a lot about apple identification, too.”
Beauchamp currently has more than 100 apple trees growing on his property. His end goal is to offer a public picking on his property when the trees are more mature.
Applefest runs Sept. 13 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Anastasia Rioux is a writer in Greater Sudbury. Let’s Eat! is made possible by our Community Leaders Program.