CHAZY, N.Y. (WCAX) – “I like seeing the apples. You can easily climb them. They have a bunch of fat apples,” the kids laughed.
These kids got to do more than pick apples on their most recent trip to Chazy Orchards on its 100th anniversary.
The line was out the door for tours of the orchard’s automated packhouse and new storage facility.
“It’s awesome. I love how it’s grown so much since 1924,” said 10-yr-old Emma Roberts, of Chazy.
“I like it because I’m really into history. I’m a big history person, so I like how I got to go on a tour and see how they stamp it with the stickers and get to see when they package it,” said Emma Robert of Chazy, also age 10.
Unpredictable weather has the potential to make or break businesses in agriculture; especially apples, packhouse manager Todd Nelson said, one of the ways Chazy Orchards has adapted to a changing climate is by increasing the yield of apples per acre.
“You can see behind me, the trees are 30 feet apart, that’s the way they did it 50 years ago. And now, most trees are planted two feet apart in rows 10, 11, 12 feet wide. It makes it easier to pick, it’s also safer, it’s just easier to maintain,” said Nelson.
The orchard hopes to expand by using more land to grow more apples.
“I think it’s great to have anybody in agriculture be able to say that they’ve been in business for 100 years, especially nowadays. It seems like you have to be big, or you more or less get pushed out of the industry,” said Nelson.
Another guest, Shannon Sorli, last visited the orchard six years ago and almost didn’t recognize it.
“It was surprising to hear that this orchard was around for 100 years. It definitely doesn’t seem like it’s been around for that long,” said Sorli of Plattsburgh.
Besides tours, the century celebration offered free treats and raised money for the Chazy central rural school education foundation by having guests guess how much a giant pumpkin weighs.