U-Pick Mesilla Valley Apples: In-cider information

Photo By Michelle Gordon | Nicholas Gordon, a native of Birmingham, Ala., uses a fruit picker to get an apple from the top of the apple tree at U-Pick Mesilla Valley Apples in Las Cruces, N.M, Sept. 8, 2019. Fruit pickers are available to reach the highest apples, but be careful, because they can puncture the skin. U-Pick Mesilla Valley Apples owner, LuAnne Burke, said the proper way to pick apples is to grasp it, twist it and gently pull it from the tree.  

EL PASO, TX, UNITED STATES

09.12.2019

Story by Michelle Gordon 

Fort Bliss Public Affairs Office

It’s hard to imagine a lush, green orchard growing and thriving in the desert, but straight down I-10 west in Las Cruces, New Mexico, sits U-Pick Mesilla Valley Apples – a family-owned and operated orchard.

The more than 400 apple trees were planted in the mid-1970s by Las Cruces native, Francis M. Burke. He was inspired by his great-great-uncle, Thomas Casad, who had an orchard in Mesilla, New Mexico, in the 1800s. During that time, apples were the main agricultural product of the then territory of New Mexico, and apples from Casad’s farm placed second at the 1899 World’s Fair in Paris.

Today, U-Pick Mesilla Valley Apples is owned and operated by LuAnne Burke, Francis M. Burke’s daughter. She inherited the orchard after her father’s death in 2014 and she vowed to continue the family business – turning the once-commercial apple farm into a “U-Pick Farm” for families to harvest their own apples.

Currently in her fourth year as owner, Burke said she is pleased with the apple crop available this season. She currently grows three types of apples across the two orchards on the property: Jonathan Apples, which Burke recommends for baking pies, Red Delicious Apples, and what Burke believes are Common Delicious Apples.

Despite their name, Common Delicious Apples are anything but common. In fact, they are quite rare. Burke said there is only one other orchard in the U.S. that offers the variety, and they are trying to save them from extinction. She added that although she does not have a certificate stating her apples are in fact, Common Delicious, it is what her family called them over the years, and she hopes to have them genetically tested in the near future.

“One thing I do know for sure is that those apples are not the same as Red Delicious,” Burke said. “This year I purchased pollen that was specifically-engineered for Red Delicious Apples and it did not affect apple growth in the ‘Common Delicious’ orchard. Whereas, this year the Red Delicious orchard apples are much larger than in previous years.”

Burke considers herself an “apple student” rather than an apple farmer, because she is always learning about her business. For instance, during the growing season earlier this year, she watered the trees later than usual, which caused the trees to become stressed.

“When an apple tree is stressed out it thinks it is going to die, so it puts all of its energy into producing fruit,” she said. “If there is fruit, then of course there are seeds, which means there will be new trees.”

The stressed trees produced so many blossoms that Burke brought in extra bees to pollinate the orchards. She also recruited volunteers to paint the blossoms with pollen last spring, to ensure they would all produce apples. The results speak for themselves, Burke’s orchard is bursting with apples this season.

She said apple production varies year-to-year – some years her crop yields 40,000 pounds of apples and others, only 2,000 pounds. She expected the 2019 season to be an “off year,” but the abundance of blooms exceeded her expectations. Now with two orchards filled with apples, Burke wants families to come out and enjoy the fruits of her labor.

U-Pick Mesilla Valley Apples is open most days, but Burke encourages visitors to check her Facebook page prior to planning a trip, https://www.facebook.com/FarmFreshApplePie/

There is no entry fee for the orchard, and apples are sold in quarter-peck bags for $6 each, or four bags for $4 each. She also has larger bags, which hold a whole peck, and they are $16 each, or two bags for $30. She accepts both cash and credit cards.

For those who can’t afford to pay, Burke offers “Volunteer Fridays.” Volunteers pick up dropped apples from the ground and gather them for local pig farmers. In exchange, volunteers receive a bag they can fill with picked apples.

Apple season is quick, so act fast. This year Burke opened the orchards to the public Labor Day weekend and she’ll keep them open until the last week of September, possible early October, adding that the end of the season really depends on how long the apples remain on the trees.

Regardless of season length though, for Burke, one thing is certain, apples are a family tradition.

“We have such a great harvest and I would much rather people take the apples home and enjoy them, than for them to fall on the ground,” she said. “New Mexico was so well-known for its apples in the early 1800s, and we grow such outstanding apples now. I want families to be able to come out, enjoy the orchards, and do something fun and inexpensive together.”

U-Pick Mesilla Apple Valley is located about five miles from downtown Las Cruces, New Mexico, and can be reached at [phone].

• Date Taken: 09.12.2019
• Date Posted: 09.19.2019 12:54
• Story ID: 342384
• Location: EL PASO, TX, US