Our Orchard

Our Apples are 100% sourced from our unique and beautiful orchard in Cornwall, Vermont.

Even people who don’t know much about growing fruit can tell there’s something unusual about Windfall Orchard. First, there’s the stunning, panoramic view of the Green Mountains, offering amazing vistas in every season. Then there are the many sizes and shapes of trees; some tall and gnarly, others compact and bushy.

Orchard Care

Owner and orchardist Brad Koehler works daily to nurture all the trees, from pruning to grafting to thinning and more. At the orchard, we have over 100 different apple varieties across our three-acre orchard, each requiring special attention and maintenance.

The “integrated pest management” (IPM) approach to taking care of an orchard uses preventative measures to protect against pests and closely monitors pest levels. IPM relies on computer and weather data to determine the best times to treat the apples, resulting in reduced pesticide application.

Pruning in the snow!

The graft held and is now growing!

In 2002, Brad and his wife Amy, bought Windfall Orchard, a small but unique orchard full of many unusual varieties planted by Dr. Ted Collier in collaboration with local orchardist, and friend, Art Blaise. Although the original orchard was planted with Macintosh and Empires, Ted and Art, added many heirloom varieties barely found in the area, including the Winter Banana and the Westfield Seek-No-Further. Brad continues this tradition by grafting new varieties, especially apples suitable for cider.

What is grafting?

The seed from a Black Oxford apple will produce an apple tree, but it will not produce a Black Oxford apple tree. Likewise, the seed from a Golden Russet apple will not produce a Golden Russet apple tree. In other words, fruit trees cannot be reproduced "true" to the original cultivar from seed. They can only be reproduced by grafting. Grafting describes any of a number of techniques in which a section of a stem with leaf buds is inserted into the stock of a tree. This allows for multiple apple varieties to grow on the same tree!

Most of our trees began as McIntosh or Red Delicious but now each branch holds fantastic heirloom, cider, or dessert apple varieties. The grafting technique allows for our orchard to have over 100 different apple varieties within a three-acre property.

And finally, the fruit!

Every tree seems to offer a different reward, a reflection of the over 80 varieties of apples here.

And there’s more than apples in this orchard; you can find cherries, pears, blueberries, plums, raspberries, gooseberries, currants and quince. Even a couple of fig trees.