With chilly weather and the turning of leaves, the fall season is speedily approaching. That means the prime season for apples is upon us. With that, many apples and apple flavored treats will be featured in King Street coffee shops and bakeries and are available for picking at orchards all over the state of North Carolina.
Although a variety of apples are certainly available at chain grocery stores, this fall season is an opportunity to support local family-owned businesses. The southern hospitality surely adds a fun heartwarming touch that is seldom found under fluorescent lighting and tiled floors of a grocery store.
Just off Blowing Rock Road on 117 Shore Drive sits J&M Produce, a family owned produce stand. Starting out back in 1984, it serves as an everyday farmers market where they sell a multitude of items. From fruit, crafts, animal feed, canned goods and fried pies to even gasoline, J&M Produce provides a variety that a customer might want and need.
CeCe Shore, the owner of the establishment, saids that ever since opening, J&M Produce has strived to be a space that bases what they have on their shelves on the current needs of the community.
“We’re not only selling produce, but an experience,” Shore said.
As far as apples are concerned, there are no limitations on how many apples can be found on the shelves of J&M Produce. From Honeycrisp, Granny Smith and Shore’s personal favorite, Mutsu, all of their apples are sourced from Moss Farms, in Hendersonville, North Carolina. Shore said they buy hundreds of apple bushels weekly from them.
“They are by far the cleanest and best apples out there, their quality control is amazing, and it’s all out of Hendersonville,” Shore said.
By the end of the apple harvest season, Shore reports that J&M Produce sells around 23 different varieties of apples. J&M Produce is a good way to find tasty and affordable apples in Boone, and is served with a sweet side of family hospitality at no extra charge.
If you’re looking for more hands-on experience and have the means to take a day trip, look no further than The Orchard at Altapass in Spruce Pine, North Carolina.Just 30 minutes outside of Banner Elk, this spectacular 70 acre orchard currently operates as a nonprofit and has been in business for 116 years.
The orchard offers 35 varieties of apples and currently houses around 3,000 trees. While they offer the classic apples you know and love such as Gala, Honeycrisp and Golden Delicious, they offer plenty of apples that can’t be found in grocery stores, such as Virginia Beauty, Grimes Golden and Florina.
The orchard’s Missions and Sustainability Director Sam McKinney values not just the sustainability of the trees planted in the ground but the history that is planted in the area as well.
“We want to sustain the cultural part of Appalachia so that folks can experience all of Appalachia in one stop, and apples are a primary piece of that,” McKinney said.
For McKinney and the Altapass staff, apple picking is not the only authentic Appalachian experience that customers have available to them when they visit the orchard. The Orchard at Altapass offers live bluegrass music, book club meetings, hayrides and fundraising events to keep the orchard funded.
On your way out, don’t forget to stop by the Altapass Orchard general store. The shop features all sorts of canned goods, Altapass Orchard merchandise and even hard cider that’s made from a blend of apples in the orchard. However, their delectable homemade apple pie that they make on site is a “customer favorite” according to McKinney, and comes at $5 a slice.
The shop also features an extensive exhibition with plaques about the history of the orchard, the Indigenous Cherokee people who resided there and the Scots-Irish immigrants who settled the Blue Ridge area with detailed timelines.
If you’ve got a hankering for apples this fall, the possibilities are endless in the High Country, whether you want a fun day picking apples in a beautiful orchard or just want to stop by a local farmers market. Regardless of the path you take, the trail to locally owned and naturally grown apples is easy as pie — apple pie to be exact.
