The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far From the Tree

There’s something deeply resonant about the continuity of family farms, working the same land backward and forward in time. The heritage is particularly rich when the crops grow on trees. 

Year after year the branches at Apple Valley Orchard reach skyward and the roots secure themselves into the soil, creating a sense of place, purpose, and posterity.

In the southeastern corner of Tennessee many of the 19th Century homesteads had various fruit trees on their properties. “There are stories about the early 1900s when you couldn’t walk this road (dirt at the time) without stepping on apples. Trees lined both sides,” said Chuck McSpadden, owner of Apple Valley Orchard in Cleveland. “My grandparents lived here in the 1940s, and some of those old trees were still around. Apple trees can live 70 to 80 years, and dad remembered seeing some when we moved here in 1964,” he said.

“When I was growing up in the 1960s, Dad worked as a manager with Sears. The garden department was his favorite part of the job. We had peaches, pears, nectarines, cherries, grapes; just about any kind of fruit that would grow here, dad planted in our backyard,” Chuck said. “One day he came home with two apples trees, telling mom that the price had been marked down a time or two. And since no one else wanted them, he’d bought them. It wasn’t long until our little backyard orchard had 35 to 40 apple trees. One day mom told him, ‘Charles, you’re always out playing with your fruit trees. If you enjoy it so much, why don’t you buy some more?’ She was thinking a few dozen to add to the collection. The next day, dad ordered 400 trees,” he said.

“In those early years, he didn’t know much about growing fruit. So we all learned by making mistakes. I just try not to make them a second time,” Chuck said with a laugh. As the trees began bearing fruit in those early years, the family considered options for a new enterprise. “We went to Florida every year and visited orange groves. Dad had worked in one as a youngster, so we had a favorite place in Clearwater. They had a little open shed with bags of oranges hanging there for sale. You’d just stick your money in the box and off you went. That’s what mom imaged for our new orchard.” However, Charles Sr. had other ideas.

Apples for the public

“My grandad had grown commercial chickens, and the old chicken house was sitting empty on the property in the 1970s,” Chuck continued. “So we sanitized and restored the place and my parents put a cooler inside. Every Friday night they’d load up the truck with apples, drive to Ellijay, Georgia, and press cider, load it back in the truck, get home at two o’clock in the morning and chill the cider. A few hours later the doors would open, and Saturday morning customers would line-up at the chicken house,” Chucks said. “It was their thing, and they loved it!” 

After a few years of traveling back and forth to Georgia, Charles Sr. bought his first cider press. “We’ve upgraded since,” Chuck said, “but that old press is still squeezing apples somewhere in the Sequatchie Valley.” Chuck pointed out the intricacies of press mechanics—the washers, brushes, hoppers, conveyors, choppers, rollers, strainers, pasteurization, chilling, and bottling areas. “Little bitty fine pieces of the whole apple, peel, core and all, make the best cider,” he said.

“When I graduated high school in 1979, dad quit Sears and we started the Apple Valley Orchard full time,” Chuck said. In the 1980s, they started trailer ride tours for school children. “We still offer this for a nominal fee, and stay booked up.” Senior and church groups can take the tour for free, and several bus companies bring tourists to the orchard, store, and bakery. Educational classes visit regularly.

Family harvest

“Sometime in the early 1990s I was in the orchard checking on harvest times for the Gala trees,” Chuck recalled. “I tasted here and there, and noticed that one tree had two different sized apples. Part way up the branches the tree changed; the apples above were twice the size as the normal Galas on the bottom. In the past, that tree had three major limbs at one point, giving it an odd shape. So dad had used the chainsaw to cut off one. Now the tree had these unusual apples. So we tagged and watched it for a couple of years as it continued to produce the oddities,” he said.

“Finally, we called Stark Brothers Nurseries and Orchards in Missouri. They started in the 1800s, and gained fame for selling the first Red and Golden Delicious apple trees. It was soon discovered that our larger apples were still Galas with a unique cell structure. Normal apples grow when cells multiply. In this apple the cells swell, making it a juicier fruit. It ultimately became the only patented apple cultivar from the state of Tennessee—we named it the Caitlin Gala after our daughter.”

In addition to Stark, there are several orchards now growing this particular cultivar.

“It is the only apple that ever made the front and back cover of their catalog,” he said.

“When Caitlin and my son were little, we let her pick the first one of the year. When my son got old enough to realize that his sister had an apple named for her, he wanted one, too! We had an older variety of Golden that we’d forgotten the name of, so it was rechristened as Charlie Gold. It’s one of our most popular, and the local cannery consistently recommends this apple,” he said.

Fruit farming today

Chuck said the decline of pollinators—bees—impacts an apple farmer. “We would not have an apple crop without bees. There are still a number of bumble bees and sub-varieties of different bees that I see. And some of our neighbors keep hives. But we can’t depend on that, so we rent bees. A commercial beekeeper from Polk County (on the eastern edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains) brings her bees every spring. She tends the hives every two to three days,” he said. “When I was a kid, this was not a problem. But now it’s a given that we’ll be renting bees every year,” he said.

Working the soil is also critical, Chuck said. “You can grow in almost any kind of soil; it just takes some work. We have few places with that old red clay, and we have to correct that to get anything to grow, including grass. For young trees, we fertilize.” 

Another strategy used to raise healthy and delicious apples is to have a leaf analysis. “Every other year we pull about 100 leaves off various trees and send them away for analysis to the University of Georgia. They check for levels of a number of chemicals, such as nitrogen, which affects storage, flavor, and even color. We also work with other schools—like the University of Tennessee and North Carolina State—for additional tests.”

“Our trees generally remain productive for 30 to 35 years. Then the apples start getting smaller, and you begin to lose trees here and there. So you get to a point when it’s time to push over the old ones, and plant young ones.” On the roadside driving into the orchard, several rows of old trees were tipped on their sides. Chainsaws were buzzing, and wood was being loaded onto trailers. “Those trees had lived their life cycles, and now the wood will be fashioned into duck calls, as well as smoke for barbecue,” he said.

Into the future

What began 50 years ago with two discounted apple trees has now grown to 13,000 trees on this family farm. “We have about 30 acres now; and will be at 45 acres in three years,” Chuck said. “We have 26 varieties of apples; and that will increase to 40.”

Chuck broke the happy news that his children will be returning to guide the business into the future. “I’ve been considering opening another location on Highway 64 (Bradley County, Tennessee), and now I can announce that my daughter, Caitlin, will be back next spring to open our new retail store in early summer of 2019. This is a doubly happy announcement because my son, Charlie, is also returning to learn the business at our original location.”

A bakery side of Apple Valley Orchard draws visitors from several states. For the last 30 years, sweet treats like fritters, turnovers, and stack cakes have created a reputation that makes folks drive into the country just to eat and sip cider. “This morning, the road crews were parked outside waiting for me to open,” he chuckled. “They wanted on our number one seller—fried pies.” 

The retail store carries small production and family-owned products. “Most of the products we sell come from two other orchards. The pickled vegetables and flavored items come from Georgia, and the apple butter, jellies, and jams come from Virginia. When we expand to the new location, we’d like to start making some of the products here,” Chuck said. “While we won’t have an orchard there, we’re considering doing what my dad did back in the day—growing multi-colored apples on the same tree,” accomplished by the ‘secrets’ of grafting different varieties of green, red, and yellow on the limbs.

“I’m an only child. I’ve wanted to stay on the farm since I was little,” Chuck said. “I was fortunate that dad started a business that let me do that. And, now my two children will continue that legacy.”

Apple Valley Orchard has a cookbook in print. For more information visit applevalleyorchard.com.

Chuck’s Insider Tips

• Baking Rome. It’s a good-sized apple, and bakes well because it holds its shape.
• Canning People who are canning and making applesauce like any of the Goldens. The apples are a lot sweeter, and you don’t have to use as much sugar.
• Cider Blend tarts with sweets. Some of our best flavors come from combining Winesaps and Jonagolds. The slushy - a favorite on hot summer days - is made from churned, frozen cider.
• Drying Red Delicious makes a good apple chip. For the bakery, we like Goldens, Rome, and Winesaps.

Apple Valley Orchard Stack Cake

A recipe passed down through 5 generations

“Everybody in the county wanted my grandmother’s stack cakes. As the years passed, she had to cut down the number she baked, and she’d swear the recipients to secrecy. When she was older and could only make a few, one of the lucky folks to get a cake was the preacher. She’d say, ‘Now don’t you tell anybody!’ The next Sunday morning he slipped up and announced it on the radio. I don’t know if he got any more cakes after that.”

“We had to make her measure, so we’d have this recipe!” Chuck McSpadden said.

Layers

• 1 ½ tsp soda
• Pinch of salt
• 2 cups sorghum syrup
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 sticks butter
• 1 ½ cups shortening
• Plain flour

To Make

1) Combine sugar, syrup, butter, shortening, eggs, soda, salt, and vanilla – beating at medium speed until smooth. Add flour, one cup at a time – beating just until well blended. Do not over-beat. [Add just enough flour] for batter to be stiff like cookie dough.

2) Divide dough into 8 equal portions, and place on foil or wax paper. Roll out dough, and then pat into cake pans, greased.

3) Bake at 350° for 5 – 7 minutes, or until light golden brown. Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove to cooling rack to complete cooling.

Filling

1) Cook apples (with water and sugar) to almost dry. Mash with mixer. Add cinnamon and sugar to taste. Let set overnight. Next morning remove any water that has accumulated on top. 

2) Frost cake layers on top and sides of all layers EXCEPT the top layer.

3) Freeze. When frozen, wrap in plastic wrap. Then wrap in foil and refreeze.