Crow
Mountain Orchard
“I
never dreamed anyone would come out here to buy my fruit.”
By
Bonita Wilborn
Crow Mountain Orchard is approximately 25 miles from Scottsboro, so owner Bob Deutscher felt he would have to ship his fruit other places because, as he said, “I never dreamed anyone would come out here to buy my fruit.” But the people did come; they came in droves. Since Bob and Carol Deutscher purchased the land that is now Crow Mountain Orchard in 1974 and began their life-long business, Bob has been continually amazed that so many people are willing to come to his out-of-the-way farm to buy his fruit.
“The
turnout of the people that patronize us here at the orchard is the biggest plus
for my operation,” Mr. Deutscher commented.
“The people have been very good to us.”
Bob
Deutscher was born and raised in northern Indiana and grew up working in his
father’s apple orchard. “He only grew a
couple of varieties,” Bob recalled. “He
did a poor job of growing apples; of course, things have changed over the
years.” Bob’s father grew apples as a
sideline, to add to the family’s income.
For the senior Mr. Deutscher, growing apples was just something he did;
it was not a way of life. But it has
been a different story for Bob.
Bob
and his father would go to informative, monthly meetings with other orchard
owners to help improve their yield and quality of fruit, but as Bob said, “That
was 75-80 years ago. Working hands-on
every day, you are going to learn a lot about fruit. A lot of what I’ve learned was trial and
error, through the handling of it and experience.”
Bob
began his own Indiana apple orchard when he was about 30 years old and had a
thriving business there. Through the
years, the time came when he had to pick the fruit before it ripened to turn a
profit. That meant he was not providing
his customers with “fruit the way it should be”. So Bob began searching for more
suitable land, in the South, where he could add another orchard to capture the
early northern market. But when Bob and
Carol Deutscher came looking for land for an orchard in the early 1970s, they
never imagined it would develop into the thriving business it is today.
“We have a very good location. I think we can grow just about all fruits
here,” Bob explained. “I think it’s
probably the least worry over freezes that there is. We used to worry in Indiana all of the time;
the conditions were a lot worse there than they are here so far as losing a
crop of fruit. We could lose a crop here
too, it’s a gamble, but it’s a lot safer in this area than anywhere else that I
know of.”
Bob
Deutscher looked over many sites in several southern states before purchasing
the 126-acre site on Crow Mountain, which he has developed into the largest
fruit growing operation in the state. He
recalled, “I was walking around the property one day when I came to the highest
elevation and thought, ‘My God, Bob, what more are you looking for?’ I decided right
then, this site was it.”
The
Crow Mountain site at its highest elevation is 1,720 feet, most suitable for
growing fruit, according to Deutscher, because of the warm days and cool
nights. So with the initial plan of
shipping his fruit north to take advantage of the early wholesale markets, Bob
and Carol Deutscher began the Crow Mountain Orchard in 1974.
“We
were so far from everything; I never dreamed anyone would come out here to buy
my fruit,” Deutscher said. But much to
his surprise the quality of his fruit has brought people out of their way, and
today Crow Mountain fruit is sold locally, with most of it being sold right
there on the farm. Crow Mountain Orchard
now has approximately 150 acres of apples, peaches, nectarines, pears, berries,
and cherries. They press their fresh
cider starting in September, made with Bob’s secret recipe.
According
to an Auburn University Horticulturist – Dr. Arlie Powell, “Bob Deutscher has
spent a lot of time and money to preserve and protect his fruit trees by
trellising them, a unique system for this area. His trees stand straight in rows protected by
the trellises, which Powell said only five or six other growers use statewide. The trellis, a locust post placed between each
tree and strung with three plastic-coated wires, supports the tree to prevent
wind and the weight of the fruit from breaking the limbs.” Powell, who worked with fruit growers all
over the state, said, “The Crow Mountain apples have the best color in the
state, as well as being tasty because of the orchard’s elevation.”
Some
of the frequently asked questions that Mr. Deutscher gets are: “Do you have pick-your-own options?” “Do you
sell apple trees?” “Will you ship fruit to me?”, “Do you give tours of the
orchard?” and “May my family and I walk out in the orchard?” The answer to all of these questions is “No.” The fruit harvested at Crow Mountain Orchard
is sold on-site. A 150-acre orchard is a
full-time operation, not just during harvest time. There is heavy equipment operating in the
orchard that is dangerous. Unfortunately, they have had fruit and trees
damaged by visitors.
“We
never have time off,” Deutscher explained.
“Even before we get done selling apples, the men start to prune trees. It’s a big job, and it has to be done every
year. We go through and take out limbs
and train the tree to grow good fruit.
That takes up all of our time. We
hardly ever get completely done before we start the next year. We’re busy all year long; we don’t have any
time off even though we’re not selling apples all year.
Carol Deutscher passed away in 2012. Bob said, “She was a mainstay. She handled
all of the selling and everything.” Bob
is currently age 90. He added, “I’ve
already lived a long life. I’m in good
health. I work every day, and that’s
probably what keeps me going. Whatever
you’re doing, if you keep doing it, you’re going to live a lot longer than if
you quit. Retirement is a ticket to the
cemetery.”
Crow Mountain Orchard is located at 6236 County Road 39
Fackler, AL 35746. The orchard salesroom
is open from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, seven days a week.
Warning: Some GPS programs,
internet maps, and phone apps do not provide accurate directions to their address. Word to the Wise: If you prefer
to drive a road without a lot of curves as you come up, Crow Mountain, take Rt.
79 that comes north from the west side of Scottsboro through Skyline. Unless your vehicle is hinged in the middle,
and you enjoy steep, narrow, hairpin curves, don’t come up to Crow Mountain on
Route 39 out of Fackler.
A
schedule of when the various fruits sold at Crow Mountain Orchard is:
- Early June – Blueberries and Cherries
- Mid-June – Blackberries, Cling Peaches, and Early Gold Apples
- Early July – Semi- Freestone Yellow Peaches (Red Havens) and Plums
- Mid-July – Freestone Yellow and White Peaches, Seedless Grapes (green, red, and purple), and Pears
- Late July – Asian Pears, Nectarines, Indian Cling Peaches, and Ginger Gold Apples
- Early August – Peaches, Pears, Grapes, Plums (usually available until the middle of the month), and Gala Apples
- Mid August – Pippin Apples and Ozark Gold Apples
- Late August – Honey Crisp Apples, Jonathan Apples, and McIntosh Apples
- Early September – Jonathan Apples, McIntosh Apples, and Jonagold Apples
- Mid-September – Red Delicious Apples, Golden Delicious Apples, Mutsu Apples, Fresh Apple Cider
- Late September – Rome Beauty Apples
- Early October – Winesap Apples, Fuji Apples, and Granny Smith Apples
- Mid-October – Arkansas Black Apples
- Late October – Pink Lady Apples
- November/December – Cider, Jonathan, Red Delicious and other varieties of apples might still be available. The closing date for the season varies from year to year.
