Location helps save bumper apple crop for Valley farmer
Proximity to Minas Basin takes edge off late frost
Doug Gates didn’t just escape the devastating spring frost; he yielded his best crop in years.
The owner of Gates U-Pick in Port Williams figures he has mostly the Minas Basin to thank for his good fortune. The Bay of Fundy inlet bordering his eighthectare farm took the edge off unseasonable frigid temperatures just enough to avoid disaster.
“The Minas Basin is just over the hill and it kept the local temperatures up by two degrees, and it was our saving grace,” said Gates, who’s been farming this fifth generation Annapolis Valley farm for the last 25 years. “It got down to minus five degrees in Windsor and Woodville and they got no apples, literally not an apple.”
The temperature to watch is minus four degrees.
“So, I think we were saved by the Minas Basin. Of course, you’re worried when you wake up in June and it’s below zero degrees. But you work with the cards Mother Nature deals you and, luckily, I have the largest crop and the nicest crop that I’ve had in years.”
Back in early September, the Nova Scotia Fruit Growers’ Association said between 40 and 50 per cent of apple crops were lost in the province. But Candy O’Connor, the association’s executive director, recently suggested that things turned out a little less severe, thanks to a particularly warm summer.
“There was more crop than anticipated, a lot better than originally thought,” O’Connor said. “It was bleak but I think a hot summer really helped and the cooler fall.
“But it’s a complete range where you’ve got people who’ve lost 90 per cent of crop or 100 per cent of crop, right down to people that have only experienced about 10 per cent loss.”
The lucky ones like Gates are gearing up for a big Thanksgiving weekend.
“It’s a great fall tradition we get excited about. We’ll get people of all ages from all over. Over the years we’ve tried to make our orchard more family oriented.
“But you’ve got to market whatever you grow today. You offer a family day, wagon rides around the orchard, the picnic tables. Schools from Halifax come for an educational outing.
“For me, the fundamentals are straightforward: get someone to tell another friend that they’ve come here and had a good time, get them a second time and when they’re here they buy apples and maybe some pumpkins, too,” said Gates.
The orchard boasts 20 varieties of apples and four selections of pears through the season, from September to late October. Besides pumpkins the farm also grows a fine crop of sunflowers.
Things have gotten little simpler now that he and his wife and business partner, Marianne, have abandoned commercial production. He’s got no regrets.
“It’s in your blood and we’ve been doing it now for 25 years. So it’s more a way of life.”
With no payroll, he and Marianne tend to the work year-round by themselves.
“It’s pretty much a full-time yearly thing,” said Gates. “Spring you’re looking after the trees and mowing. When the moisture sits on the blossom it causes mildew, so you have to tend to fungicide, herbicide application and fertilizing. During winter time you’re pruning. There’s always something to do in the orchard, but this is the busiest time with the harvest.
“But when I see an apple blossom on the tree in the spring and see it come to fruition in the fall, it’s really satisfying. We’ve produced something wholesome and of value. It feels good.”