Apples :: Haralson

Late Season • Tart • Heirloom

Haralson apples.

Ripens

Late September to Early October.

Characteristics

A complex tart flavor and firm texture. This distinctive apple is crisp and juicy, with characteristics that make it great for fresh eating, cooking, cider and storage. It is said to make a great-tasting and perfect-textured pie. 

History

Developed by the University of Minnesota, 1922 - a Minnesota heirloom.

Offspring: Honeygold.

Parentage: Malinda x Wealthy.

Storage

Keeps 4-5 months in storage, while retaining good flavor.

Notes

For years Haralson was the number one apple in Minnesota. The variety tends towards biennial bearing (altering between high and low yielding years).

Fall Apple Share Sign Up!

Fall Apple Shares   Sign up open for 2020!

$54.00 :: 24 lbs/4 lb Bag x 6 weeks 

Beginning the first week of September with pick up at the farm, or Saturday Mankato Farmers Market.

Each week enjoy a 4 lb bag with 1-2 varieties of our organic apples. A mix of standard, lesser known and sometimes old heritage apples. We send out a short newsletter each week, as a reminder of your share. Enjoy some apple nerdery and a recipe or two, along with the latest news from the orchard.

Pick up at the farm store Thursdays, Fridays or Saturdays, or Saturdays at the Mankato Farmers Market, beginning the first week in September.

Sign Up Here!

Please contact us at info@alternativerootsfarm.com or via Facebook with any questions.

Covid-19 Note: Farmers' markets, and food access like our farm store, are considered essential services. We hope by September we wont be dealing with the same restrictions we are now, but if we are, or changes need to be made, we are committed to finding solutions to getting you your Apple Share!!

October Farmers Markets

A big chill is in the air, Halloween decor is popping up in neighborhoods and thoughts of warm oven baking apple crisps and pies are welcoming.

Farmers' Market season is bringing the best of Fall bounty now! It is not over!

October Farmers Markets and Events

New Ulm Farmers Market - Two more weeks! Sat, Oct. 5 & 13  Running through Oktoberfest.

Market at the Farm - Wednesday, October 17 4:00-7:00 right here at the farm!

Mankato Farmers Market - Four more weeks! Saturdays through Oct. 27.

Makers Space Market - Sunday, October 28 from 12:00-5:00  pin  Mankato Makerspace 1700 3rd Ave.


You can also find our apples every day at Valley Veggies, of Hwy 68, and weekends at Pumpkin Junction at Blue Skye Farms!

Fall CSA Shares and Winter Apple Shares

Two more Fall CSA Shares are available - October 17 and November 7.  See full details.

Coming soon - all new Winter Apple Shares!

Coming soon - Applesauce Shares and Apple Butter Shares!

How to get our garlic

If you have ever had our garlic you know it is top notch - it certainly blows the grocery store garlic out of the water. Grab a tissue...I don't want to make you sad, but...we are sold out for the season.

It was a teeeerrrrrrrible year for garlic growers all over the state. The long cold spring, wet (saturated really) conditions in June did not help. We had a 54% loss on our farm, but we are oh so grateful that loss came in size, not plants (about 3,000 of them). We know two other nearby growers who lost 7,000 and 10,000 plants. So, anywho, hows about that garlic?!

Normally we would have garlic for sale into the winter, but the only way you are going to get our garlic yet this fall/winter is to get in on our Fall CSA program! (Winter/Pantry CSA is sold out at this time.)


We have a limited amount of Fall #2 Hunter's Moon and Fall #3 Snow Moon CSA Shares yet available - holler at us to reserve a share!! info@alternativerootsfarm.com or text Brooke 507-412-7605.

Fall CSA pick up is held at the farm, from 4:00-7:00 pm on the dates listed below. 
Pick up will be market style, bring your own containers. 
Stock up your fridge and pantry with local, organic, seasonal goodness!

Fall CSA Order Form

Hunter’s Moon Share

Fall CSA #2  •  October 17

Full Shares $85  ||  Chard/kale, greens, onions, potatoes, winter squash: acorn/butternut, garlic, watermelon radishes, beets, carrots, apples, applesauce & apple butter.* Deposit: $45     5 more available!

Mini Shares $35  ||  Greens, onions, potatoes, winter squash: acorn/butternut, garlic, parsnips, carrots, beets, applesauce.* Deposit: $20     4 more available!

Snow Moon Share

Fall CSA #3  •  Nov. 7

Full Shares $90  ||  Microgreens, onions, potatoes?, winter squash: acorn/butternut/potimarron, garlic, watermelon radishes, beets, carrots, parsnips, apples, applesauce, cabbage. Deposit: $50     8 more available!


Mini Shares $35  ||  Microgreens, onions, potatoes?, winter squash: acorn/butternut, garlic, parsnips, carrots, beets, applesauce/apple butter. Deposit: $20     Only 1 more available!

*All items subject to change, based on availability.


Fall CSA Order Form

Market @ the Farm

Market @ the Farm ~ Wednesday, October 25th 4-7:00pm
Come out to the farm and shop our Fall Market!

Shop from farm fresh items, storage items for your pantry, canned goods and health and wellness items, as well as local honey.

What's @ the Farm?
Apple Butter • Applesauce • Greens
Garlic & Shallots  • Herbs - dried & fresh
Butternut and Acorn Winter Squash • Broccoli
Watermelon Radishes • Parsnips
Herbal wellness items • Eggs • Onions • And more! 
Plus: Moody Bees Farm Honey products!

Bring your reusable shopping bags!

A sampling of available items! Plus, fresh produce!

Directions to the Farm: 11197 130th St, Madelia, 56062
From New Ulm: go 12 miles South on Hwy 15, turn left on 130th St., go 1.5 miles down the gravel.
From Madelia: go 8 miles North on Hwy 15, turn right on 130th St., go 1.5 miles down the gravel.

Late November

I think I'll call it the "quiet season" as of late. You haven't heard much from us here, or on social media. In the Fall, and into winter, there is a kind of slowing, much cherished after summer. I think we are especially taking time to enjoy it, as we know this time next year it will slow, but the pace will be different, as we continue to grow food in our deep winter greenhouse.

Yarrow tincture brewing. 

The late Fall let me make some more medicines for the cupboard. I found late blooming yarrow to tincture, for medicine and bug spray. I dug dandelions for tea - with leisure. :)

We are putting the final details on the orchard nursery deer protection and working on little projects in our buildings and pig quarters. We are cleaning the garage, making apple butter, preserving more last bits of the harvest. I am deep cleaning the house.

Ragnar helping in the field.

We are reading more, cooking more and trying new recipes out. We are processing, reflecting, shedding, connecting. Looking back at the year, getting ready to finalize year-end reports and ramp up plans for next season.

And, we are waiting for a nice freeze to end the mud-season and a nice blanket of snow for cross country skiing.

That's a Wrap! Orchard Style

This week we finished cleaning up the orchard, as well as the veggie field. We cleaned up a few more apples for the pigs winter stash, and picked a few more Haralson hanging on for our winter eating.

The pigs winter apple stash. We like them eating produce as long as possible!

 The orchard looks beautiful. We picked up the ladders and bins, and took down our insect traps.

Our off-site orchard. 

Johnny picking a few more Haralsons for us to snack on.

John is a mountain climber...being an orchardist is a great compliment. Here he is picking apples....mind you I am laying flat on the ground to take this...and he is horizontal in the tree. :)

Johnny having fun picking horizontally.

That's a wrap on our fifth season managing the orchard.

 Trees planted in 2016 at the home orchard.

Nursery trees ready to be planted out in 2017.

Nursery stock for our growing orchard.

 A wonderful day working in the orchard together. Thank you for supporting organic agriculture! Apples are the 2nd most contaminated fruit/vegetable, we take pride in bringing these healthy fruits to our community!

The kids will be happy to eat apples (and some pumpkins) until they run out!

The "kids."

Late Season Apple Updates

Jonathon apples, a delicious sweet-tart late season variety.

Late Apple Season Updates

As we move into late apples season, Apple Share members have enjoyed 6 weeks of specialty deliveries; CSA members received a pound+ of apples each week in their CSA boxes, for 8 weeks, with Apple Booster members getting an extra 2 lbs for 6 of those weeks; and farmer' market has come to a close. But it's still apple season! 

John, picking apples.

John is still picking late season apples - Jonathon, Prairie Spy and Haralson. Plus, it's apple season as long as apples can be stored for use. We are generally eating apples into January and we hope to extend that further in future years, with changes to our storage facilities and the addition of varieties of apples, many heirlooms, that are made for long-term storage.

Apples are still available by contacting us directly. ARF apples are also on shelves at several local co-ops - St. Peter Food Co-op, Natural Food Co-op (Litchfield) and Good Earth Co-op (St. Cloud), as well as the New Ulm Community Market & Co-op's Friday pop-up market.

Make sure to enjoy Minnesota's star fruit during this delicious season! Preserve apples during the season to enjoy apple butter, apple pie, dried apple rings and more all year around! Keep it local, plan ahead.

Fall Shares Now Available!

Grab a Fall Share to keep eating local and fresh into winter, and stock up your winter pantry. Items like potatoes, onions, garlic, winter squash store for months. This is a great way to pick up a little of the fall bounty Minnesota has to offer. All produce is certified organic.

Fall Shares are a mix of bountiful fall items and storage crops.

Two sizes available Full & Mini Available first-come, first served, limited quantities.

Pick up will be at the farm from 4:00-7:00 pm, Wednesday, October 26th and will be market style. Bring your own containers.

Full Fall Shares

~1/2lb garlic, 3-5lbs onions, ~10lbs potatoes, shallots, tomato-basil soup, apple butter, butternut & acorn squash, greens, 3-5lbs beets, cabbage, 2-4lbs carrots, ~2lbs leeks, table & baking apples. $80

Mini Fall Share

garlic, onions, potatoes, apple butter, winter squash, beets, leeks, greens. $25

Amounts are approximate, amounts & items may change, based on availability. Let us know if you have any questions!

How to Reserve your Fall Share

Email us at alternativerootsfarm@yahoo.com or call us at 507-439-6541.

Early September Photo Update

The field is still full and green, but there are many changes apparent. The cucumbers and beans have finished for the season. Beds where spring cabbage, lettuce and peas, as well as garlic and early potatoes were grown are now filled with a buckwheat cover crop.

The first fall frost is looming around the corner and that will bring more changes. The frost will bring a sweetness to root vegetables and kale, and help the remaining dry beans fully dry down.

Brussel sprouts are filling out, and will sweeten with frost.

The pack shed drying/curing area is full to the brim. There are red and yellow onions, and mid-season potatoes curing. Garlic, shallots, herbs and early season potatoes are cured and stored.

The winter squash is start to mature. September 10th we had our first harvest of acorn squash.

Our flint corn harvest has begun. (It may take a while, because with each ear we pick  we stop and say, "Oooo, ahhh....look at this one!"

The flint corn is grown for animal feed, and may also be used for hominy and corn meal.

Fall Planting

What? Planting in fall?! Yes indeed.

Of course the main fall crop we plant is garlic. Garlic is planted in the fall to have enough time to grow to it's fully mature size, come July next summer.

This is Russian Red, one of three varieties we are planting this fall.

We also planted our first fall shallots. These (below) are a French Gray variety.

This (below) is the bed we prepared for the fall planting. Five rows planted down either side, with a skinny foot-path down the middle. The planting is now dressed with wheat-straw mulch.

Above and below you can see the planting method we were using. John rigged up a planting marker we used to mark the holes, so it made a nice grid. When we were working together it was pretty fast and efficient, with him marking, me lying the seed out, then we would both go back and plant. It took a little longer by myself, but it made for easy planting.

Here (above) you can see the shallots layed out on the planting grid. With the planting marker stood up it can be stepped on, then the bolts mark the planting holes.

Hooray! Can't wait to see these guys poking up through the mulch come spring--when everything else is brown and still waking :)