Orchard

When Henry Schumacher bought this farm in 1892, its previous owner had already planted fruit trees, berry bushes, and grape vines. Local food cultivation and preservation have long been important parts of rural life, especially given transportation costs and spoilage in the days before refrigeration. Most farms in the Midwest had an apple orchard due to the fruit’s versatility, nutrient content, and relative ease of cultivation and harvest. By 1900, Americans grew more than 14,000 different kinds of apples. Today, only about 90 varieties of apples are commonly grown and sold in the U.S.

Over the years, the Schumacher family planted their own orchard between the farmhouse and the chicken coop. That orchard, which no longer exists, included apple, cherry, plum, and pear trees. The current orchard was planted in 2000, and includes several types of heirloom apples and pears that were commonly found on American farms in the early 1900s. These fruits, such as Kiefer pears, Whitney Crab apples, and pipestone plums, are often irregularly shaped and are not easily harvested by machine. They also have unique flavors not found in more commercial varieties of fruit.

While apples were a favorite autumn snack right off the tree for many farmers, as they provided a refreshing blast of juice and sugar, they can easily be turned into delicious pies and baked into cakes. Apples could also be preserved as applesauce, canned, dried or sealed in jars, or turned into cider.