| SEPTEMBER 12, 2011 -- With the damage assessed from Tropical Storm Irene, local farmers say compared to other areas of New England, they emerged from the bad weather relatively unscathed.
Commissioner of the state Department of Agriculture Steven K. Reviczky joined John Lyman of Lyman Orchards in Middlefield and John Rogers of Rogers Orchards in Southington recently to officially proclaim September Apple Month ahead of the fall harvest.
"We've been through this before. So we knew we would survive if we reacted," Rogers said of the recent storm.
Lyman and Rogers both said they paid close attention to media reports and forecasts ahead of the storm, which allowed them enough time to prepare. They had generators on standby for the storage coolers in case power went out and had crews head into the fields with stakes to add support to the fruit trees.
Compared to regular trees, Lyman said fruit trees are particularly susceptible during a storm because of the extra weight on the branches from fruit. A typical tree lasts about 30 years in an orchard, so if one gets uprooted due to the weather, they lose a 30-year investment.
Both orchards only had a couple of downed trees and neither lost power. Rogers said they only lost 10-15 percent of ripe fruit that fell to the ground, so there will still be lots of apples, peaches and other local produce available to consumers.
"This year in particular with the storm we just experienced, I think it's especially important to get the word out to Connecticut residents, to consumers, that there is a wide variety of fresh, wholesome, healthy, delicious product available," Reviczky said while looking over the baskets of fruit available at the Rogers Orchards store.
"We really want to encourage folks to get out and visit their orchards."
Roger's Orchards is currently open to buy fruit and the pick-your-own apples. Lyman orchards' store is also open and its corn maze opens Saturday. |
