Our story
Hartford Orchards began in 1930 when the Eucker family moved to the area. In 2017 the orchard was put up for auction & Schwartz Farms, owned by brothers Tom & Dan Schwartz, purchased the property. The Schwartz family run a 4th generation grain farm in Fowler and purchased the orchard with the intentions of growing row crops. Our main business is growing Non-GMO soybeans for tofu production.
After lots of prayers and a little bit of peer pressure from the community, we decided to give apple growing a try. Although we knew nothing about fruit production , we’ve learned a lot over the past 8 years & counting.
Completely against the idea of purchasing the orchard initially, co-owner Jessica King now enjoys managing the orchard while giving her three boys a safe farm childhood.
Co-Owner & Manager Jess pictured with her family
Picked with care
The orchard needed a lot of TLC when we first purchased it. After tearing out trees we could not save, we were left with seven acres of apple trees containing nine different varieties. Over the past three years, we have planted almost 2,000 apple trees and 15 different varieties. The deer (and ourselves) have killed some of them but we’re finally starting to harvest fruit from some of the trees we’ve planted.