Area orchard reopens to public

Sep. 13—Longtime fans of Irish Mountain Orchard, Francis and Nancy Zeiher made the trip from their home in rural Janesville to the Elysian area to get a bag of chestnut crabs on a recent morning. The bright red apple has been a family favorite since Nancy discovered years ago that the small fruit was a handy, healthy snack for her children.

"They are just the right size, and so sweet," Nancy said.

Francis selected a ripe red orb from a crab apple tree and handed it to his wife.

"This is the first time we've picked them ourselves," he said.

The family-owned business, also known as Merickel's Orchard, reopened Labor Day weekend after three years of not selling their harvest to the general public.

In 2019, patriarch and orchard founder Dwain Merickel announced to his descendants he was stepping down from his apple business.

"At age 90, Dad said, 'I am done,'" said daughter Becky Merickel.

The coronavirus pandemic presence in Minnesota was just around the corner. While the orchard was closed, its product was sold to a broker in Rochester who marketed Irish Mountain's apples in grocery stores. The orchard has been able to find a small crew of pickers to hire for the harvest, so the orchard-broker partnership is continuing on a smaller scale.

Becky and her sister, Emily Peck, operate the orchard alongside two family members who represent a third generation. Dwain's grandsons, Ryan Peck and Aaron Merickel, handle the heavy lifting and promotional duties.

Emily Peck retired from her job with St. Peter Area Chamber at the beginning of the pandemic. Since then, she's a regular at the orchard.

She said her father, whose house is near the hundreds of fruit trees he planted on the 30-plus acres, rarely visits the worksite. Dwain's not completely let go of the family business, however.

"Thursday night he said, 'Don't you think it time you picked those apples?'"

The current generation of operators has come up with a new vision to attract customers, such as the pick-your-own option.

Aaron Merickel said Irish Mountain wants to take advantage of a growing trend, agri-tourism. The orchard's current operators are using social media to alert potential customers.

Tried-and-true roadside marketing also is employed. Andrea Smith, a resident of Hawaii's big island, and Anna Jasulka, who lives in the Detroit area, were traveling together from Mankato when they saw Irish Mountain signs along Highway 60. The friends decided to try a Minnesota variety, the Zestar, and take an impromptu rest stop to sit on haybales in the orchard's children's area.

They also enjoyed pleasant country-mouse, city-mouse conversations with Emily Peck and Becky Merickel. One of Jasulka's questions about rural life focused on how kids get to meet other children.

As the duo prepared to leave the orchard with her bag of apples, Smith offered a thumbs-up review.

"We are going to post pictures on our social media and tag their business," Smith said.

The orchard's updated website includes a history of the business. Dwain Merickel and his wife, Millie, began planting apple trees on their rural Elysian land in 1970, after he retired from practicing dentistry. Millie died in 2014.

They named their orchard Merickel's, but locals tended to call it Irish Mountain in reference to a nearby large hill that serves as a landmark.

Original apple varieties planted included Fireside/Connel Red, Regent, Haralson and Sweet 16, with both Fireside and Haralson still grown today. When Honeycrisp apples were released from the University of Minnesota in 1991, Irish Mountain was one of the first orchards in Minnesota to plant them.

Zestar trees were planted on a large scale during the 2000s, and along with Honeycrisp, served as the primary apple in the orchard's expansion project.

The tradition of picking apples at local orchards is one many look forward to each year, and growers are expecting great turnouts this fall, stated a press release from Minnesota Grown, a partnership between the Minnesota Department of Agriculture and Minnesota producers of specialty crops and livestock.

Although some parts of Minnesota were faced with lingering drought conditions that carried forward from 2021, local apple growers have been irrigating trees as needed and are looking for an excellent harvest, the press release said.

The Minnesota Grown Directory includes more than 130 orchards and more than 175 farmers markets around the state. To find orchards, visit MinnesotaGrown.com.