Diary of Apple Farming: Sunday, September 19, 2021
When you’re out in the orchards on mornings like this, the air is sweet with a light apple fragrance. You can feel the season changing to fall. September is our niche for apples in Southern Illinois. We harvest and sell our crop as quickly as we can during September. Apples in Southern Illinois are ready a full month earlier than our neighboring northern state of Michigan, another huge apple growing region. That gives us a big advantage in the wholesale market to get a better price in the Chicago region before competing with Michigan.
Our apple harvest will be wrapping up in a week or so and I’ll soon get to see Wayne take a big sigh of relief. While his season begins to wind down, my busy season kicks up. It’s seems there is no better place for people to celebrate fall than on a locally-owned family apple orchard.
Everyone is so cheerful to to be out walking on our farm, getting photos with their families and pups, enjoying fresh air, sunshine and the colors of the season. There are a lot of loaded down pumpkin wagons with sunflowers on top. It’s nice to see people sitting on the porch and in the yard sipping cider slush alongside a hot apple cider donut with nowhere else they’d rather be.
Choosing to spend your precious moments with us, on our family farm means a lot to Wayne and me. As Americans we are blessed with countless beautiful places and endless options for fun and entertainment. We are grateful to you for spending your slow family days at Rendleman Orchards. There is no better honor for 5th generation farmers than growing fresh-picked apples for you to take home and enjoy in the week ahead. 
We are celebrating our 148th apple harvest.
Rendleman Orchards, since 1873.
Photography by Nina Wilson Photography.
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