Photo: For The Intelligencer

The trees at Liberty Apple Orchard, just outside of Edwardsville.

The trees at Liberty Apple Orchard, just outside of Edwardsville.

Liberty Apple Orchard set to open

Liberty Apple Orchard, a U-Pick orchard located just east of Edwardsville, will be opening for its fifth season Aug. 21 at 3 p.m.

Throughout the apple season, the orchard offers 13 varieties of apples and provides a unique family-fun, educational opportunity with its replica one-room schoolhouse on site.

New this season, the orchard will be offering additional products from local farmers as well as be expanding its hours.

Steve Miller, who cares for the orchard with his wife Lugene, was looking forward to the orchards season opening on Aug. 21, which occurs just after the solar eclipse. In response to suggestions from our guests, we have expanded our hours and will offer additional products from local farmers, Steve Miller said.

Liberty Apple Orchard will be open for U-pick guests from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays, 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sundays and after school from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays. On Labor Day, Sept. 4, the orchard will be open from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

In addition, beginning this year, Liberty Apple Orchard will offer apple butter and honey from local producers as well as cider in early September and pumpkins in late September from local farmers.

Sweet Gala and Jonathan apples will be the first varieties ready for picking. Then by early September, McIntosh, Blondee, Empire, and Cortland apples will be available, followed by Liberty and Fuji varieties. In October, Braeburn, Enterprise, Candycrisp, Gold Rush, and Granny Smith will be available for picking.

Getting through the growing season and on to the apple picking season takes much TLC every year. The orchard employed nine EHS and Metro-East (Lutheran) High School students this past winter to assist with pruning. The work commenced in December and continued until early February, Steve Miller explained.

The Feb. 28 hail storm damaged some of the apple trees as hail of up to two inches pelted the orchard. On March 15 - the dreaded Ides of March - temperatures fell to 16 degrees and, based on earlier university studies, we thought that we would lose many varieties for this season, especially the Braeburn and Granny Smith buds that were well developed. To the surprise of the University of Illinois Extension staff, the trees survived quite well through the cold spell, Steve Miller noted.

Liberty Apple Orchard is located at 8308 Kuhn Station Road in Edwardsville in a rural setting yet not far from Glen Carbon, Troy and Highland. From the Meyer YMCA in Edwardsville, go east on Goshen Road approximately 2 miles, turn right on Staunton Road, cross the bike trail, and turn left on Kuhn Station Road. Liberty Orchard is down the road about one-fourth of a mile on the right.

When turning down the Liberty Orchard drive, the Liberty schoolhouse immediately comes into view. Liberty School consists of a store with fresh picked apples and childrens books, apple cooking books, and apple-inspired greeting cards. The interior design of Liberty School picks up motifs from schools of 100 years ago, including a chalkboard around the ceiling, presidential photos, books and an original, refinished schoolhouse desk.

The orchard with its apple picking and schoolhouse provides a unique, family-fun experience. The orchard is well mowed, easily accessible from our drive and ideal for photos of your family," Lugene Miller pointed out.

The Millers objectives are to provide high quality local fresh fruit, an educational experience for children and families, and community participation and outreach.

As part of this goal, the orchard offers opportunities for class or groups to call and schedule field trips to pick apples and learn about growing an apple orchard, fundraisers for youth groups, mission groups, or schools, and a source of healthy snacks for fall festival/Halloween celebrations.

Just as in the past four years, Liberty Apple Orchard will continue to serve local food banks in Madison County communities as part of its community outreach. In 2016, the orchard delivered over 12,000 pounds of apples to 12 regional food banks. Food banks typically have canned and boxed processed food available, but little if any fresh fruit, Steve Miller pointed out. We are especially thankful for the many volunteers who picked thousands of pounds of apples at Liberty Apple Orchard in 2016 to serve children and families at regional food banks.

Many church and civic groups volunteered including St. Boniface eighth graders, Trinity Lutheran Church, Girl Scout Troop 559, EHS Student Council, EHS EPIC, Urban Harvest, Immanuel United Methodist Church, Mt. Joy Church and many others, he added. The apples were delivered from September through December and include most of the 13 varieties grown on the orchard.

Also in its 2016 community outreach, Liberty Apple Orchard hosted a fund raiser for the St. Vincent de Paul Society. This organization, supported by St. Boniface, St. Marys and St. Cecilia Church, provides rent and utilities assistance to those in need in the Edwardsville school district.

While many enjoy visiting the orchard for its local U-Pick opportunity, Liberty Apple Orchard's produce is also available at the Land of Goshen Farmer's Market in Edwardsville on Saturday mornings and some local grocery stores.

For further information on the ripening schedule and times and dates for special events, follow Liberty Apple Orchard on Facebook or visit its website at http://www.libertyappleorchard.com. Call (618) 659-9217 for other questions or to schedule a group field trip.

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Liberty Apple Orchard set to open - The Edwardsville Intelligencer