Ellijay, GA |

If you take a stroll through the North Georgia mountains this time of year, there are a few things you’re guaranteed to see: Beautiful mountains and apple orchards just like this one, B.J. Reese Orchards in Ellijay, who are busy harvesting deliciously ripe apples just like these. As you can see, the trees produced a fantastic crop, which according to owner, John Reese, is one of the best crops they’ve ever had.

“We had a real good spring. The apples got pollinated good. We put bees in the orchard in the spring to help pollinate the fruit, and a lot of times if it’s rainy or it’s cloudy, your apple trees don’t get pollinated good and that can hurt your crop too. So, we got a good pollination this year, and it’s one of the best crops that we’ve had. We had a little frost damage on some varieties, but overall, it’s one of the best crops we’ve had,” says John Reese, Owner of B.J. Reese Orchards.

However, growing one of the best crops they’ve ever had wasn’t an easy process, as growing apples is a year-round job, as they constantly have something to do in their orchards.

“Well in November, when you pick your last apples, you usually go through about November, first week or two in November and pick the rest of the apples that haven’t been picked. A lot of apples don’t come in until the first of November or last of October. And so, soon as we pick those, we start going in and, pruning the trees. So, uh, end of November, really, December, January, February and March, we’re pruning the trees and we push up old trees, and we get ready to plant new trees in the spring,” says Reese.

Aside from just growing and selling the apples like a typical farming operation, they also have a huge focus on agritourism; inviting the public to come pick apples, play games, and see the many other on farm attractions.

“We start our u-pick and our family fun on the farm the last weekend in August and through September and October. Depending on the crop and the weather, sometimes we’ll take the apple picking on in the first week or two in November. We have a petting farm, cow milking, and we have pony rides. We also have an apple canon where kids can shoot apples at a target. We have a wagon ride where we have some longhorns that we ride by and see the longhorn cattle. We have a scavenger hunt as well that’s like a corn maze. We also have pig races on the weekends,” says Reese.

Of course, another huge part of their operation is their store front, where people can come get freshly made, value added products that are all made from the apples they grow on their farm, like jams, jellies, and of course, fresh apple pies.

“We make our own cider and all the stuff that we grow like our jams, jellies, relishes, and chow chow is made out of our stuff that we grow and we also make our own apple pies. We use our apples in anything that we sell in here; we try to use our apples to make it,” says Reese.

By: John Holcomb