For three generations
there have been Zollinger apples in River Heights
By Lindsay Kite
March 3, 2005 | RIVER HEIGHTS -- "We
are one of the few small farms left in the valley that
make our total living off the land," Ron Zollinger,
owner of an apple orchard and tree farm, said in an
interview Monday.
He said open space is important,
so he is doing his best to preserve the farm and the
open space it provides to the area.
Zollinger, whose 90 acres of land
is located at 1000 River Heights Blvd., said he owns
approximately 1,000 apple trees that cover 10 acres.
But this is only one aspect of his business, which he
said also includes a nursery with 12,000 to 15,000 ornamental
trees that require extensive maintenance year-round.
"The only time I get even a
little spare time is in the winter," he said. "But after
December, repairs and maintenance have to be done until
now and then the pruning has to start." Pruning will
begin Tuesday and continue through mid-May, when he
said it all must be finished.
Zollinger laughed when he said, "I've
had people ask me what I do in the winter. Some people
think I just sit around and wait for the snow to melt,
but we actually stay pretty busy right through the end
of December most years."
He said the fruit has kept him busy
due to a long juice-processing season, which is just
ending now because of a large production year.
Ron is a third-generation owner of
the Zollinger farm and has run it since 1980, though
he's been involved in it his entire life, he said.
"I've been working on this
farm since I was old enough to work," he said. Some
of the trees were planted by his father, but Zollinger
said he planted over half of them himself.
When asked where the apples end up,
he said almost all of them are sold locally. About 30
to 40 percent are sold fresh, he said, and the rest
all go into the production of 7,000 to 10,000 gallons
of juice and cider.
He raises 12 varieties of apples,
including Yellow Delicious and Macintosh, but Zollinger
said his favorite is a cross variety called Jona-Gold.
His family also drinks lots of juice, but most likely
just because it is always there, he said.
"I have never gotten tired
of drinking cider, so we freeze enough to have it all
year," he said.
Though he greatly enjoys working
with plants and being outdoors, Zollinger said there
are also downfalls to his line of work.
"It has its ups and downs,
like last year we were totally frozen out -- no production
of fruit at all. And this isn't the kind of business
you can run 9 to 5, there are weeks when I have to designate
80 hours," he said.
Advertising for the farm consists
of just one phone book ad and relies mostly on word
of mouth because they've been around so long, he said.
"We're the best-kept secret
in Cache Valley, but I think it annoys people that they
can only find us in one phone book," he said.
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