I want to take a few minutes to introduce you or re-introduce you to Pleasant Valley Orchard and our family. If you’ve been a friend and customer over the years, go ahead and stop reading. If you’re new we’d like to tell you a little bit more about us.
Believe it or not, it was thirty-four years ago when we purchased the 71-acre farm that became Pleasant Valley Orchard. We were newly married, working in the cities and Jim had a dream. Judy grew up on a farm and so moving from the suburbs to the country wasn’t intimidating. Over the years, Jim left his job to manage the orchard full-time while Judy has maintained her own business and manages the fall retail season and marketing for the orchard.
We planted our first few trees in 1990, but our first major planting was in 1991. Those are the trees on the hillside beside the barn and on the way to the nature trail. Also, in 1991 we started our family when our oldest son, Joe was born. In 1993 when we opened the doors to begin selling apples, our daughter Amelia was one. We hired our first employees with the arrival of Sam in 1995.
Today our children are adults and we’re working on being a second-generation farm with the help of Sam.
When we first began, we operated out of the barn for fifteen years before renovating a pole-shed into what is now the Appleshed in 2009. Last year we added onto the Appleshed and we’ve fully restored our 1926 barn for use and rental.
The vision we had in 1990 has remained constant, to provide quality strawberries, apples, pumpkins and fresh bakery products in a family friendly environment. You’re not going to find a lot of bells and whistles here, but we hope you find a place that is friendly, inviting and worthy of becoming a tradition.
We appreciated all the support over the years and we are looking forward to seeing you again this summer and fall.
Jim Birkholz and Judy Erickson
