Fruit beginning to ripen at Fairfield Orchard

FAIRFIELD – The Fairfield Community Orchard invites the public to harvest the fruit that’s ripening now on its assortment of fruit trees.

The orchard, located just east of Chautauqua Park, has a grove of 30-some trees, about two-thirds of which are apple trees, with the remainder split between various kinds of pear, persimmon, mulberry, sour cherry and chestnut. Avi Pogel, one of the coordinators of the orchard, said the Asian pears, and some of the European and Bartlett varieties, are ripe now. He expects the apples to be ripe around the third weekend in September, so perhaps a visit to the orchard after celebrating Kiwanis Kids’ Day on Sept. 20 would make for a good family outing. The fruit is free to pick, and the committee asks that the public leave enough for everyone to enjoy.

Pogel expects the persimmons to be ready at the same time as the apples, and for the chestnuts to ripen the first week of October. He mentioned that chestnuts are an easy fruit to harvest in some ways since you just wait for them to fall off the tree and separate from their thorny husk. But watch out because the burrs of the chestnut husk are sharp.

“You can get splinters through leather gloves,” Pogel warned.

Pogel recommends putting chestnuts in a paper bag on the counter for a week or so. A fresh chestnut will be starchy and taste like a potato, but a properly cured one will have a sweet caramelized flavor like a piece of toffee. Pogel said he recommends soaking them in water 10-30 minutes, scoring them with an X, and putting them in a toaster oven for 10-15 minutes. He said scoring them is important because the chestnuts will explode in the oven like popcorn if they’re not scored.

Those hoping to harvest a large number of pears from the orchard should be mindful that the European pears were badly affected by a disease known as fire blight, and Pogel said their fruit is consequently not very good this year. Unlike some fruits that can be eaten just after picking, Pogel advises letting pears ripen on your counter, and for especially fast ripening, try putting them in a paper bag.

“Pears require a little more care because if they look good on the tree, they’ll probably be pretty mushy,” he said. “And if you pick them too green, they won’t ripen. For Bartletts that are starting to turn, they will be a pale yellow but still have some green throughout.”

Pogel said the pear trees have been performing so poorly that the Fairfield Community Orchard Committee plans to remove the pear trees that are mostly dead and plant new trees in their place.

“We’re not going to kill the ones that are still producing, but we need to start from scratch,” he said. “We’ve learned which varieties are hardiest and most disease-resistant. A lot of them are under disease pressure.”

Pogel said the committee plans to spray the trees next year with anti-bacterial and anti-fungal sprays to control fire blight. He said the spray will use mineral supplements and not a synthetic chemical, since the committee intends for the orchard to be organic.

The orchard has hosted volunteer work days in the past, though none so far in 2025. Last year, Green Iowa AmeriCorps helped organize and participate in five volunteer events to maintain the orchard. Pogel said he’d like to hold a volunteer event this fall, probably in the next few weeks before the apple harvest, since the cages need to be weeded.

Those with questions about the orchard can email fruityfairfield@gmail.com, or visit Fairfield Community Orchard’s Facebook page.

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Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com

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