ing Apple Day a local tradition since webegan. Come celebrate our abundant appleharvest and all the other joys of the fall sea-son on a farm. As your arrive, inhale thearoma of fragrant apple pies wafting infrom our bakery.

A full day of fun on thefarm awaits the entirefamily. Enjoy the fresh airand views of our preservedfarmlands during a horsedrawn wagon or tractorwagon ride. Explore ourfabulous mazes createdwith corn stalks and haybales. Don’t get lost!

Fall Fam -ily Week endsbegin on thethird weekendin Septem berand continuethrough thefirst weekendin November.

For seven weeks there are opportunities forpumpkin painting, listening to some goodold-fashioned country music and visitingthe fields to pick your own pumpkins andapples.

eptember’s arrival brings somuch excitement here in cen-tral New Jersey. School begins.

The leaves begin to show a glimmer of fallcolor and here at Terhune Orchards, we getto share our favorite season of the year withvisitors to the farm.

It seems like such a longtime ago when our appletrees began to show off pinkand white blossoms in thespring. Now those tiny flow-ers have turned into big,crisp, juicy apples that areperfect for picking, eatingfresh and baking.

We loved applesso much when westarted the farm, wedecided to hold aday to celebrate allthings apple. After40 seasons, ourenthusiasm—andapple orchards continued to grow. So largethat Apple Day now happens over thecourse of two days on one glorious weekend,September 12 and 13 and the Fall FamilyWeekends continue through November 1st.

The Mount family welcomes new gueststo the farm and those that have been mak-

For the Mount family, fall is harvesttime and festival time—all hands on deck!Mom and Dad (Pam and Gary) have beencelebrating apple harvest for 40 years. Wenever get tired of the fun! Reuwai, our old-est daughter now works full-time at thefarm. Her husband, Mike teaches history atLawrenceville Prep School and is the wine-maker for our apple wine in his spare time.Their daughters, Maya 11, Tess and Sasha,8 are great farm store helpers. Our daugh-ter, Tannwen has been on the farm fortwelve years and is seeing the fruits of herlabor with the five-year anniversary ofTerhune Orchards Vineyards and Winery.Her husband, Jim, is a history teacher atMontgomery High School and manages thepick-your-own apples in the fall. Their sonBecket, 7 and new twins Hadley andClayton, 9 months bring delight to us all.

Our son Mark is now a sergeant in theUS Army stationed in Louisiana with hisfamily Vicki and children, Madison, 7 andWyatt, 3. Mark will be off to Afghanistanthis month for his 4th tour there as a liaisonbetween the US Army and the Afghanistanmilitary.

The Mount family, all 90 strong of us,gathered to spend a long weekend togetherhere in August. This family reunion wasvery special since our girls, Reuwai andTannwen are the 11th generation of Mountsto farm in Central NJ. With our 200 acrespermanently preserved through the NJ

Apple Day Launches Terhune’s 39thSeason of Fall Festival

Mount FamilyUpdateby Pam Mount

e are so lucky here at TerhuneOrchards and in New Jerseyin general; that as the seasons

change, we all can enjoy something veryspecial at this time of year. Fall is certainlya surprise after a hot summer. Cool andcrisp weather with trees of all colors makefor great family fun picking apples anddrinking fresh cider.

The Mount Clan.

hen the weather turns crisp,apple picking at TerhuneOrchards is a must on any

local family’s fun list. Come out to see howapples are grown and be amazed at howmany colorful varieties we grow and thesubtle differences in how they taste.

Our Van Kirk Road orchard is open forpicking every day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.,weather permitting from Septemberthrough October. On the weekends, take awagon ride to the picking areas or stroll the

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Pick Your Own Apples atTerhune Orchards

grassy paths through the trees. Pick yourseason opening day is September 5th.

All of our apple trees are dwarf vari-eties. These small trees make it easy forchildren or adults to pick. Our friendlyorchard staff can direct you to rows loadedwith perfectly ripe, juicy apples and showyou the best way to pick them. Instead ofpulling an apple straight down from thebranch, we suggest you cup an apple in yourhand, roll it upwards and twist it free. Asthey say, it’s all in the wrist!

Pick your own apples are sold perpound. To find out which varieties are avail-able on the day of your visit, call the farmstore 609-924-2310. Throughout the seasonyou may find:

Early Fuji–eat this sweet, crisp appleright out of hand

Empire–juicy, perfect for applesauce,pies, desserts

Fuji–very sweet, crisp, fresh eating,long storage life

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Trenton Farmer’s MarketSpruce Street(609) 695-7855

330 Cold Soil RoadPrinceton, NJ 08540 • (609) 924-2310

www.TerhuneOrchards.comemail info@terhuneorchards.com

FALL 2015

ostly when we talk about fruit, weare talking varieties. Rainier,Crimson Crisp, Pink Lady,

Honeycrisp are fine, respectable names forsome really good varieties. Some tradition-al, even historic names are out there too—Stayman Winesap, McIntosh, JerseyQueen. They are some pretty good varietiesas well.

But when you look at a tree, it is not justthe variety —that is, the top part of the treethat is worth looking at. Look Down! Downto the engine room of the tree, the roots.Their names are not so good, not so inter-esting—things like M9, B9, MM111,Geneva 11, but so much of the goodness ofthe tree comes from the roots ( the Michiganand Canadian growers call them “ruts”) Novarieties are on their own roots. TheHoneycrisp, for instance, does not grow onHoneycrisp roots. All fruit trees are graftedor budded onto vegetatively produced root-stocks that will result in uniform trees.

Some roots provide excellent anchor-age—French crabapple is particularly out-standing at this although it produces toolarge a tree for the modern orchardist. Allroots of course have to be good at picking upnutrients and water but some also providesize control, disease control and even insectcontrol. (One aphid we are having troublewith in the orchards right now is the woolyapple aphid which spends part time in thetree top and part time on the roots. It helpsto have a rootstock that is resistant!)

The size control aspect is particularlyvaluable. One thing that an orchardistwants is a uniform orchard, one that will fillthe space allotted with fruitful trees. Norunts, no oversized trees. Rootstocks dothis.

Another characteristic of roots is theirinfluence on precocity, which means in fruitgrowing just about what it does in chil-dren—good results coming sooner. It is justamazing to me to see two trees side by side,same size, same age, but on different roots.One can be full of apples and the other bare.

Sometimes growers graft trees them-selves. Rootstocks are available to buy andonce the variety is grafted on top, the treesare placed in an on the farm nursery andplanted out in the orchard the next year.There is tremendous demand for fruit treesright now and this is a way to get treessooner. However, growing a nursery tree isan exacting process and most growers,

Plan a Fall School Tourutumn is a wonderful time forstudent groups to visit the farmto see how apple trees grow, learn

about the importance of bees as pollinators

From the Roots Upby Gary Mount

and make some new friends in the barn-yard. Add pumpkin or apple picking formore fall fun.

Our experienced and knowledgeabletour guides tailor each tour to group ageand interest. Elizabeth “Bettie” Wells hasbeen giving guided tours of the farm toschool children since 2007. She loves shar-ing her own experiences growing up on afarm, telling stories about how much funand rewarding life on the farm is and educating children to respect the environ-ment.

It gives us great joy to invite local schoolchildren to visit our outdoor classroom–aworking family farm on preserved farm-lands. Tours are available by appointment.Call 609-924-2310 to schedule a visit.

myself included, buy their trees from com-mercial nurseries.

Another way that growers use graftingis to change over a planting from one vari-ety to another, a process called top-working.Keeping in mind that the rootstock isimportant and that an established root-stock is more so, the top of the tree is cut offin May and pencil sized pieces of wood areinserted in slits made in the bark of therootstock. The power of the established rootleads to a rapid re-establishment of thetree—getting rid of an undesirable varietyand replacing it with a better one. It is notjust a simple process though, as we havelearned. Felipe Molina is the best grafterhere—we topworked some trees 22 yearsago when he first started working here andthen did some more this past May.

It takes a lot of work to figure all thisout and to learn which are the best root-stocks and how to produce them. I am amember of an international fruit growersorganization that has funded research infruit rootstocks for over 50 years. I havebeen chair of the research committee for 25years and every year we award grower con-tributed funds to university researchers. Iam also president of a new foundation theorganization has formed to enhance futurefunding. Yes, rootstocks are that important.

One particular rootstock trait that I likeis resistance to the bacterial disease,Fireblight. This disease is just awful. Ifenough of it gets into the living bark of atree, the tree is dead—I lost quite a few lastyear. The root of the tree is particularly fastto go, except if it is resistant. We support alot of work on fireblight resistance.

Enter the 9thAnnual TerhuneOrchards PhotoContest

ave you been inspired to take pho-tos while visiting our farm? Showus what caught your eye and

enter to win our annual photo contest.Amateur, student and professional pho-

tographers are welcome to submit their bestphotos taken at Terhune Orchards. Thedeadline for entries is Tuesday, September8. Submit a printed and matted photo anddigital file by email or on CD.

All entries will be displayed in the win-ery tasting room throughout the fall. Thefirst place winner and honorable mentionwinners will receive a gift card to the farmstore as the prize. Complete rules and entryinformation are available at the farm storeor terhuneorchards.com.

But the story is not over. A recent devel-opment is the grafting of tomatoes and mel-ons. The rootstocks are more vigorous andmore productive. They resist disease—allthis from a little rootstock with a stemabout the size of the pencil I am using formy rough draft. Our vegetable specialist onthe farm, Scott Van Kuikan has had some“interesting” experiences trying to grafttomatoes. They are not easy to do.

The next time you come to the orchardand look at the trees, look down. The jointbetween the top and the root is usually vis-ible. Just stand there and think about allthe engine room of the tree does from theroots up.

Raise Dough for YourGroup with Our Pies

Our pies are a wonderful fundrais-ing opportunity at the holidays. Webake them, you sell them – for a tastyprofit that benefits your school groups,churches, charities and clubs. Choosefrom over 20 varieties of pies. Order aminimum of 25 pies and receive a dis-count. Call Leslie at 609-924-2310 oremail info@terhuneorchards.com fordetails.

something for every palate. For red wineenthusiasts, we offer “Barn Red, ” aCabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignonblend with cherry and strawberry aromas.Our “Rooster Red” is semi-sweet and simi-lar to a light port. Unwind after a long daywith a glass in front of a crackling fire. Wealso have several varieties of white, too. TheChardonnay is a light, dry wine with a traceof oak. The “Farmhouse White” dry, tablewine features hints of pear. We especiallylike it with Asian dishes.

Our award winning apple-based winesare the perfect complement to any meal.Our Apple Wine, made with our own applecider, pairs perfectly with pork, chicken andcheese plates. For those that aren’t quiteready to let summer go, extend those warm,fuzzy feelings with Just Peachy, our applewine blended with peach. It won theGovernor’s Cup in 2014.

We are members of two associationsthat organize wine trail events around thestate. Vintage North Jersey More thanWine Trail Weekend will be offering unique

wine pairings and samples of Jersey Freshproducts from area partners all weekend,November 7 and 8. Come kickoff the holi-day season with a cup of our mulled wine atthe Garden State Wine Growers AssociationHoliday Wine Trail Weekend on Nov. 27, 28,and 29.

Our tasting room, located in our historic150-year old red barn, is open Fridaythrough Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. Ourwine is also available every day in the farmstore, online and at the Trenton FarmersMarket on Fridays and Saturdays.

n 2010, the winery opened with4.5 acres in vine and five wines.Now in our fifth year of operation,

we’ve expanded to growing grapes for ourwines on eight acres and we offer elevenwines.

“We are thrilled to see how well the cus-tomers receive the wines when they visitthe tasting room” said Tannwen Mount,who returned to the family farm in 2006 tohelp establish the vineyard and winerywith her father, Gary.

“New Jersey wine industry has beengrowing and more and more people areinterested in buying local,” Tannwen said. Alocal resident who travels to Italy to buywines for his job came in recently. He toldus he regularly travels over 10,000 miles tofind good wines for his job as a professionalwine buyer and he only had to travel 9miles from his home to find eleven greatwines.

Over the summer, some of our cus-tomers created nicknames for our wines.One creative visitor called our blush wine,The Front Porch Breeze “my swimmingpool wine” and Cold Soil White “my ham-mock wine.” We invite you to share yourown feedback with us on your next visit.

Our wines made with our own grapesoffer a wide variety of wine varietals with

et your team out of the office andreinvigorated this fall with agroup outing at Terhune

Orchards. An event filled with farm freshfood, picking activities and a little outdooradventure is a great way to reward employ-ees. Whether you are a non-profit, large cor-poration or a family group looking for a

Host Corporate Eventsand Family Gatheringsat Terhune Orchards

39th Fall Festival

Terhune Orchards Vineyard and WineryCelebrates Five-Year Anniversary

unique setting for a group activity, TerhuneOrchards offers options for making memo-rable events.

Host your staff lunch, customer appreci-ation event or team building exercises onour picturesque 200-acre farm. Optionalcatering and wine tasting packages areavailable. A fall visit to the farm offers freshair, opportunities to pick apples or pump-kins as a group and customizable space togather and collaborate with your co-work-ers and friends.

Are you looking for a gift for a job welldone or a reward for loyal customers? Pre-paid admissions to our Apple Day and FallFestivals are a terrific way to say thanks.We also offer gift baskets and boxes brim-ming with local products that let your cor-porate clients and employees know you arethinking of them.

For more information, emailtmount@terhuneorchards.com or callTannwen at 609-924-2310.

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Stop to enjoy the colorful mum displayon your way to The Adventure Barn. It isdecorated differently each year and tells thestory of life on a farm. Be sure to stop bythe barnyard to visit the animals. Take apony ride, too. Stroll the Farm Trail to getup close and personal with nature. Haveyour face painted like the butterflies thatdance in the fields. There are scavengerhunts, a new rubber duck race and manymore children’s activities.

Pam’s Food Tent is always an option forlunch with new seasonal delights beingadded to the menu. Indulge in pulled porksandwiches, hot dogs, chicken pot pies,chili, hearty soups and other traditionalfare. A day here isn’t complete withoutquenching your thirst with a cup of ourfreshly pressed apple cider.

Pam cooks up apple goodies for theApple Buffet. Treat yourself to a taste of ourvery own apples in cider donuts, pies,muffins, salads and much more. We evenhave gluten-free cookies, sugar-free piesand options for vegans to enjoy.

Apple Day and the Fall FamilyWeekends are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdaysand Sundays. Admission to all festival daysis $5, ages 3 and up. Parking and access tothe farm store and winery is free.

Pick Your Own

Directions: Travel on the New JerseyTurnpike South to Exit 9, transfer to Rte#1 South for about 20 miles, then takeInterstate 95 South (different from theNJ Turnpike) to the second exit for Rte206 North, Lawrenceville-Princeton.Take route #206 to the fourth traffic lightand turn left onto Cold Soil Road. Themain farm is on the right, 3 miles fromRte #206.

Directions toTerhune Orchards

Sept. 5 Pick Your Own Apple Seasonbegins

Sept. 8 Photo contest deadline at 5 p.m.

Sept. 8 Read & Pick: Chickens, 9:30 a.m. & 11 a.m.

Sept 12 Apple Day 10 a.m.–5 p.m.& 13Sept. 19 Fall Family Fun Weekend & 20 10 a.m.–5 p.m.Sept. 22 Read & Pick: Tractors,

9:30 a.m. & 11 a.m.Sept. 26 Fall Family Fun Weekend & 27 10 a.m.–5 p.m.Oct. 3 & 4 Fall Family Fun Weekend

10 a.m.–5 p.m.Oct. 6 Read & Pick: Pumpkins,

9:30 a.m. & 11 a.m. Oct. 10, Fall Family Fun Columbus 11 & 12 Day Weekend 10 a.m.–5 p.m.

Oct. 17 Fall Family Fun Weekend & 18 10 a.m.–5 p.m.Oct. 24 Fall Family Fun Weekend & 25 10 a.m.–5 p.m.Oct. 31, Fall Family Fun Weekend Nov. 1 10 a.m.–5 p.m.Nov. 1-26 Order your Thanksgiving

pies & crisps Nov. 7 & 8 More Than Just Wine Trail

WeekendNov. 14 Pie Sampling Weekend & 15 9 a.m.-5 p.m.Nov. 24 Farm store open late until & 25 7 p.m. for your Thanksgiving

shoppingNov 26 Thanksgiving Day. Farm

store open 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.Nov. 27, Holiday Wine Trail Weekend 28, 29 12–5 p.m. More details on all events at terhuneorchards.com

Calendar of Events – Fall 2015

Pick-Your-Own Schedule May—Asparagus, Strawberries

June—Blueberries, Sweet Cherries, Sour CherriesJuly—Blueberries, Blackberries, Flowers

August—Blackberries, Flowers September & October—Apples, Pumpkins, Flowers

Call the Farm Store 609-924-2310 for information on the availability of specific varieties.

Farm Store, Barn Yard, & Farm Trail:Open to the public daily all year.

Winery and Tasting Room: Open Fri-Sun 12pm-5pm School and Group Tours: By appointment, April through October.

Barnyard Birthday Parties: By appointment, April through OctoberCorporate and Private events: By appointment, year round

Birthday Partieson the Farm

ur barnyard birthday partiesare a unique way to celebratewith your family and friends.

Your guests will enjoy a wagon ride throughthe fields, farm activities, games and pedaltractor rides. Held in a reserved area of thefarm, party goers enjoy two hours of farmfun.

Children of all ages love visiting thebarnyard to feed our friendly animals. Getto know the goats, sheep, chicken andgeese. Be sure to say hello to Mexicali the farm horse and our dogs, Apple andPeach.

Packages include a birthday cake orcupcakes and our fresh pressed apple cider.Each child takes home happy memories anda Terhune Orchards coloring book.

If your celebration is held on the morn-ing of one of our Fall Festival weekends,admission to the festival is included withyour party. Enjoy the additional fun activi-ties on the farm—corn stalk maze, adven-ture barn, pumpkin painting, music andmore. Pony rides and face painting are alsoavailable for an additional charge.

Choose from our birthday party pack-ages for groups of 15, 30 or 45 guests. Thebirthday child’s immediate family is free.We host discounted weekday parties, per-fect for planning a celebration for pre-schoolers or older children after a day atschool or on one of the many school holidaysduring the fall.

Call 609-924-2310 for pricing informa-tion and scheduling. More information onthe Groups & Parties page of our website.

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AwardsTerhune Orchards was recognized in

2015 by The New Jersey Department ofEnvironmental Pro tection’s Environ -mental Steward ship Initiative for our vol-untary and proactive measures toimprove the environment and ensure asustainable future.

In July, The Senate and GeneralAssembly presented a joint legislativeresolution honoring Gary and Pam Mounton the occasion of the farm ‘s 40thanniversary for their “peerless record ofservice and commitment to the preserva-tion and vitality of the New Jersey agri-cultural community. “

Golden Delicious–sweet, pies, baking,freezing

Granny Smith–tart, all-purposeJonamac–peels easily, use in crisps

and sauceJonathan–crisp, mildly tart, great

for pieLiberty–red skin, juicy fleshMcIntosh–aromatic, cooks quickly,

easy to peelMacoun–very crunchy, fresh eating,

salads and saucesRed Delicious–sweet, juicy, low acidityStayman Winesap–Our most popular

apple, flavorful, tart, keeps well

One of our favorite things to do afterpicking apples is make a big batch of apple-sauce. Pam loves to blend equal parts ofGolden Delicious and Stayman Winesap.She uses Terhune’s apple cider instead ofwater to cook the apples down until theyare tender. No additional sugar is needed.Leave the skins on while cooking to retainall the fruit’s vitamins. When the apples aresoft, Pam uses a Foley food mill to separateout the skins from the applesauce. Pick upmore of Pam’s favorite apple recipes in thefarm store. (We have the Foley food mills instock, too.)

Family Update(continued from page 1)

Farmland Preservation Program, ourdaughters are committed to continuing thefarming tradition here and each are pro-ducing a batch of great 12th generationfarm workers.

All is well here at Terhune Orchards.