How 'bout them apples?
When Doug Morin and Emily Meacham set out to purchase an apple orchard in northern New Hampshire or Vermont, there were no established orchards for sale. So, in 2019, they jumped at the chance to acquire a former beef and dairy farm in Whitefield, New Hampshire, to fulfill their goal.
Now owners of a property much larger and in need of more work than they originally envisioned, Morin, a wildlife biologist, and Meacham, a forester, wasted no time reaching out to UNH Cooperative Extension. Soon, they were walking the property with Heather Bryant, one of Extension’s fruit and vegetable production field specialists.
“Heather was the first person we talked through our ideas with,” Meacham says. “She was the first person to give us confidence to go forward.”
They planted their first batch of trees — 500 of them — in 2021, and then the challenges came: drought, wind damage, mole and vole pressure, learning the nuances of integrated pest management, and a fungus that threatened the entire orchard. But they were able to navigate their way through it all with expert — and sometimes extensive — help from Extension.
Solving the fungus problem, for example, involved Will Hastings, a fruit and vegetable production specialist in Coös County, staff in UNH’s Plant Diagnostics Lab, Jeremy DeLisle, another fruit and vegetable field production specialist, and Renuka Mathur, a soil health specialist. Thanks to their all-hands-on-deck approach, the trees were saved.
“That was a game changer for us,” Meacham says.
Now Tellman Hill Farm is producing fruit — primarily apples but also pears — from more than 1,400 trees. Meacham and Morin are looking forward to finally welcoming guests to their own farmstand and orchard this year, a delicious reward after years of hard work and determination and more than a little guidance from Extension specialists.
“It’s been amazing to have the support of UNH and folks that say, ‘Here’s what we can do for you,’ or ‘What do you need?’” Morin says.