HISTORY
Over 99 years ago in 1909, a seasoned farmer, David Kinkade came from Ohio to Wheeler, Michigan, where he bought a farm that included a house and 80 acres. The property included a big barn, a granary, and a chicken coop. Large families were the thing in those days and David and his wife, Jane, were people of the times having 10 children. The family’s daily life included cash crop farming and tending to the animals. A big black bell was used to call the children in from the fields for meals. As time progressed one of the 10 Kinkade children, Harvey, took over the farming and moved into the house with his wife Essie. Tragedy struck when the house burned down in the 1930s and the family was forced to move into the chicken coop while a bigger and better farm house was built. Harvey used only shovels to dig trenches to tile the farm. Harvey passed away in 1961 at the age of 69.
Having no children of his own, the farm was then handed down to his sister’s son, Doug Eastman. In 1988 after several years of owning the farm and renting it out to area farmers, Doug and his son, Jon, decided to develop an apple orchard on the farm. Jon always having an interest in apple trees and orchards began to learn the trade of running an orchard. He spent his summers caring for the orchard, and his winters grafting trees and trading scion wood with other orchard owners. During his studies, Jon learned about antique apple trees; some of the trees were rare and have very old histories. These rarities came from all over the U.S. and other countries like Russia and England and were used to create a number of apple products including old time cider, pies, cobblers, sauces and crafts. There was much excitement about getting the orchard up and running and for the next 5 years Doug and Jon planted apple trees. Much like their ancestors Jon and Doug had little more than shovels to plant the thousands of little grafted trees. When the orchard was finished the farm house was surrounded by 4000 apple trees and over 1200 different varieties. After several seasons of running the orchard, in 2007 Doug, now in his 80s could no longer work in the orchard and Jon could not afford to keep buying the expensive sprays and equipment it takes to run an orchard of that size. There was much talk within the family as to what should happen to the unique apple trees. Other farmers made offers on the land, but they were interested in crop farming and all the apple trees would have been uprooted and corn and soybeans would again grow on the land. Doug’s daughter, Cindy and her husband, Tim Ward, decided to take over the orchard, save the trees, and market the apples. Their two sons, Casey and Rafe joined in on the venture and all four started learning about the apples. They were amazed at all the different apples that were on the land and some of the rich history behind them. A few of the most notable are:
The Knobbed Russet, known as the ugliest apple in the world.
The Kandil Sinap,The Turkish apple that is shaped like a candle.
The Golden Nugget, and the King of the Pippin, known for making great cider.
The Flower of Kent, which is the apple that fell to the ground when Sir Issac Newton discovered gravity.
The Red Astrachan, one of the best heritage varieties.
The Northern Spy, makes a most wonderful pie.
The Wards found many types of apples including the Pippins, Gravensteins, Russets, Pearmains, Transparents, Sheepnoses, Reinettes, Codlings, and Greenings. There were many different tastes, colors and shapes. Some were small and some were as large as grapefruits. Some have histories dating back to the 1500s. Now, after learning about the apple business, they are harvesting apples and taking them to the farm markets in their area. They are making cider, sometimes with over 50 varieties going into one jug of cider. In the future they hope to have a web site mail order business and maybe a cider mill rental available to their customers. Casey lives in the big farm house and also works at a Semi Conductor plant where he takes apples to his co-workers for taste testing before the apples go to market. The big old barn still stands, and the old chicken coop----the one the Kinkade family lived in for a short time while the new farm house was built-----is now the Apple House. It is all original, except for a new front porch extension that Tim and Rafe built on. Bushels of apples now sit on the porch, and next to the apple house hangs, the big black bell, the same original bell that the Kinkade family used over 99 years ago. The bell can now be used by apple customers to summon one of the Ward’s as they are usually out in the orchard picking apples. If you have a favorite apple from your past, or just want to taste an apple that you will never find in a grocery store, contact the Eastman’s Antique Apple Orchard and they just might have what you are looking for.