For our Adrian business visits I am using journal entries from our young professionals. Their journal entries give insight to their thoughts from the variety of business visits and guest speakers!
On Wednesday, we had a business visit to the Dayton Avenue apple orchard. We got to meet Randy and Kay Wolf, the owners of the orchard. They bought the orchard because Randy wanted a place to grow food and have land. When they first bought the orchard, it had 500 trees and now it has 900. The U of M breeds many apples, like the Honey Crisp. They rub pollen from one tree to another and cover the blossom so bees don’t pollinate it, and to keep track of which ones have been cross-pollinated. The DNA of the apple is located in the tree. They take wood from the trees and put it into rootstock. A man from Worthington bred one of their most popular apples. Their most popular apples are Honey Crisp, Sweet Tango, Sugar Bee, and First Kiss. They have struggled with pests over the years like rabbits and deer that destroy the trees. They also rent bees to help pollinate their trees. When it is time to pick to apples, they hire people to do that and pay them by the bushel. They sell their products in farmers' markets around the area. They sell bags of apples, apple cider, and pies. I really enjoyed this day and learned a lot.
