Life in Apple Heaven is Sweet as Honey

On a sunny day at Lopez Orchards in Cowiche, outside Yakima, orchard owner Carlos Lopez shows Washington Grown host Val Thomas-Matson some of the ropes of orchard life. Standing between rows of trees weighed down with ripe apples, Carlos straps a large apple-picking bag around Val’s neck and over her shoulders, then hands her a pair of shears.

Val picks a ripe, shiny Honeycrisp apple from a nearby tree, and Carlos instructs her how to clip the stem as close to the fruit as possible to ensure that this variety’s especially hard stems don’t puncture the other apples.

“If they’re punctured, then they’re considered no good,” says Carlos, watching Val pick and clip another apple’s stem. “You’re getting good at this.”

“I’ve got a good teacher!” Val replies.

Carlos’ expert knowledge of the ins and outs of apples — for example, which stems are harder than others — can only come from years of experience running an apple orchard. But when he was a kid growing up in Los Angeles, before his family moved to Washington and took up apple farming, he had no idea the kind of hard work that went into running an orchard.

“I thought you just watered the tree, and you grew apples, and you came and picked them,” he said. “But that’s not the case. It takes a lot.”

When Carlos was 15, his family moved from Los Angeles to Washington state, and in 1998, Carlos’ father, Antonio, bought 10 acres of orchard and began farming the land. Today, father and son own and operate Lopez Orchards together, farming more than 160 acres of land. Carlos also serves on the board of Cowiche Growers Inc., a grower-owned cooperative that provides storage and packing facilities for its members.

As Val and Carlos walk through rows of bright green trees dotted with ruby gems of apples, Val asks him what makes his apples so special.

“First, because we’re in Washington, that helps a lot,” Carlos says, explaining that the region’s climate produces higher-quality apples. In particular, the Yakima Valley’s rich soil, lots of sunshine, dry climate, and plentiful water make it especially well suited for apple growing, but there’s another element to the orchard’s success as well.

“We put a lot of love into it, and that’s what makes it great,” he says.

As they walk down the rows, Carlos points out an apple dotted with white specks, explaining that they cover the apples with sunblock so they don’t get burned in the hot Washington sun.

“So there’s a little sunscreen that goes over the apples?” Val says, laughing as she picks an apple from the tree. “Time for me to try an apple.”

She rubs the apple against her sleeve before taking a bite. “It shines up so prettily! I swear I can taste the sunshine — that’s so good. That makes me happy.”

After Val has loaded her apple-picking bag with Honeycrisps, she heaves it over to a large wooden bin, where Carlos shows her how to empty the bag from the bottom, taking care not to bruise any of the fruit. Val bends over the bin and loosens the straps, and the apples gently roll out of the bag, unharmed.

“This is amazing,” Val says, laughing. “I’m so proud of myself!”

For Val’s last task, Carlos instructs her how to drive a tractor to haul the apple bin out of the orchard. She reverses, raises the trailer, and drives the tractor through the orchard before parking it and climbing off.

“Good job — that was awesome!” said Carlos, holding his hand up for a high-five.

“It was!” she agrees, returning the high-five with a laugh before walking with him back through the orchard.