Apple Fun!

What makes you think fall more than apples? Apple orchards, apple pie, fritters and more, fall is all about apples, apples and more apples. On our farm, we just picked apples from our tree, and I made applesauce and cut up some for the freezer. Nothing better.

Then recently I traveled around the Midwest to places that bring lots of apple fun! We traveled to Community Orchard in Fort Dodge, and visited the Apple Festival in Nappanee, Indiana.

Community Orchard – Fort Dodge

Community Orchard is a beautiful place with a fascinating past. Denny and Emily Stucky own the property. This was once a dairy farm. My husband Keith and I got a chance to see this beautiful orchard through a press trip hosted by Visit Fort Dodge’s Kerrie Kuiper.

The story

Denny shared that Community Orchard started when Dr. Paul Otto and his wife bought property back in the early 1940’s. Dr. Otto studied apples and wanted to see what kind of apples would grow in Fort Dodge. Denny said, “He planted apples in the late 40’s.”

Eventually Dr. Otto had a full-fledged apple orchard. In 1952, the dairy barn was converted from dairy into an apple barn. Denny shared, “Dr. Otto was still practicing so he hired Dan Baedke to run it for him.”

Eventually the Baedkes bought the property. “We purchased apples from Greg and Bev Baedke,” Denny added. They were the 2nd generation to farm the orchard. However, the 3rd generation didn’t want to continue.

The Stucky’s

On the Community Orchard website, they summarize the decision to purchase the orchard. This was a new venture heading into a new field the Stucky family had never experienced before. “Farming is certainly not just a profession but a way of life, and Denny and Emily have jumped right in with both feet! Denny previously worked for his late father’s family business, Dale’s Petroleum, and Emily was a mortgage loan officer turned stay at home mom. When Denny’s father passed away of COVID in late 2020, the Stucky family realized just how precious life is and knew it was the right time to take a leap of faith for their family. It just so happened that at the same time, the Baedkes were looking for the right family to purchase the orchard as they were getting ready to retire. The stars aligned and the transition process seemed almost seamless as a new family was ushered in to carry on the traditions of The Community Orchard while also allowing for growth and new ideas!”

Community Orchard today

This is the 5th full season for the Stucky’s. They have expanded the business over time. Denny said. “We have our cafe with the opening day in August. Then, we are busy seven days a week right up to Christmas. We have Christmas gift boxes and we shipped out about 1500 last year.”

Besides the Christmas boxes, and the cafe, Denny said they also have a gift shop in the upstairs of the barn, the Apple Attic Gift Shop. “We have home decor and clothing. It is a great part of our business. I built dressing rooms and we added kids’ items.”

On top of that Denny said, “We grow stuff.”

The apples and more.

Community Orchard offers 14 varieties of apples. They have pumpkins and gourds and flowers. The apple varieties are displayed on a counter. “Honeycrisp is our best seller.”

Called “The Back Forty” there is the huge play area with a big slide. Here they offer events booked by churches and such. Plus, there are the festivals! They have flower festivals offering rides into the flower fields, a huge apple festival, a 5-acre corn maze and pumpkin patch. They also have future plans to include car and tractor shows.

Community Orchard is also a popular place for school tours.

This time of year, besides the apples, the cider is very popular. “We press 10,000 gallons a year.”

Besides selling onsite, FFA sells cider as a fund raiser. They offer regular apple cider along with a raspberry brand. “We just started in hard cider,” Denny said. “We work with Soldier Creek and make apple, blueberry, raspberry, peach ice and key lime.”

In honor of his father Dale, they also offer Dale’s Apple Ale, a partnership with River Hops. A popular food item is their Maple Walnut drip cream cheese. Keith and I tried this and can attest to its goodness.

Then there is also the caramel apples, apple dumplings, apple cider donuts, and apple turn overs, oh my. Their sweet corn salsa is also a popular item as well.

Then there are the new and very loved chicken pot pies. They sell them in both 9″ varieties as well as the most popular four packs. The pot pies come in a couple variations, biscuits and gravy, beef, chicken and meatloaf flavors. During their off season they place items available on Facebook and take orders once a month. “It is a wild ride,” Denny added.

Denny attributes some of their food success to Sarah, a member of their staff that he said is a “culinary artist”.

Emily makes fudge. “My favorite is a Cheesecake flavor,” she added.

The family

This is a family affair. Denny and Emily have three children two girls and a boy ages 16, 14 and 10. Their ten-year-old Erin loves spending time at the orchard and helping out.

A people person Denny said the best part of this is “The groups, seeing the peoples faces and the families having fun..”

The 50th Apple Festival in Nappanee Indiana

Keith and I traveled to Elkhart County Indiana for the amazing Apple Festival in Nappanee. Thank you to Visit Elkhart for hosting us! With the 7’ Indiana’s largest apple pie, this was something I had to see. On a previous visit, I had seen the huge pie pan.

The pie pan is located at the Nappanee Center, which is part of the Nappanee Library system. This wonderful museum has an array of items including a wonderful quilt art collection by Emma Schrock.

We arrived in Elkhart County and toured the area before heading to beautiful Nappanee for the festival. This year they celebrated their 50th anniversary. With over 150 vendors, music, a carnival and more this celebration held the 3rd weekend of September was great fun.

The only daunting thing that came our way was a bit of rain. They offered great food. Keith was a big fan of the German Potato salad.

It’s all about the pie!

We met the young woman that won the Crown to Serve Crown for her charity work. She directed us to Don Carlos Bar & Grill where we spied the largest pie in Indiana. They were just cutting it.

Paige Lantz, the 2026 Miss Nappanee Apple Blossom Queen was there as well. We soon learned the logistics for the World’s Largest 7′ Pie facts.

Ron and Glenna Telschhow made the first pie in 1976. It takes 100 pounds of pie dough, 400 pounds of apples. They use mostly Macintosh, Paula Reds or Johnathon’s. Five to 6 people about six hours to put it all together. the pie is then placed in the HUGE oven at 375 degrees and cooked for an hour. The oven is then turned off, and weights around 600 lbs. It takes 8-10 people to remove it from the oven.

We were warned that the pie goes fast, so we didn’t hesitate getting there. A slice later, we agree, it is yummy!

The Power From the Past Antique Tractor Show

After shopping, eating, and of course, sampling the pie, we headed to the Power From the Past Show grounds for Keith’s favorite, the tractor show.

The show runs during the festial and they offer live demonstrations of sawmill operations, wheat threshing (when not raining) hay baling and more.

A familiar theme was Keith shopping the vendors at the show before we started touring the grounds.

There were lots of cool pieces of equipment like Tom Mast’s mint planter that he even let me sit on.

There were several steam engines at the show.

While I saw many things I liked, it was the cool Hanomag tractor that belongs to Charlie Hartle from Plymouth, Indiana that caught my eye.

The Hanomag tractor

Chuck shared how he came to have this German tractor in his collection “Years ago my uncle bought the tractor. He, worked at a bearing plant in Bremen. They would send him to Germany when they needed a new bearing. He befriended the son of the owner.”

Besides the owner, Chuck’s Uncle also befriended the owner’s nephew as well. “The nephew and son would take him out, and there was an a salvage yard with old tractors. He saw this tractor and fell in love with it.”

The owner said he could have it, but the big question was how to get it back to the states. They took it back to the factory, removed the wheels and the cab and put it on a skid. The tractor ended up being shipped with the container that the bearing was in! “When they opened the container the machinist said, ‘there is a tractor inside’.”

Later Chuck’s Uncle gave the tractor to his grandpa, and he had it for many years before Chuck acquired it. “They never replaced the clutch, and grandpa took it to the woods and pulled logs out.”

Chuck has since replaced the clutch with assistance from a friend that had international shipping connections. In Germany they couldn’t send the part directly. It went first to Poland, and then the US. “Shipping cost more than the part,” Chuck said.

Chuck added that this is the only Hanomag he knows of.

Apples!

So what apple plans are on your list? Do you have a favorite orchard, festival, or just pick apples up at a farmer’s market to fill your apple fetish? Apples are the color, smell, and feel of fall and I was blessed to experience it in our beautiful Midwest.