Connecticut Valley Orchard

Russell Allen and his three brothers all started working right out of high school working at Connecticut Valley Orchard in Westminster, VT, established in 1912. After a tour of duty in the service, the brothers returned to Vermont and founded Allen Brothers Orchard in 1956. After twenty-nine years in business the brothers decided to downsize their business and Russell Allen took over the reinvigoration of an 18-acre block of the original Connecticut Valley Orchard as a personal project.

The Connecticut Valley Orchard of today boasts all the staples of a New England apple orchard like McIntosh, Cortland, and Macouns, as well as some of the newer varieties like Honey Crisp.  Allen is also working to restore some of the heirloom varieties that were originally grown on the orchard including Esopus Spitzenberg and the Roxbury Russet. If you try and pin him down on which apple is his favorite however, Allen can't do it. "I'd have to say the Zesta in August, the Honey Crisp in September, and in October it goes back and forth between the Macoun and Honey Crisp."

As a lifetime apple grower, Russell Allen has also been committed to using Integrated Pest Management practices on his orchards since 1984. Allen uses IPM for two reasons: the environmental benefits and, from a practical perspective, when you use less sprays, it costs less.  In other words: "The less chemicals you use, the better off you are financially and environmentally."

Growing up on a family farm and sharing a business with his brothers, Russell Allen knows the value of a family business. Today, his grandchildren help out around the orchard and he thinks that at least one of them will take on the tradition.