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Unique varieties of fruit and vegetables

North Star Orchard is located in Southeastern Pennsylvania and specializes in growing unique and heritage varieties of tree fruits and a wide variety of vegetables. Fruit selections include several hundred varieties of apples and dozens of varieties of peaches, nectarines, plums, pears, and Asian pears.

The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago.
The second-best time is now. -Chinese proverb

North Star celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2012 by planting a new and very unique orchard. The farm's current large selection of varieties has been joined by hundreds more! Our goal? To flavor the future!

Farmers' Markets and Fruit and/or Veggie CSA Memberships

Check here for farmers' market information, including locations and times.

Fruit and Veggie CSA Shares are available each year. You can enjoy the best of the farm's produce by becoming a CSA member. CSA signups for 2013 are going on now! Learn about the various CSA Membership options here.

Connections and Employment Opportunities

Stay connected with what's going on at the farm and farmers' markets by signing up for our email newsletter and read about farming, food, and fun on our blog.

We are fully staffed for 2013, but if you would be interested in joining us in 2014 either as an on-farm or farmers' market helper, please check here to learn about employment.

Flavor the Future!

We have planted a new block of orchard containing literally hundreds of varieties. This is an exciting time for our farm; one full of hope and promise for the future of fabulous food. We invite you to be a part of our new adventure by sponsoring a tree. It is a great gift for yourself or your friends and family, or as a memorial for a special person. Click here for full details.

More About the Farm

North Star Orchard is a small farm specializing in unique varieties of high-quality fruit and vegetables. We sell all of our products directly to consumers at area producer-only farmers' markets and through our CSA. Our business is known for its abundance of apple varieties (now numbering in the hundreds), unique Asian pears, and the high standard of quality in all of our fruits and vegetables.

We have always been interested in both growing unusual varieties of fruit and vegetables and in using the newest ideas in training and trellising. We are concerned about the environment, and work hard to farm in a manner as sustainable and safe as possible.

We focus on varieties of certain fruits which are not traditionally grown. Our apples are usually antique/heritage varieties, or very new and disease-resistant varieties (we also breed some of our own apple varieties). Our Asian pears are unique in the fact that very few are grown at all on the East coast of the USA. Plus, they are tended with the utmost care, so we can pick and sell Asian pears that are at their peak of flavor and crunch. We have a large variety of both European and Asian plums, offering a wide range of sizes, colors, and flavors. We grow many heritage vegetable varieties, and have started saving seeds of those varieties that are particularly interesting or hard to find.

Although we all work hard on the farm to grow fabulous food, we like to have fun, too! To the right is a slideshow of some fun on the farm.

We enjoy very much our interaction with customers at the markets and with members of our CSA. It gives us a lot of satisfaction to have a real connection with the people who are eating the food that we grow. We encourage people to buy locally as much as possible, to help ensure the sustainabiltiy of our local food system.

Click here to learn more about the farm's history, the farm family, and their farming philosophy.