Here at NSO we’re known for our wide range of unique and flavorful apple varieties. We grow right around 350 varieties of apples that are anything from green, to red, to yellow, to russetted, to big, to small, to sweet, to tart, to heritage, to recent introductions, and everything in between! Some of these apples are our tried-and-true favorites that have been part of our orchard for many years. For those varieties, we have large trees and lots of them! However, at least 250 or so of those 350 varieties are in what we refer to as our “trial block”. That means we have one or two young trees that we are trying to determine if we like well enough to plant more of. Flavor is definitely our top priority but we are also looking for texture, disease resistance, growth habits (like spur types and if branches are upright or droopy), breeding potential, as well as storage life. We take lots of notes on taste and keep track of what day we start and stop picking each year to make it easier on ourselves the next year!
WIth 350 varieties to try, it stands to reason that some of them will be delicious while others fall a bit short. We try to weed out the truly bad flavors before they ever make it to market, but some of the “uniquely weird” flavors like banana, tangerine, and bourbon are interesting enough to let the customers decide for themselves. And some, like Knobbed Russet, are so ugly that even we are afraid to take a bite!
Sugar Snap that is...and not the peas – the apples!
This year things will be looking mighty different at market, as there will be very few, if any, Asian pears for sale at our stand. Asian pear fans are already saddened and confused by this sudden change of events, so here’s what’s going on…
You are in for a real treat this week and next as you discover (or re-discover!) the Sansa apple. Don't let the unassuming, "unattractive" appearance of this gem fool you. Remember the old adage, 'Don't judge a book by its cover'. Here at North Star, you are wise to do likewise with fruit appearance.
Hello! My name is Zoe Yost, and I am fourteen years old. The founder of My Tern!™, I sell cards of my original artwork and photographs with 100% of the proceeds supporting the 
It's time to meet the farmers growing your food!
I first came to North Star Orchard on my dad’s birthday (in 2012), when we planted the 
Meet teosinte. You might be surprised to learn that the rather unappetizing morsel pictured to the right would give rise to a much more recognisable staple. Genus Zea, a group of plants in the grass family, encompases all modern domestic corn varieties and their wild cousins, the teosintes. Corn’s sudden appearance in the archeological timeline was a mystery to scientists, until they looked closely at the DNA. A mere five genes separate corn from its ancestral precursor, and both plants have the same number of chromosomes. The two can even produce fertile hybrids! How did wild teosinte become the corn we know today?
"My tricorder can't make heads or tails of this thing, but I hear it's helpful for farms. Beats me - I'm a doctor, not a annelidologist!"