The Press Democrat: Philo’s Apple Farm shares its legacy through classes and soon-to-be-published cookbook
It's mid-July, and the harvest of heirloom apples has just barely begun at The Apple Farm in Philo, where 32 acres of organic orchards are planted with more than 80 varieties of heirloom apples.
'We just harvested the very first apple, called the Astrachan,' said Karen Bates, who runs the biodynamic farm with her husband Tim Bates. 'It's a Russian apple, and it's a really great, tart apple for applesauce and pies.'
The Navarro River meanders peacefully by the orchards in the summer but during last winter's rains, Bates said, it raged over its banks and changed its course, taking out a big chunk of a pear orchard along with their well.
'We try to use as little water as possible, but it's an old orchard and it's always been irrigated ,' she said. 'The silver lining is we built a new well, and the water is wonderful.'
This summer, Bates said, she and her kitchen crew have been making jams and jellies 'like crazy,' which keeps everyone employed while waiting for the apples to ripen.
'We start with strawberries, then we get the apricots from Capay (Valley), and then the plums and our own berries — raspberries and blackberries,' she said. 'So it's been really busy.'
Once the apples start coming in, the commercial kitchen processes the fruit that is not 'table quality' into a high-end line of apple products: pasteurized apple juice, apple cider syrup (reduced cider that is tart, sweet and caramelized), apple cider vinegar, apple balsamic vinegar (a custom blend of the aged vinegar and the cider syrup) and a Farmhouse cider.
As part of the early season harvest, Bates said they will harvest a few early crab apples, then move onto two early eating apples: the beloved Gravenstein — being celebrated this weekend at Sebastopol's annual fair — and the tart, crisp and aromatic Pink Pearl.
Both apples will make their way to The Apple Farm farmstand at the entrance on the Elk-Hendy Woods State Park Road.
The Apple Farm enterprise comprises three generations, including Bates' mother, Sally Schmitt, a culinary pioneer who opened three Yountville restaurants — The Vintage Cafe and The Chutney Kitchen in 1967, and The French Laundry in 1978 — then sold the old, stone restaurant to the rising young chef Thomas Keller in 1994.
Schmitt started teaching cooking classes at The Apple Farm in 1996, then later retired for real to a cottage in Elk for 10 years with her husband, Don. After her husband died in 2017, Schmitt moved back to the Apple Farm to be closer to her daughter and two of her grandchildren, Sophia and Rita.
'She's 87,' Bates said. 'She lives in the same building as the farmstand, so she can watch what's going on.'